Accelerating RF Device Modeling and Circuit Design via Derivative-Free Optimization
To appear, IEEE Microwave Magazine, 2026.
Derivative-free optimization (DFO) provides a practical approach to solving expensive black-box problems in RF/microwave engineering without requiring gradient information. This article reviews representative DFO methods and their use in compact model parameter extraction and robust transistor sizing. Across these applications, DFO enables systematic exploration of high-dimensional design spaces, simultaneous fitting of coupled model parameters, and balancing of competing design objectives under uncertainty. When guided by physically meaningful parameters, design variables, constraints, and performance metrics, DFO can reduce manual tuning, improve reproducibility, and accelerate the development of accurate compact models and robust, high-performing designs.