Exploration of Design / Layout Tradeoffs for RF Circuits using ALIGN

The extended manual layout process for RF and analog/mixed-signal design restricts design space exploration and limits design productivity. This work demonstrates the efficacy of an automated layout generator versus a manual approach using a state-of-the-art MIMO receiver. Multiple smaller floorplans of the layout are generated automatically in hours compared to weeks for a single manual layout. Measured results from an automatically generated layout fabricated in TSMC 65nm CMOS show performance numbers comparable to the manual design. Measured in-band/in-notch IIP3 and out-of-band/in-notch IIP3 are 18.3dBm and 23.64dBm, respectively.