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Cadence Presenting Four Spectre RF MicroApp Papers at IMS2016, May 22-27

By Tawna | 16 May 2016

Hello Spectre RF Users, Next week is my all time favorite technical conference - the International Microwave Symposium IMS2016 , May 22-27 in San Francisco, CA at the Moscone Center. If you're at the conference, please stop by the Cadence booth and say hello. I really enjoy meeting my customers "live and in person" at these events. My colleagues and I will be presenting four MicroApp papers: •...

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RF | RF Simulation | wireless | analog/RF | HBnoise | Circuit simulation | Wilsey | HB | Spectre RF | pnoise | phase noise | Schaldenbrand | spectreRF | RF design | harmonic balance | pss
Distortion Summary in New CDNLive YouTube Video and at IEEE IMS2014 Next Week!

By Tawna | 30 May 2014

Hi Folks, Check out this great new video on YouTube: CDNLive SV 2014: PMC Improves Visibility and Performance with Spectre APS In this video from CDNLive Silicon Valley 2014, Jurgen Hissen, principal engineer, MSCAD, at PMC, discusses an aggressive RF design with distortion problems in the lab, and how a solution was developed in collaboration with Cadence® FAEs using the distortion summary feature in Cadence...

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Wilsey | Spectre RF | spectreRF | RF design | harmonic balance | Distortion
How to Specify Phase Noise as an Instance Parameter in Spectre Sources (e.g. vsource, isource, Port)

By Tawna | 20 May 2014

Last year, I wrote a blog post entitled Modeling Oscillators with Arbitrary Phase Noise Profiles . We now have an easier way to do this. Starting in MMSIM 13.1 , you can specify the phase noise as an instance parameter in Spectre sources, including port, vsource and isource. The use model is similar to the existing noise file/noise vector approach. The only difference is the addition of a Noise type parameter, which...

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Spectre RF | phase noise | spectreRF | analogLib | port | noise profiles
See Cadence RF Technologies at IEEE International Microwave Symposium 2014

By Nebabie | 8 May 2014

RF Enthusiasts, Come connect with Cadence RF experts and discover the latest advances in Cadence RF technologies, including Spectre RF at the IEEE International Microwave Symposium (IMS) 2014. This year, IMS will be held in Tampa, Florida. Cadence will provide technical papers, partner presentations, and MicroApps presentations in the theater. We're excited to be a gold sponsor for the RFIC conference as a part...

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RF Simulation | IMS | RFIC | Spectre RF | Virtuoso | International Microwave Symposium | IEEE
Broadband SPICE -- New Tool for S-Parameter Simulation in Spectre RF

By Tawna | 24 Apr 2014

Hi All, Here's another great new feature that I've found very helpful... Broadband SPICE is a new tool for S-parameter simulation in Spectre RF. In the MMSIM13.1.1 ( MMSIM13.1 USR1) release (now available on http://downloads.cadence.com), a new interpolation method, bbspice , has been introduced. The bbspice interpolation method generates the S-parameter macro models suitable for transient simulation...

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nport | Spectre RF | broadband SPICE | nport settings | Spectre | s parameter simulation
New Memory Estimator Helps Determine Amount of Memory Required for Large Harmonic Balance Simulations

By Tawna | 24 Apr 2014

Hi Folks, A question that I've often received from designers, "Is there a method to determine the amount of memory required before I submit a job? I use distributed processing and need to provide an estimate before submitting jobs." The answer is yes! And this feature has helped me personally when submitting large harmonic balance simulation jobs. MMSIM 13.1 ISR 6 and MMSIM 13.1 USR1 include a new...

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HB | Spectre RF | MMSIM | spectreRF | harmonic balance | memory estimator
Have You Tried the New Transmission Line Library (rfTlineLib)?

By Tawna | 3 Jan 2014

Happy New Year! Have you tried the new Transmission Line Library (rfTlineLib) yet? In case you missed it, rfTlineLib was introduced in IC 6.1.6 ISR1 plus MMSIM 12.1.1 -or- MMSIM13.1. You may wonder....Why should I use the new rfTlineLib ? Well.....here are a few reasons: Accurate and robust Consistent between time and frequency-domain: Causal modeling approach ensures identical results in frequency vs...

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RF | RF Simulation | transmission line | RFIC | Wilsey | Spectre RF | rfTlineLib | spectreRF | SpectreRF tutorials
SpectreRF Tutorials and Appnotes... Shhhh... We Have a NEW Best Kept Secret!

