Virtuoso Meets Maxwell: Improving Manufacturability and Yield

'Virtuoso Meets Maxwell' is a blog series aimed at exploring the capabilities and potential of Virtuoso® RF Solution and Virtuoso MultiTech. So, how does Virtuoso meet Maxwell? Now, Virtuoso platform supports RF designs, and the RF designers measure the physical and radiation effects by using Maxwell's equations. In addition to providing insights into the useful software enhancements, this series broadcasts the voices of different bloggers and experts about their knowledge and experience of various tools in the Virtuoso IC-Packaging world, along with the nuances of RF, microwave, and high-frequency designs. Watch out for our posts on Mondays.

For analog and high-speed circuits, or areas of a design where shock and vibration to the design might disrupt connections, adding fillets to your design is probably the solution to improve yield and manufacturability. The fillet capability is another remarkable addition to our existing Virtuoso RF solution features portfolio.

What are Fillets?

Fillets are the blending area of a cline entry into a pad, while tapers are the gradual transition from one line-width to another along a path. Today, these two core concepts appear in nearly any PCB or IC package substrate. They act to smoothen the intersection of the two objects, eliminating acute angle acid traps while also contributing to better signal integrity along the path.

Let’s now delve and take advantage of the fillet capabilities within Virtuoso RF solution, which are available to you in ICADVM20.1, through all phases of the design cycle.

The fillet feature has been introduced within the Metal Density toolbar in the Virtuoso RF solution environment. It is the second last button on the toolbar. You can see different modes of fillet creation and deletion in the Fillet menu.

The last button on the toolbar brings up the Metal Density Options form.

In the Fillet tab of the Metal Density Options form, you can 

• Choose the type of fillet that you want to create, curved or linear.

• Control fillet parameters such as Offset, Max Angle, Desired angle, Min/Max Line Width in the Parameters section.

• Choose the objects, such as Paths, Vias, T connections, Bond Fingers, Pins, and Pad without drills, to create fillets.

Note: For Paths, you can control if the fillets are created on any type of topology, T-Connections, or Tapered Traces.

• Choose the type of shapes on which to create fillets; Circle, Square, Rectangle, and Oblong are supported.

Related Resources

• Fillet Creation
• Fillet Tab
• Create Fillet
• Fillet Creation Between Curved Path and Other Objects

For more information on Cadence circuit design products and services, visit www.cadence.com.

About Virtuoso Meets Maxwell

Virtuoso Meets Maxwell series includes posts about the next-generation die, package, and board design flow with a focus on reinventing and optimizing the design process to ensure that the designer remains a designer!

Keep watching! 

Fabien Campana and Parul Agarwal