1. A method of identifying preferred semiconductor technology design candidates from a population of semiconductor technology designs, the method comprising: (a) determining a smooth operator for effecting incremental structural change to a semiconductor technology design when the smooth operator is applied to the semiconductor technology design; (b) applying the smooth operator to at least one semiconductor technology design in the population to determine an updated population; (c) evaluating the semiconductor technology designs in the updated population to identify at least one preferred semiconductor technology design candidate; and (d) determining whether the at least one preferred semiconductor technology design candidate satisfies a stopping condition.