Design of Optimal CMOS Analog Amplifier Circuits Using a Hybrid Evolutionary Optimization Technique

Abstract

This paper proposes an efficient design technique for two commonly used VLSI circuits, namely, CMOS current mirror load-based differential amplifier circuit and CMOS two-stage operational amplifier. The hybrid evolutionary method utilized for these optimal designs is random particle swarm optimization with differential evolution (RPSODE). Random PSO utilizes the weighted particles for monitoring the search directions. DE is a robust evolutionary technique. It has demonstrated an exclusive performance for the optimization problems which are continuous and global but suffers from the uncertainty issues. PSO is a robust optimization method but suffers from sub-optimality problem. This paper effectively hybridizes the random PSO and DE to remove the limitations related to both the techniques individually. In this paper, RPSODE is employed to optimize the sizes of the MOS transistors to reduce the overall area taken by the circuit while satisfying the design constraints. The results obtained from RPSODE technique are validated in SPICE environment. SPICE-based simulation results justify that RPSODE is a much better technique than other formerly reported methods for the designs of the above mentioned circuits in terms of MOS area, gain, power dissipation, etc.