Selection of a Nominal Device Using Functional Data Analysis

Nominal behavior selection of an electronic device from a measured dataset is often difficult. Device characteristics are rarely monotonic and choosing the single device measurement which best represents the center of a distribution across all regions of operation is neither obvious nor easy to interpret. Often, a device modeler uses a degree of subjectivity when selecting nominal device behavior from a dataset of measurements on a group of devices. This paper proposes applying a functional data approach to estimate the mean and nominal device of an experimental dataset. This approach was applied to a dataset of electrical measurements on a set of commercially available Zener diodes and proved to more accurately represent the average device characteristics than a point-wise calculation of the mean. It also enabled an objective method for selecting a nominal device from a dataset of device measurements taken across the full operating region of the Zener diode.