• Home
  • :
  • Community
  • :
  • Blogs
  • :
  • RF Design

RF Design Blogs

Cadence Community
Cadence Community
  • Site
  • Community Search
  • User
Cadence Members

Login with a Cadence account.

LOG IN

Not a member yet?

Register | Membership benefits
Subscriptions

Get email delivery of the Cadence blog featured here

  • All Blog Categories
  • Breakfast Bytes
  • Cadence Academic Network
  • Cadence on the Beat
  • Cadence Support
  • Custom IC Design
  • 定制IC芯片设计
  • Digital Implementation
  • Functional Verification
  • IC Packaging and SiP Design
  • The India Circuit
  • Insights on Culture
  • Mixed-Signal Design
  • PCB Design
  • PCB、IC封装:设计与仿真分析
  • RF Design
  • Signal and Power Integrity (PCB/IC Packaging)
  • Silicon Signoff
  • Spotlight Taiwan
  • System Design and Verification
  • Tensilica, Design, and Verification IP
  • Whiteboard Wednesdays
  • Archive
    • Industry Insights
    • Logic Design
    • Low Power
    • The Design Chronicles
  • Tawna
    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...
    2 Comments
    TAGS:
    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
  • Tawna
    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 Tr...
    4 Comments
    TAGS:
    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
  • Tawna
    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...
    0 Comments
    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
  • Art3
    Measuring Fmax for MOS Transistors
    By Art3 | 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...
    2 Comments
    TAGS:
    RF | RF Simulation | analog/RF | Circuit simulation | RFIC | bipolar transistor | MOS transistors | measuring Fmax | Virtuoso | Fmax | RF design | fmax testbench | simulation | bsim3v3
  • Tawna
    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 sideban...
    2 Comments
    TAGS:
    RF | RF Simulation | analog/RF | HBnoise | shooting newton | HB | Spectre RF | pnoise | RF spectre spectreRF | spectreRF | RF design | harmonic balance | pss
  • helenet
    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...
    0 Comments
    TAGS:
    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
  • Tawna
    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...
    4 Comments
    TAGS:
    nport | RF | RF Simulation | Circuit simulation | RFIC | Spectre RF | Analog Simulation | nport settings | Spectre | analogLib
  • Tawna
    Tips for Simulating a Transmit Mixer in SpectreRF
    By Tawna | 10 Mar 2011
    Some typical questions that I receive from newer SpectreRF users are: How do I simulate a transmit mixer? How do I look at both upper and lower sidebands? How do I set up my simulation for PAC and Pnoise? When I plot my data, how do the indexes correspond...
    6 Comments
    TAGS:
    RF | RF Simulation | Spectre RF | ADE-L | Analog Simulation | MMSIM | spectreRF | Spectre | RF design | harmonic balance | mixer
  • Art3
    Measuring Transistor fmax
    By Art3 | 7 Dec 2010
    There were several questions about measuring transistor f max in comments posted to my previous Measuring Transistor f t and Simulating MOS Transistor f t blog posts. So in this posting we will look at simulating transistor s-parameters and device characteristics...
    4 Comments
  • Tawna
    New Fast Envelope in MMSIM10.1 is *Really* Fast and Accurate!
    By Tawna | 15 Nov 2010
    Traditionally, envelope analysis is used to simulate circuits with modulated inputs. Envelope analysis is much faster than transient simulation, and is used for simulating spectral regrowth. Regular envelope analysis is "brute force" transistor-level...
    0 Comments
    TAGS:
    RF | envelope | MMSIM | fast envelope | simulation
  • Tawna
    Virtuoso APS Supports RF Analyses in MMSIM 7.2 and MMSIM 10.1
    By Tawna | 29 Oct 2010
    A new multi-threading capability has greatly improved simulation speed for RF Designers! In MMSIM7.2, we introduced APS for Harmonic Balance analyses (multi-threaded harmonic balance simulation). In MMSIM10.1, we added support for APS in Shooting PSS...
    0 Comments
    TAGS:
    RF | APS | MMSIMM | spectreRF | Spectre
  • Art3
    Measure Twice, Cut Once for Transistor ft
    By Art3 | 6 Oct 2010
    Recently there was an inquiry about the methodology for performing the f t (transition frequency) versus Ic measurement described in my Measuring Transistor f t blog post from July 2008: By bid75 on September 8, 2010 I am unable to understand how ft vs. Ic...
    2 Comments
    TAGS:
    RF | Ft | ADE-L | Analog Simulation | Measuring Transistor ft | transistor | Analysis | ADE | Virtuoso | parametric | sweep
  • Tawna
    New Time-Saving Feature in IC6.1.4 ISR2: Plot S-Parameter Data Directly From ViVA!
    By Tawna | 20 May 2010
    If you haven't heard about it....there is a new feature in IC6.1.4 ISR2 which makes troubleshooting circuits containing nports ( s-parameters ) much easier and faster! Starting i n IC6.1.4 ISR2, you can now plot s-parameters directly in ViVA (without having...
    0 Comments
    TAGS:
    RFIC | Virtuoso Spectre | Spectre RF | ADE-L | RF designer | MMSIM | Spectre | ViVA | RF design | Circuit Design | harmonic balance | pss
  • Hany
    Using RF Simulation Technology for Analog Applications
    By Hany | 18 May 2010
    The particular nature of analog circuits puts restrictive requirements on circuit simulators. The EDA industry has introduced proven shortcuts to deliver simulation speed and accuracy for specific applications, e.g. Harmonic Balance for RF and partitioning...
