X-FAB Silicon Foundries SE, the leading analog/mixed-signal and speciality foundry, today announced a collaboration with the prominent computational software vendor, Cadence Design Systems, Inc., in relation to electromagnetic (EM) simulation. As a result, the Cadence EMX Planar 3D Solver is now successfully integrated into the X-FAB RFIC workflow, thereby benefitting X-FAB’s current and future RF platforms. The validation activities carried out via the EMX Solver on X-FAB RF reference designs for low-noise amplifiers, RF switches, filters and passive elements all delivered high-accuracy results within very short timeframes.
By leveraging Cadence’s EMX Solver, X-FAB design engineers can efficiently develop next-generation RF technology for the latest communication standards (including sub-6GHz 5G, mmWave, UWB, etc.), which are enabling technologies for electric vehicle (EV) wireless applications.
Seamlessly incorporated within the Cadence Virtuoso RF Solution, the intuitive EMX Solver quickly provides foundry models with a high degree of accuracy. These help to streamline product development processes and enable the most stringent design specifications to be met. Access to this ultra-fast EM simulator means that X-FAB customers will be able to get their design projects completed earlier, allowing them to gain significant time-to-market advantages.
As part of its 130 nm RF-SOI PDK, X-FAB now plans to supply reference designs that have been characterized using the EMX Solver. These will be distributed to customers in both the communication and automotive sectors. Furthermore, the PDK will include a wide array of inductor models which have all been pre-characterized by the EMX Solver.
According to Dr Greg U’Ren, RF technology director at X-FAB: “Time-efficient and accurate electromagnetic modelling is pivotal for minimizing the number of design iterations associated with RF/mmWave-based projects. Keeping time to market as short as possible is of prime importance, and our clients can now benefit from the Cadence EMX Planar 3D Solver’s capabilities with regard to our RF technologies.”
“X-FAB is Europe’s largest pure-play semiconductor foundry and has been very focused on technologies targeting automotive applications,” said Ben Gu, VP R&D of Multiphysics Systems Analysis at Cadence. “For Cadence, the automotive market is a key priority, and we’re committed to serving our customers with IC design and analysis workflows that enable innovation and shorten time to market. The EMX Solver’s electromagnetic analysis delivers fast and accurate EM models, and through them, customers are empowered to address the most demanding design specifications for automotive-grade quality and safety.“
