Simultaneous simulation of systematic and stochastic process variations

An efficient approach is presented and demonstrated which enables the simultaneous simulation of the impact of several sources of process variations, ranging from equipment-induced to stochastic ones, which are caused by the granularity of matter. Own software is combined with third party tools to establish a hierarchical simulation sequence from equipment to circuit level. Correlations which occur because some sources of variability affect different devices and different device quantities can be rigorously studied.