Microwave Offi ce®

For MMICs

Layout

CircuitDesign

SystemDesign

Simulation& Analysis

LVS/DRC

Extraction

RC

i l i

CCircuit

D

Extracttion

La

With intense time-to-market pressures, our

designers need proven design fl ows that work

seamlessly and Microwave Offi ce fi lls this need.

Dr. Simon Mahon, Mimix Broadband

AWR is synonymous with innovation. Developed by monolithic microwave

integrated circuit (MMIC) design engineers who knew there had to be a better way,

our fl agship Microwave Offi ce® design environment has forever changed the way

that RF/microwave ideas become MMIC reality. What differentiates us from the

competition? A complete design fl ow that combines cutting edge technologies that

are easy to use, coupled with the ability to integrate your favorite tools for each

part of the design process.

The AWR Design Environment™ (AWRDE), with its revolutionary Unifi ed

Data Model™ (UDM), is such a unique, stable foundation that while others

are patching and updating legacy platforms, we are able to invest our

development resources in creating new technologies that enable designers

to solve the latest, most challenging problems quickly and accurately. Nearly

every wireless, microwave, or millimeter-wave product on the market today

incorporates components designed with AWR technology. With our winning

combination of innovation and ease-of-use, it’s no wonder our Microwave Offi ce

design suite is the industry’s fastest growing software platform for MMIC design.

AWR enables you to bring your designs to life in the shortest time and with the

greatest fl exibility—positively impacting your bottom line!

THE AWR MMIC DESIGN FLOW ADVANTAGE

The Microwave Offi ce MMIC design fl ow delivers the industry’s most innovative

tools, most intuitive user interface, and the most complete integration with third

party technologies—enabling engineers to solve tough, modern design problems

and maintain their competitive advantage against fi erce competition.

The AWR user environment is not just a collection of tools and technology but

rather an integrated, cohesive design fl ow engineered to maximize your productivity

and minimize the need for training and re-training, manual intervention, and time.

Leading Edge MMIC PDKs Process design kits (PDKs) are the cornerstone of

any MMIC EDA fl ow. AWR works with foundries the same way we work with our

customers: we help them solve problems. We have collaborative relationships

with the world’s top foundries, and we work side-by-side with them to develop

and maintain leading edge PDKs for start-of-the-art design. The result is a whole

new class of PDKs supporting concurrent electrical-physical co-design in a single

environment, simultaneous frequency-time domain simulation support, and single

schematic/single environment verifi cation. AWR’s MMIC PDKs reduce risk and

help you deliver production-ready designs from a streamlined fl ow.

Early Design Flaw Identifi cation Microwave Offi ce software fl ow and features were

not developed in a vacuum for software’s sake but to enable design engineering

of real products --and design engineering is all about robust design! ACE™ circuit

extraction combined with Intelligent net™ (iNets) schematic-defi ned routing speeds

your ability to model complex interconnects early in the design fl ow, without using

time-consuming electromagnetic (EM), so you can quickly capture and debug

Advancing the State of High-Frequency Design Automation

Much more than a design tool, Microwave

Offi ce software is a complete design fl ow

offering all of the essential technologies:

linear and nonlinear circuit simulators,

EM analysis tools, layout-vs.-schematic

checks, statistical design capabilities, and

parametric cell libraries with built-in DRC.

With thousands of designs, AWR’s Unifi ed Data Model is the industry’s most modern

and stable platform for concurrent MMIC design. Linear and nonlinear, frequency- or

time-domain, layout, EM, EXTRACTion, and thru verifi cation, the UDM keeps your

design synchronized thereby giving most designers 50% better design cycle time

over other fl ows.

Microwave Offi ce software is renowned

for its speed and convergence, allowing

MMIC designers to power through the

toughtest amplifi er simulations, even

simulating changes during layout and

verifi cation.

critical couplings early in the fl ow. Circuit-based annotations provide immediate,

simulated-feedback for current density and critical voltages, pin-pointing reliability

issues long before layout. And once you get into layout, AWR’s unique bridge

code makes certain that vias are properly inserted from any routed line to critical

components, like metal insulator metal capacitors (MIM caps), eliminating diffi cult-

to-fi nd open- and short-circuits that are all too plentiful in other layout tools.

USER-FLEXIBLE DESIGN ENVIRONMENT

While other software tools hold customers captive to their way of doing things,

AWR has built Microwave Offi ce software from the ground up based on the

concept of a user-fl exible environment that encourages additional and alternative

solutions to enable more successful MMIC design. Your fl ow demands the fl exibility

to continue using, or to add third-party point tools and to integrate to adjacent

fl ows like test or enterprise printed circuit board (PCB). All of these requirements

are possible with the Microwave Offi ce MMIC design fl ow. In addition, custom in-

house software can be added through industry-standard interfaces, ensuring the

inclusion of all your intellectual property and giving you a leg up on the competition.

Modeling One model, many simulators has been an impossible goal for many decades,

especially if both time- and frequency-domain simulation needs to be supported. AWR

has made it a reality with Verilog-A support for all our

simulators providing you with the ultimate in portability

for nonlinear steady-state and transient design

needs. For greater model security, a C++ interface

is available for both electrical simulation models and

physical ‘pCells’.

EM Socket™ The Microwave Offi ce EM Socket

interface is unique technology developed by AWR to

enable integration with a variety of EM point tools. In

addition, we provide fast, accurate, and effi cient EM

analysis through access to our proprietary X-models™

discontinuity models, as well as to our own EM

technologies of EMSight™, AXIEM™ and the recently

acquired Analyst™.

