Using Deep Neural Networks and Derivative Free Optimization to Accelerate Coverage Closure

In computer aided design (CAD), a core task is to optimize the parameters of noisy simulations. Derivative free optimization (DFO) methods are the most common choice for this task. In this paper, we show how four DFO methods, specifically implicit filtering (IF), simulated annealing (SA), genetic algorithms (GA), and particle swarm (PS), can be accelerated using a deep neural network (DNN) that acts as a surrogate model of the objective function. In particular, we demonstrate the applicability of the DNN accelerated DFO approach to the coverage directed generation (CDG) problem that is commonly solved by hardware verification teams.