Trio announces mmWave RF design flow for TSMC 16FFC
Synopsys, Ansys and Keysight have collaborated to develop a reference flow which is claimed to provide companies with the highest levels of performance, security and reliability for mmWave RF systems on TSMC’s leading process technologies.
The three companies have announced the availability of the new 79GHz mmWave RF design reference flow for the TSMC 16nm FinFET Compact Technology (16FFC). The mmWave design reference flow enables the implementation of reliable, 79GHz transceiver ICs for advanced autonomous systems that require independent operation without human intervention such as automotive radar, 5G connectivity, security applications and environmental monitors.
The new mmWave design reference flow improves the autonomous system’s sensitivity and reliability using a 79GHz transmitter power amplifier design with efficient power conversion, along with a receiver low noise amplifier design with low noise figure. The reference flow integrates the Synopsys Custom Design Family featuring the Synopsys Custom Compiler design environment. This element addresses design challenges including silicon aging and reliability, worst-case corner analysis and efficient and reliable layout generation.
Ansys provides the multi-physics signoff analysis using VeloceRF RF Device Synthesis, RaptorX Electromagnetic Modeling, Exalto EM-aware Parasitic Extraction Signoff and Totem Power Integrity and Reliability Signoff tools.
The third component is from Keysight which provides electromagnetic analysis and circuit simulation using PathWave RFPro and RFIC Design (GoldenGate) tools.
“The modernisation of sensing and perception capabilities using advanced mmWave technology is another step towards realising autonomous systems,” said Sanjay Bali, vice president of strategy and product management for the EDA group at Synopsys. “Our close collaboration with industry leaders including Ansys, Keysight and TSMC provides mutual customers with an open and optimised reference flow that delivers unmatched quality-of-results for advanced mmWave designs,” he continued.
Dan Kochpatcharin, head of TSMC’s design infrastructure management division, added: “The result of our collaboration with Synopsys, Ansys and Keysight will help mutual customers achieve design success with an optimised front-to-back design flow that takes full advantage of the power, performance, area, and productivity benefits of the TSMC 16FFC technology.”
“The need for high-speed frequencies to support next-gen autonomous systems such as navigation, object recognition, decision making and control continues to grow,” said John Lee, vice president and general manager of the electronics, semiconductor, and optics business unit at Ansys. “The combination of our signoff in chip and system multi-physics together with the Synopsys analogue and mixed-signal design and verification solutions and RF design expertise from Keysight results in a robust design reference flow for TSMC’s 16FCC process,” he said.
Niels Faché, vice president and general manager, PathWave Software Solutions at Keysight agreed. “We’ve taken the next step in seamless integration of RFPro with the Synopsys’ Custom Compiler environment to deliver highest levels of electromagnetic simulation accuracy and workflow efficiency. RFPro provides electromagnetic analysis and model generation of passive components and critical nets for autonomous systems targeting TSMC’s 16FFC process technology,” he explained. GoldenGate performs pre- and post-layout RF simulations and verifies the simulation results against TSMC’s reference measured data.