By Tawna | 17 Dec 2013

It's been a while since you've heard from me...it has been a busy year for sure. One of the reasons I've been so quiet is that I was part of a team working diligently on our latest best kept secret: The MMSIM 12.1.1/MMSIM 13.1 Documentation has been completely revised. It is a great source of information! Yeah, I know...you hear the word "documentation" and think UGH...the brain shuts off....

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RF Simulation | wireless | Wilsey | tutorial | spectreRF | Appnote | RF design | transmission lines | harmonic balance | SpectreRF tutorials
SpectreRF at 2013 IEEE/MTT-S International Microwave Symposium in Seattle, Washington

By Tawna | 23 May 2013

If you are attending the International Microwave Symposium ( IMS 2013 ) in Seattle (June 2-7, 2013) stop by the Cadence Design Systems booth, #427. We will be showing new MMSIM12.1.1 features including “Smart” HB GUI, Robust and easy to use nport (for s-parameter input), and the Transmission Line library workshop. Looking forward to seeing you! Best regards, Tawna

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nport | RF | RF Simulation | analog/RF | Circuit simulation | RFIC | Wilsey | shooting newton | Virtuoso Spectre | HB | Spectre RF | ADE-L | Analog Simulation | nport settings | MMSIM 12.1 | RF spectre spectreRF | spectreRF | RF design | International Microwave Symposium | harmonic balance
Simulating Crystal Oscillators is Much Easier in MMSIM12.1 - Part 2

By Tawna | 20 Dec 2012

Greetings, Simulating crystal oscillators got a lot easier in MMSIM12.1... We have made enhancements to both Harmonic Balance and transient analyses. In Part 1 , I discussed Improvements to the Harmonic Balance use model. With the new streamlined Choosing Analyses form, you now can focus on getting your simulation results, rather than the setup of the analysis. Now, in Part 2, I'll cover Improvements to transient...

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RF | RF Simulation | analog/RF | APS | Circuit simulation | Virtuoso Spectre | HB | Spectre RF | Analog Simulation | MMSIM | Virtuoso Spectre Simulator GXL | MMSIM 12.1 | analog | Analysis | ADE | Virtuoso Spectre Simulator XL | spectreRF | Spectre | RF design | Circuit Design | VCO | crystal oscillator | Oscillator | simulation
Simulating Crystal Oscillators is Much Easier in MMSIM12.1 - Part 1

By Tawna | 19 Dec 2012

Greetings! Simulating Crystal Oscillators got a lot easier in MMSIM12.1... We have made enhancments to both Harmonic Balance and Transient analyses. In Part 1, I’ll cover Improvements to the Harmonic Balance use model. With a streamlined Choosing Analyses form you can now focus on the simulation results, rather than the setup of the analysis. In Part 2, I'll cover Improvements to transient analysis...

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RF | RF Simulation | analog/RF | 12.1 | HB | Spectre RF | ADE-L | Analog Simulation | MMSIM | MMSIM 12.1 | analog | RF spectre spectreRF | Virtuoso Spectre Simulator XL | spectreRF | RF design | Circuit Design | harmonic balance | VCO | crystal oscillator | Oscillator
MMSIM 12.1 SpectreRF -- Preview of Coming nport Attractions! Part 2

By Tawna | 19 Nov 2012

Greetings, MMSIM 12.1 contains many new features to aid RF designers. Many of these changes are described in my Part 1 blog post. I've saved my favorite for last....here's a preview of the changes to the nport component in MMSIM12.1. 1. The Edit Object Properties/Add Instance form has been revised for better usability. 2 . For most S-parameter files, only the S-Parameter file name and the number of ports need...

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nport | RF | RF Simulation | analog/RF | Circuit simulation | Wilsey | Virtuoso Spectre | HB | Spectre RF | spectre spectreRF | ADE-L | Analog Simulation | MMSIM | nport settings | Virtuoso Spectre Simulator GXL | analog | ADE | RF spectre spectreRF | spectreRF | Spectre | harmonic balance | simulation
MMSIM12.1 SpectreRF Preview of Coming Attractions! - Part 1

By Tawna | 12 Nov 2012

Greetings! MMSIM 12.1 contains many new features to aid RF designers. Here's a preview of the changes... Documentation Improvements The SpectreRF User Guide is being completely rewritten and updated for MMSIM12.1. Check it out - I'm sure you'll really like it! Harmonic Balance Improvements Harmonic balance has been improved in four major ways. When steady-state is detected in the tstab interval, by default...

