The influence of process variations is becoming extremely critical for nanoCMOS technology nodes,
due to geometric tolerances and manufacturing non-idealities (such as edge or surface roughness, or
the fluctuation of the number of doping atoms). As a result, production yields and figures of merit of a
circuit such as performance, power, and reliability have become extremely sensitive to uncontrollable
statistical process variations. Although some kind of variability has always existed and been taken into
account for designing integrated circuits, the largest impact of variability and the greater influence of
random or spatial aspects are setting up a completely new challenge. On top of those difficulties, the
deficiency of design techniques and EDA methodologies for tackling PVs makes that challenge even
more critical.