Abstract
Statistical analysis is a fundamental method in analysis, design, and optimization of large systems with uncertainties. It is being applied in drug development, analyzing financial markets, search for new oil fields, and many more areas. As the silicon process technology scales to its limits, uncertainty plays an increasing role and has made its way into tools such as yield analysis, statistical time analysis, etc. In this educational panel, we will start with a short tutorial on Monte Carlo methods including their use in EDA. Three experts from distinct application fields will then follow and discuss their experience in using Monte Carlo methods for solving large-scale problems in their domain. It may come as a surprise to some attendees of DAC to learn how much commonality there is between methods used in EDA and other field that seem far-fetched. Copyright 2009 ACM.