ALIGN: A System for Automating Analog Layout

Abstract: ALIGN ("Analog Layout, Intelligently Generated from Netlists") is an open-source automatic layout generation flow for analog circuits. ALIGN translates an input SPICE netlist to an output GDSII layout, specific to a given technology, as specified by a set of design rules. The flow first automatically detects hierarchies in the circuit netlist and translates layout synthesis to a problem of hierarchical block assembly. At the lowest level, parameterized cells are generated using an abstraction of the design rules; these blocks are then assembled under geometric and electrical constraints to build the circuit layout. ALIGN has been applied to generate layouts for a diverse set of analog circuit families: low frequency analog blocks, wireline circuits, wireless circuits, and power delivery circuits.