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RF | RF Simulation | analog/RF | envelope | Circuit simulation | Wilsey | shooting newton | Virtuoso Spectre | HB | Spectre RF | spectre spectreRF | ADE-L | Analog Simulation | MMSIM | fast envelope | analog | ADE | RF spectre spectreRF | spectreRF | Spectre | RF design | harmonic balance
Measuring Bipolar Transistor ft with Fixed Base-Collector Voltage

By Arthur Schaldenbrand | 12 Jun 2012

Recently I had a question from reader. He asked a good question: "How do you to measure a bipolar transistor's ft when the base-collector voltage, Vbc, is fixed?" Attached is a modified version of the testbench that allows a user to measure ft with a fixed Vbc. While the aesthetics are not as pleasing as the original testbench, it does the job. The testbench is shown in Figure 1. The base of the bipolar...

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RF | RF Simulation | fixed base-collector voltage | parametric analysis | RFIC | bipolar transistor | measuring bipolar transistor ft | Schaldenbrand | analog | ADE | Vbc | Virtuoso | ViVA | RF design | transistor ft | testbench
Modeling Oscillators with Arbitrary Phase Noise Profiles

By Tawna | 24 May 2012

When you need to include noisy oscillators in SpectreRF transceiver simulations, you have at least 3 options: 1) Semi-autonomous simulation is the most accurate approach, recommended whenever the transistor-level model of the oscillator is available. 2) rfLib/osc model is less accurate but it’s well-suited for "what-if" design exploration. Since rfLib/osc uses Leeson’s noise formula, it doesn’t...

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RF | RF Simulation | analog/RF | APS | HBnoise | Circuit simulation | RFIC | Virtuoso Spectre | HB | Spectre RF | Analog Simulation | MMSIM | pnoise | phase noise | Virtuoso Spectre Simulator GXL | analog | ADE | Spectre | RF design | harmonic balance | VCO | Oscillator | simulation | noise profiles
Measuring 2-Tone Intermodulation Using Envelope-Following Analysis

By Tawna | 16 May 2012

From time to time, SpectreRF users simulate very large, extracted-view circuits in 2+ tone QPSS. In many of those cases, memory requirements exceed the available resources. When that happens and small-signal approximations aren’t applicable, the user is typically stuck. The solution below and attached database describe a technique that achieves an order-of-magnitude reduction in memory requirements by converting...

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RF | RF Simulation | analog/RF | envelope | RFIC | HB | Spectre RF | spectre spectreRF | RF designer | Analog Simulation | MMSIM | RF Block Simulation | Virtuoso Spectre Simulator GXL | fast envelope | analog | ADE | RF spectre spectreRF | spectreRF | Spectre | RF design | harmonic balance | SpectreRF tutorials | simulation | wireless integrated circuit verification
Guidelines for Maximizing Speed vs. Accuracy in SpectreRF simulations - Part 3

By Tawna | 7 Mar 2012

Several months ago, I started a 3 part series on Guidelines for Maximizing Speed vs Accuracy for Harmonic Balance simulations. Today, I'll discuss part 3 of the 3 part series consisting of: Which Engine: Spectre or APS? Oversample vs Number of Harmonics Harmonic Trimming The first and second posts in this series can be found here: Guidelines for Maximizing Speed vs Accuracy for Harmonic Balance - Part 1 Guidelines...

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RF | RF Simulation | analog/RF | Circuit simulation | RFIC | QPSS Analysis | shooting newton | HB | Spectre RF | spectre spectreRF | Analog Simulation | MMSIM | RF spectre spectreRF | harmonic trimming | spectreRF | RF design | harmonic balance | mixer
SpectreRF AppNotes and Tutorials....Still One of our Best Kept Secrets!

By Tawna | 16 Jan 2012

Some of you may remember the blog written several years ago " Shhhhh...SpectreRF Tutorials and AppNotes - One of Our Best Kept Secrets ". Well, the more things change...the more things stay the same! The location of these tutorials and appNotes still seems to be one of our best kept secrets! So, I am disclosing (once again) the location of our SpectreRF Tutorials, Appnotes, and Workshops hidden in the MMSIM...

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RF | RF Simulation | analog/RF | APS | HBnoise | envelope | QPSS Analysis | shooting newton | HB | Spectre RF | Spectre AppNotes | MMSIM | pnoise | phase noise | Virtuoso Spectre Simulator GXL | fast envelope | analog | ADE | RF spectre spectreRF | Virtuoso Spectre Simulator XL | Virtuoso | Spectre | RF design | harmonic balance | mixer | VCO | RF Measurement library | pss | SpectreRF tutorials | Oscillator
Nport Application Note has been Updated and Re-Released

By Tawna | 3 Jan 2012

Happy New Year! After many requests, I set aside some time and updated the Using the nport in Spectre and SpectreRF Simulations appNote for MMSIM 11.1. You may download the appNote on Cadence Online Support . More nport enhancements are planned, so stay tuned! If you have any comments or questions, please feel free to contact me via Cadence Online Support by logging a Service Request. Best regards, Tawna Wilsey