Verifi cation Socket™ Microwave Offi ce DRC and

layout vs. schematic (LVS) features enable you to

access “signed off/approved” DRC/LVS tools such

as Mentor Graphics’ Calibre® and ICED, which can

be easily orchestrated from within the Microwave

Offi ce environment. And for users of TriQuint PDKs,

the mailDRC option further expedites these steps.

A HOST OF INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGIES

We’ve packed more unique innovations into

Microwave Offi ce software in the last dozen years

than all of our competitors combined. And, because

our developers are MMIC designers themselves, our

technologies are not just innovations for innovations’

sake, but key, unique algorithms, technologies and

tools specifi cally requested by customers to help

them overcome tough design issues, save design

time, and eliminate costly respins.

APLAC® harmonic balance and transient The incomparable APLAC circuit

simulator combines linear and nonlinear frequency-domain simulation with time-

domain transient. Renowned for its speed and convergence on the toughest

problems, APLAC converges in minutes where others take hours, if, in fact, they

converge at all.

ACE automated circuit extraction technology Diagnosing critical couplings is

a breeze with ACE, AWR’s unique automated circuit extraction technology. By

creating parameterized netlists using distributed models, many with highly optimized

EM solvers built right in, ACE powers through your layout to create the same

models you would have created in the schematic, but 10,000x faster than any

alternative approach.

iNet technology, X-models and bridge code MMIC interconnects are not

just dumb metal in the design; they are the design. Most layout tools treat

interconnects as a “don’t care” and capture/simulate environments make them

the problem bain of existence EM solvers. iNets, X-models and bridge code, all

powerful, industry-fi rst technologies from AWR, address interconnects right up

front in the schematic and concurrently and dynamically synchronize them with

the rest of the fl ow: layout, EM, and verifi cation. These technologies provide

better modeling and reduced verifi cation time for interconnects earlier in the

fl ow, when it’s easier and less costly to fi nd and fi x design issues.

AXIEM 3D planar EM technology The revolutionary AXIEM product is the

industry’s fi rst solver to enable the user to incrementally trade-off speed for

accuracy from DC through millimeter wave. AXIEM reduces cycle time with its

adjustable speed and accuracy, and saves infrastructure costs because it is the

only 3D planar EM solver you need.

AXIEM simulation results are highly accurate AXIEM simulation results are highly accurate

compared to measured data. The results compared to measured data. The results

show additional accuracy when the actual show additional accuracy when the actual

copper thickness was taken into account. copper thickness was taken into account.

(Courtesy of Legrand)(Courtesy of Legrand)

AWR’s innovative APLAC harmonic balance engine -

standard feature of Microwave Offi ce design environment.

“The effi ciency gained in the design fl ow enables our designers to consider effects in

much more detail than we were ever able to do before in the timeframe available.

The result has been superior product performance at an affordable price in a very

demanding market.”

Anritsu Company

“The results of the AXIEM simulation proved to be highly accurate when compared

to the measured results. We were also excited about AXIEM’s potential to cut our

design time, streamline our fl ow, and positively impact our bottom line.”

Legrand

“I’ve found Microwave Offi ce to be unique among EDA tools for its ability to make the

design process comparatively simple. Measurements we’ve made on the devices we

received from TriQuint agree extremely well with the Microwave Offi ce simulation. In

short, we got back exactly what we hoped for.”

Meridian Medical Systems

“APLAC has been widely used in Nokia’s RF design for years. We strongly believe

APLAC offers one of the most advanced analog design platforms available, and plays

a crucial role in helping us live up to our ‘right the fi rst time’ design philosophy.”

Nokia

“AWR’s solution is unique because the company’s tool development is driven by

customer demand. It offers all the features that are absolutely necessary for an

effective product design. The AWR design fl ow, along with excellent customer

support, is a winning combination.”

Sennheiser electronic GmBH & Co.KG

“The seamless integration of Microwave Offi ce and VSS software gave me more

meaningful results because I was able to simulate my power amplifi er circuit

design’s response to the EDGE/GSM modulated input signal with one design

platform. I used Microwave Offi ce and VSS from circuit concept all the way through

to product completion. I was exceptionally happy with the technical quality of the

ACPR and EVM simulation results.”

TriQuint Semiconductor

customer comments

AWR GaAs Foundry Partners Cree Inc.

Global Communications Semiconductors (GCS)

Northrop Grumman Space Technology

OMMIC

RFMD

TriQuint Semiconductor

United Monolithic Semiconductors (UMS)

WIN Semiconductors

AWR TVVisit AWR TV™ for a comprehensive “one-stop” multimedia resource center

containing product information, tutorial presentations, and application-

specifi c software demonstrations for MMICs.

USACorporate Headquarters

AWR Corporation

1960 E. Grand Avenue, Suite 430

El Segundo, CA 90245

+1 310 726 3000

+1 310 726 3005 (fax)

JapanAWR Japan KK

Level 5, 711 Building

7-11-18 Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku

Tokyo 160-0023 Japan

+81 3 5937 4803

UKAWR UK

2 Hunting Gate

Hitchin, Herts

SG4 0TJ, UK

+44 (0) 1462 428 428

FinlandAWR – APLAC

Lars Sonckin kaari 16

FI-02600 Espoo, Finland

+358 10 834 5900

FranceAWR France

140 Avenue Champs Elysees

75008 Paris, France

+33 1 70 36 19 63

www.awrcorp.comwww.awr.tv

Copyright © 2009 AWR Corporation. All rights reserved. AWR and the AWR logo, Microwave Offi ce and APLAC are registered trademarks and Visual System Simulator, AXIEM, ACE, Analyst, AWR Design Environment, Unifi ed Data Model, EMSight, Intelligent Net, and X-model are trademarks of AWR Corporation. All others are the property of their respective holders.

www.awr.tv