A hybrid approach for the sensitivity analysis of integrated inductors

• Hybrid methodology for the evaluation of integrated inductors sensitivity analysis.
• Technological/geometrical parameters variation evaluation.
• For the inductor characterization a lumped element model is used.
• The sensitivity is evaluated at two levels; physical and elements level.
• At the physical level the sensitivity is computed through an equation-based strategy.
• At the element level the sensitivity is obtained through a simulation-based approach.
• The Richardson extrapolation technique is applied at the element level.

This paper proposes a hybrid methodology for the evaluation of integrated inductors sensitivity against technological/geometrical parameters variation. The obtained results are used in an optimization-based design environment for integrated inductors, as a way of guaranteeing that obtained solutions are robust against parameter variation. For the inductor characterization, a lumped element model is used, where each element value is evaluated through physics based equations. The sensitivity of the inductor characterization to parameter variations is evaluated at two levels. At the physical level, the sensitivity of the model element values to technological/geometrical parameters variations is computed through an equation-based strategy. Then, the sensitivity of the inductor characterization to the model parameter variations is obtained through a simulation-based approach, where the Richardson extrapolation technique is used for the calculation of the partial derivatives. Several examples considering the evaluation of sensitivity of both inductance and quality factor of two inductors in UMC130 technology are presented. Obtained results are compared against Monte-Carlo simulations.