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nport | RF | RF Simulation | analog/RF | APS | Virtuoso Spectre | HB | Spectre RF | spectre spectreRF | MMSIM | nport settings | RF Block Simulation | analog | Virtuoso Spectre Simulator XL | spectreRF | Spectre | RF design | harmonic balance
Guidelines for Maximizing Speed vs Accuracy for Harmonic Balance - Part 2

By Tawna | 1 Nov 2011

I am often asked for guidelines on maximizing speed vs. accuracy for SpectreRF harmonic balance simulations . Today, I'll discuss part 2 of the 3 part series consisting of: Which Engine: Spectre or APS? Oversample vs Number of Harmonics Harmonic Trimming The first post in this series focused on the "which engine" question. Another aspect of speed vs accuracy in Harmonic Balance Simulations is specifying...

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RF | RF Simulation | analog/RF | HB | Spectre RF | ADE-L | MMSIM | Virtuoso Spectre Simulator GXL | RF spectre spectreRF | Virtuoso Spectre Simulator XL | spectreRF | RF design | harmonic balance
Guidelines for Maximizing Speed vs Accuracy for Harmonic Balance - Part 1

By Tawna | 7 Oct 2011

Greetings, I am often asked for guidelines on maximizing speed vs. accuracy for SpectreRF harmonic balance simulations. In a series of 3 blogs, I'll discuss some of the "knobs" that you can tweak, those being: * Which Engine: Spectre or APS? * Oversample vs Number of Harmonics * Harmonic Trimming Today, I'll discuss Knob 1. Choosing the appropriate engine....Spectre or APS? The choice between Spectre...

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TAGS:

RF | RF Simulation | analog/RF | APS | HB | Spectre RF | Analog Simulation | Virtuoso Spectre Simulator GXL | ADE | Virtuoso Spectre Simulator XL | spectreRF | RF design | harmonic balance
Measuring Fmax for MOS Transistors

By Arthur Schaldenbrand | 11 Aug 2011

The following question has come up in comments: "How do I measure F max for an MOS transistor?" The measurement methodology -- testbench, analysis, calculator setup, stimulus, etc.-- does not change whether you are measuring bipolar transistors or MOS transistors. On the other hand, the results for MOS transistors often come out looking wrong, or more correctly, non-physical. Before scratching your head...

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RF | RF Simulation | analog/RF | Circuit simulation | RFIC | bipolar transistor | MOS transistors | measuring Fmax | Virtuoso | Fmax | RF design | fmax testbench | simulation | bsim3v3
Guidelines for Setting Pnoise/HBnoise Sidebands to Get Accurate Results

By Tawna | 5 Aug 2011

I get quite a few questions from designers along the lines of "How do I set the number of pss/hb harmonics and pnoise/hbnoise sidebands in order to get accurate results?" Here are some general guidelines that I follow: The number of sidebands ( harmonics ) in the simulation can affect performance. When using pnoise/hbnoise , the upper frequency to be considered for noise folding is set by the Maximum sideband...

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RF | RF Simulation | analog/RF | HBnoise | shooting newton | HB | Spectre RF | pnoise | RF spectre spectreRF | spectreRF | RF design | harmonic balance | pss
Q&A: TI Wireless Team Describes Advanced Phase-Noise Characterization for RF Oscillators Using SpectreRF

By helenet | 15 Jun 2011

In this interview, members of the Texas Instrument wireless group talk about the characterization effort initiated and completed last year between Cadence and IBM using TI RF designs as a pilot. The goal between the two teams was to optimize SpectreRF usage to successfully and efficiently simulate TI RF oscillator designs. This tight collaboration resulted in a publication at DesignCon conference (1). This characterization...

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RF | analog/RF | APS | Circuit simulation | characterization | HB | MMSIM | pnoise | phase noise | analog | Nand Jha | spectreRF | Spectre | Ted Blank | harmonic balance | Texas Instruments | VCO | pss | TI | Oscillator
My Favorite nport Settings for Spectre and SpectreRF

By Tawna | 23 Mar 2011

The nport component located in analogLib can be used in circuits for Spectre and SpectreRF simulations. It is a scattering parameter (S-parameter) based distributed multi-port element. The nport truly is a "black box"… It can be used to model dramatically different systems, such as: lowpass/bandpass systems highpass/bandstop systems allpass systems systems with delay It is nearly i mpossible to have a...

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nport | RF | RF Simulation | Circuit simulation | RFIC | Spectre RF | Analog Simulation | nport settings | Spectre | analogLib

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