2 June 2011

Agilent delivers mm-wave simulation & modeling for TSMC’s 65nm, 60GHz CMOS wireless RDK

Agilent Technologies Inc has announced the inclusion of its SystemVue, GoldenGate and Momentum RFIC solutions in the 65nm, 60GHz RF Reference Design Kit (RDK), version 3.0, of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the world's largest silicon wafer foundry. Agilent says that the solutions link RF system, subsystem and component-level design and analysis as part of a comprehensive design flow.

The TSMC kit was developed using Agilent’s simulation and modeling solutions. It provides silicon correlation results; extracted S-parameter models for various interconnects, transmission lines and transformers; simulation test benches, and a flow tutorial that helps customers design high-frequency, high-bandwidth wireless ICs with confidence.

“Agilent collaborated closely with us on RF and electromagnetic design enablement. With deep expertise in RF design and analysis, they were a natural choice as a partner on the 60GHz Reference Design Kit,” says Suk Lee, TSMC’s director of design infrastructure marketing. “We want to deliver a comprehensive simulation and modeling solution crossing system, millimeter-wave circuit and interconnect-as-component boundaries, and Agilent is the leading EDA provider that can deliver the complete solution,” he adds.

“Until recently customers developing 60GHz CMOS wireless gigabit link or radar ICs had to create and maintain their own millimeter-wave CMOS process design kits (PDKs), an expensive and time-consuming effort,” says Paul Colestock, RFIC planning & marketing manager for Agilent’s EEsof EDA organization, which supplies electronic design automation software for microwave, RF, high-frequency, high-speed digital, RF system, electronic system level, circuit, 3D electromagnetic, physical design and device-modeling applications. “TSMC and Agilent have connected the dots for customers by providing a certified millimeter-wave-ready RDK for evaluation, which includes a 60GHz CMOS reference design and a tutorial along with Agilent’s comprehensive millimeter-wave CMOS design solutions for the Cadence Virtuoso platform,” he adds.

TSMC and Agilent will present and discuss the 60GHz reference design and flow next week at the Design Automation Conference (DAC 2011) in San Diego, CA (5–9 June), as well as at the 2011 IEEE International Microwave Symposium (IMS) in Baltimore, MD (5–10 June).

Tags: Agilent TSMC EDA

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