Metaheuristics for analog circuit design optimization: A survey

As CMOS technology continues to scale down, the design complexity of very large-scale integrated circuits (VLSI) is rapidly increasing. Analog circuit design, in particular, remains time-consuming due to the critical impact of component dimensions on performance. Although the application of metaheuristics in analog circuit automation dates back to the 1980s, the growing complexity of analog design tasks and the need to reduce design cycles has sparked renewed interest in using metaheuristic approaches to address these challenges. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive and up-to-date review of existing studies on the application of metaheuristics in analog circuit design automation, including circuit synthesis, sizing, and layout synthesis, while assessing their effectiveness in meeting design objectives. The paper provides an in-depth discussion from the metaheuristics perspective and highlights key research directions for future exploration.