Fabrication tolerances, as well as uncertainties of other kinds, e.g., concerning material parameters or operating conditions, are detrimental to the performance of microwave circuits. Mitigating their impact requires accounting for possible parameter deviations already at the design stage. This involves optimization of appropriately defined statistical figures of merit such as yield. Alt-hough important, robust (or tolerance-aware)...

Simulation-based optimization of geometry parameters is an inherent and important stage of microwave design process. To ensure reliability, the optimization process is normally carried out using full-wave electromagnetic (EM) simulation tools, which entails significant computational overhead. This becomes a serious bottleneck especially if global search is required (e.g., design of miniaturized structures, dimension scaling over...

The operation of high-frequency devices, including microwave passive components, can be impaired by fabrication tolerances but also incomplete knowledge concerning operating conditions (temperature, input power levels) and material parameters (e.g., substrate permittivity). Although the accuracy of manufacturing processes is always limited, the effects of parameter deviations can be accounted for in advance at the design phase...

Accounting for manufacturing tolerances as well as uncertainties concerning operating conditions and material parameters is one of the important yet often neglected aspects of antenna development. Appropriate quantification of uncertainties allows for estimating the fabrication yield but also to carry out robust design (e.g., yield maximization). For reliability reasons, statistical analysis should be executed at the accuracy level...