The design of modern radiofrequency integrated circuits on silicon operating at microwave and millimeterwaves requires the integration of several spiral inductors and transformers that are not commonly available in the process design-kits of the technologies. In this work we present an auxiliary CAD tool for Microwave Inductor (and transformer) Design Automation on Silicon (MIDAS) that exploits commercial simulators and allows the implementation of an automatic design flow, including threedimensional layout editing and electromagnetic simulations. In detail, MIDAS allows the designer to derive a preliminary sizing of the inductor (transformer) on the bases of the design entries (specifications). It draws the inductor (transformer) layers for the specific process design kit, including vias and underpasses, with or without patterned ground shield, and launches the electromagnetic simulations, achieving effective design automation with respect to the traditional design flow for RFICs. With the present software suite the complete design time is reduced significantly (typically 1 hour on a PC based on Intel® Pentium® Dual 1.80 GHz CPU with 2-GB RAM). Afterwards both the device equivalent circuit and the layout are ready to be imported in the Cadence environment.
MIDAS: Automated Approach to Design Microwave Integrated Inductors and Transformers on Silicon
ALUIGI, LUCA;ALIMENTI, Federico;ROSELLI, Luca;
2013
Abstract
The design of modern radiofrequency integrated circuits on silicon operating at microwave and millimeterwaves requires the integration of several spiral inductors and transformers that are not commonly available in the process design-kits of the technologies. In this work we present an auxiliary CAD tool for Microwave Inductor (and transformer) Design Automation on Silicon (MIDAS) that exploits commercial simulators and allows the implementation of an automatic design flow, including threedimensional layout editing and electromagnetic simulations. In detail, MIDAS allows the designer to derive a preliminary sizing of the inductor (transformer) on the bases of the design entries (specifications). It draws the inductor (transformer) layers for the specific process design kit, including vias and underpasses, with or without patterned ground shield, and launches the electromagnetic simulations, achieving effective design automation with respect to the traditional design flow for RFICs. With the present software suite the complete design time is reduced significantly (typically 1 hour on a PC based on Intel® Pentium® Dual 1.80 GHz CPU with 2-GB RAM). Afterwards both the device equivalent circuit and the layout are ready to be imported in the Cadence environment.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
