Interactive schematic for use in analog, mixed-signal, and custom digital circuit design

1. A tangible computer-readable medium having recorded thereon statements and instructions executable by a computer for performing a method of interactive circuit design visualization, the method comprising:

integrating a schematic of an electrical circuit and design particulars of the electrical circuit, the electrical circuit including components and being associated with variables, the design particulars including at least one of (1) operating ranges of the components, (2) performance data of the components, (3) performance data of a design of the electrical circuit, (4) yield data of the design of the electrical circuit, (5) data entry fields for the components, and (6) simulation data associated with the design of the electrical circuit;

displaying the schematic with the components in a circuit schematic view and the design particulars in a design particulars view;

in response to selection by a user of a component in the circuit schematic view, interactively highlighting a corresponding design particular in the design particulars view; and

in response to selection by the user of a design particular in the design particulars view, interactively highlighting at least one corresponding component in the circuit schematic view.

2. The tangible computer-readable medium of claim 1 wherein, the displaying the schematic in the circuit schematic view includes displaying an indication of an impact of at least one component on at least one of a yield of the design of the electrical circuit and a performance of the design of the electrical circuit.

3. The tangible computer-readable medium of claim 2 wherein, the displaying the schematic includes displaying the indication of the impact through graphic marking of the at least one component of the electrical circuit.

4. The tangible computer-readable medium of claim 3 wherein, the displaying the indication of the impact of the at least one component includes applying a color scheme with different colors corresponding to pre-determined values of the impact.

5. The tangible computer-readable medium of claim 4 wherein, at least one graphically-marked component includes a hierarchy function selectable by a user to display information on sub-components of the at least one graphically-marked component.

6. The tangible computer-readable medium of claim 1 wherein, the displaying the schematic in the circuit schematic view includes displaying an indication of an impact of at least one variable on at least one of a yield of the design of the electrical circuit and a performance of the design of the electrical circuit.

7. The tangible computer-readable medium of claim 1 wherein, the displaying the schematic in the circuit schematic view includes displaying an indication of a sensitivity of at least one component on at least one of a yield of the design of the electrical circuit and a performance of the design of the electrical circuit.

8. The tangible computer-readable medium of claim 7 wherein, the displaying the schematic includes displaying the indication of the sensitivity through graphic marking of the at least one component of the electrical circuit.

9. The tangible computer-readable medium of claim 8 wherein, the displaying the indication of the sensitivity of the at least one component includes applying a color scheme with different colors corresponding to pre-determined values of the sensitivity.

10. The tangible computer-readable medium of claim 9 wherein, at least one graphically-marked component includes a hierarchy function selectable by a user to display information on sub-components of the at least one graphically-marked component.

11. The tangible computer-readable medium of claim 1 wherein, the displaying the schematic in the circuit schematic view includes displaying an indication of a sensitivity of at least one variable on at least one of a yield of the design of the electrical circuit and a performance of the design of the electrical circuit.

12. The tangible computer-readable medium of claim 1 wherein, the design particulars view includes at least one item with statistical data relating at least one component of the electrical circuit to the yield data of the design of the electrical circuit.

13. The tangible computer-readable medium of claim 12 wherein, the statistical data includes at least one of a histogram, a scatter plot and a yield curve.

14. The tangible computer-readable medium of claim 1 wherein, the circuit schematic view includes a view of the schematic of the electrical circuit with at least one component of the electrical circuit, the at least one component being graphically-marked and associated with at least one of an optimization function and a characterization function, the step of interactively highlighting a corresponding design particular in the design particulars view including a step of performing at least one of an optimization and a characterization of the graphically-marked component.

15. An interactive electrical circuit design visualization system for performing an electrical circuit design having components and being associated with variables, the visualization system comprising:

a circuit schematic module including a schematic of the electrical circuit design;

a circuit particulars module including design particulars of the electrical circuit design, the design particulars including at least one of (1) operating ranges of the components, (2) performance data of the components, (3) performance data of the electrical circuit design, (4) yield data of the electrical circuit design, (5) data entry fields for the components, and (6) simulation data associated with the electrical circuit design;

an integration module operatively connected to the circuit schematic module and to the circuit particulars module, the integration module for integrating the schematic of the electrical circuit design with the design particulars to form enhanced schematic data;

a display system operatively connected to the integration module to display the enhanced schematic data as a circuit schematic view and a design particulars view; and

a user input module for selecting a component in the circuit schematic view to highlight interactively at least one corresponding design particular in the design particulars view, the input module also for selecting a design particular in the design particulars view to highlight interactively at least one corresponding component in the schematic view.