ECSTASY

Ecstasy is an interactive optimization system for analog design. The system provides a form-based, menu-driven user interface for problem formulation and user interaction, built-in optimization algorithms, and a simulation interface to SPICE3.

Through the user interface, the designer can easily describe a design problem using the SPICE3 front-end language. The system handles multiple objectives and constraints. It transforms the design problem into a standard formulation and solves it using built-in optimization algorithms. The algorithms interface with SPICE3 to improve the circuit performance interactively. During the optimization runs, the designer is given information on circuit performance and can interact with the system to trade off problem specifications until satisfactory results are obtained. By default, Ecstasy uses gradient-based algorithms to begin the solution. If numerical difficulties arise, a random search algorithm is automatically involved to enable the solution process to continue. Ecstasy is equipped with sensitivity-computation routines to compute the gradient vectors of arbitrary specification functions with respect to most of the circuit elements whose sensitivity code is available from SPICE3 (SPICE3C included with Ecstasy).

Documentation Included with the Program:

1. Installation Notes/User's Guide. Available separately for $1.00
2. T. Quarles, SPICE3 Version 3C1 User's Guide (UCB/ERL M89/46, April 1989). $5.00

Additional Documentation Available:

1. J.-M. Shyu, Performance Optimization of Integrated Circuits (UCB/ERL M88/74, November 1988). $10.00

Foreign Distribution: Yes