    3 Comments
    TAGS:
    RF Simulation | Analog Simulation | RF design | Analog Smart
  • Tawna
    Using The Composite Triple Beat Source to Speed up QPSS Analysis
    By Tawna | 14 Jan 2010
    Say you have a design with 4 input frequencies: 3164M (vco), 1449M (tone0), 1456M (tone1), 1442M (tone2). Currently when you do a qpss analysis, you are inserting a total of 4 separate ports in your schematic and running a simulation. There is a divide...
    3 Comments
    TAGS:
    RFIC | QPSS Analysis | CTB | Virtuoso Spectre | Spectre RF | MMSIM | RF Block Simulation | Virtuoso Spectre Simulator GXL | Virtuoso Spectre Simulator XL | spectreRF | RF design | harmonic balance | Composite Triple Beat
  • Tawna
    NPORT S-Parameter Model Enhancements
    By Tawna | 30 Dec 2009
    In MMSIM 7.2, two new parameters have been added to the Spectre nport primitive: datatrunc and causality . In MMSIM 7.1, passivity checking was added. The nport now has causality correction, passivity checking and enforcement, and the ability to remove...
    1 Comments
    TAGS:
    Circuit simulation | MMSIM71 | RFIC | Virtuoso Spectre | Spectre RF | MMSIM | RF Block Simulation | Virtuoso Spectre Simulator GXL | Virtuoso Spectre Simulator XL | spectreRF | Spectre | RF design | Circuit Design | harmonic balance
  • Analyzing Distortion With Spectre RF
    By Art3 | 18 Dec 2009
    Greetings, In the previous appends, we looked at using Shooting Newton Periodic Steady-State analysis to analyze analog circuits. In this append, we will look at using Harmonic Balance Periodic Steady-State, HBPSS, to analyze analog circuits. HBPSS is...
    5 Comments
    TAGS:
    Spectre RF | RF design | pss | FFT | Distortion
  • alanw
    RF Measurement Library: Capturing Circuit Characterization Setups on the Schematic
    By alanw | 16 Jul 2009
    Another design approach that Cadence supports that may not be obvious to all users… The process of setting up a circuit simulation has historically been one of setting up all of the simulation control parameters (i.e. which analysis you want...
    5 Comments
    TAGS:
    Circuit simulation | RFIC | custom design | RF design | design framework | RF Measurement library
  • Periodic Steady-State Analysis for DC-to-DC Converters
    By Art3 | 30 Jun 2009
    In " Spectre RF by any other name ...", a non-RF application for Spectre RF's periodic steady-state analysis was introduced. An example of using periodic steady-state analysis [PSS] to simulate the dynamic performance: THD and SFDR, of a switched...
    10 Comments
    TAGS:
    DAC | shooting newton | Spectre RF | THD | DC-to-DC converters | RF design | pss | SFDR
  • Hany
    Join us at the Cadence booth at the International Microwave Symposium
    By Hany | 8 Jun 2009
    If you listened to Tom's advice on this blog two months ago and registered for the International Microwave Symposium or the RFIC symposium, then you should be at the Boston Convention center now enjoying RFIC talks. Please remember that we are waiting...
    0 Comments
    TAGS:
    RFIC | Spectre RF | Virtuoso | RF design | International Microwave Symposium
  • helenet
    Enhanced pnoise Algorithm to Compute Phase-Noise for VCOs with Bandgap Voltage Reference
    By helenet | 1 May 2009
    Accurate phase-noise characterization is critical in the design of RF and microwave communication systems. SpectreRF ’s shooting PSS/Pnoise analysis has been the golden simulator for the phase-noise simulation, and close correlation between the simulation...
    2 Comments
    TAGS:
    DC | MMSIM | IC Voltage | RF design | VCO
  • TomC
    2009 RFIC Symposium in Boston - Are You Going?
    By TomC | 27 Apr 2009
    If you are an RFIC designer then I hope you are planning on attending the 2009 RFIC Symposium and the International Microwave Symposium (IMS) which will be held in Boston, Massachusetts, as the centerpieces of Microwave Week 2009, scheduled from Sunday...
    1 Comments
    TAGS:
    RFIC | Virtuoso Spectre Simulator XL | spectreRF | Spectre | RF design | Circuit Design | harmonic balance | wireless integrated circuit verification
  • Art3
    Spectre RF By Any Other Name ...
    By Art3 | 22 Apr 2009
    It has been a while since I last appende d , hope you are well! It was a little bit difficult to come up with a subject to write about and then recently I was in a meeting where we were talking about transient noise analysis. A designer was discussing...
    6 Comments
    TAGS:
    DAC | ADC | Spectre RF | RF design
  • dondnile
    Setting VIVA Waveform Color Defaults When Using ADE
    By dondnile | 21 Apr 2009
    I found myself getting a little bit frustrated with some of the default colors that would come up in the VIVA waveform tool while I was plotting from the Analog Design Environment (ADE). After working with Kabir, the Product Engineer for VIVA, I discovered...
    7 Comments
    TAGS:
    MMSIM71 | Virtuoso Spectre | spectreRF | Spectre | RF design
  • dondnile
    Setting Up Harmonic Balance - Part 1
    By dondnile | 18 Mar 2009
    This is the first of a series of Blogs to talk about how to fill out the forms for Harmonic Balance . I will include our suggested settings and some helpful hints. I will add to these over time as new things come up both from us and our customer base. ...
    3 Comments
    TAGS:
    MMSIM71 | Spectre RF | spectreRF | RF design | harmonic balance
<>