Minimum error based affine arithmetic for variational timing analysis

Abstract

In this paper, we describes a novel improvement for affine arithmetic which is widely used in statistical timing analysis and circuit simulation. The representation and calculation method for affine arithmetic is both simple and accurate comparing with previous works. The rule for calculating interval multiplication is simple and effective. It can both give a conservative bound and a minimum error affine approximation at the same time. An application for variational timing analysis demonstrated the usefulness of affine arithmetic