GlobalFoundries of Santa Clara, CA, USA (one of the world's largest semiconductor foundries, with more than 250 customers and operations in Singapore, Germany and the USA) has announced the availability of a new set of process design kits (PDKs) with an interoperable co-design flow to help chip designers improve design efficiency and deliver differentiated RF front-end solutions in increasingly sophisticated mobile devices.
GlobalFoundries claims that its RF silicon-on-insulator (RF SOI) technologies offer significant performance, integration and area advantages in front-end RF solutions for mobile devices and RF chips for high-frequency, high-bandwidth wireless infrastructure applications. The firm says that its most advanced 7SW SOI RF technology is optimized for multi-band RF switching in next-generation smartphones, and is poised to drive innovation in Internet of Things (IoT) applications.
The challenges of high-frequency and large-signal design in these applications have increased the need for an interoperable co-design flow, notes GlobalFoundries. Designed for use with Keysight Technologies' Advanced Design System (ADS) electronic design automation (EDA) software, the new 7SW SOI PDKs allow designers to edit their designs in ADS using a single Si2 OpenAccess database without any interference.
The RFIC interoperability simplifies the design process by enabling the user to work from a single design database in ADS. This allows the user to edit and simulate schematic designs created in ADS. The same is true for layout where, for example, a user can open an IC layout cell view in ADS, instantiate the cell within a package or module, and then run an electromagnetic simulation on the complete design to validate its overall system performance.
"After releasing the first co-design PDK for our 5PAe silicon germanium (SiGe) offering, we are now extending our coverage of ADS PDK to our most advanced RF SOI technology, 7SW SOI. Our 7SW platform, with superior LNA [low-noise amplifiers], switch devices, and trap-rich substrates, offers improved devices reception, interference rejection, and battery life for fewer dropped calls and longer talk time," says Peter Rabbeni, senior director of RF product marketing and business development. "Our RF SOI technology has gained significant industry traction for cellular front-end module applications, and the new RFIC interoperability feature will allow us to provide our 7SW customers additional design flexibility with a single PDK," he adds.
"GlobalFoundries customers can now access ADS' dedicated RF design flow tools based on an OpenAccess based silicon PDK," notes Volker Blaschke, Silicon RFIC product marketing manager at Keysight EEsof EDA. "The new interoperability feature facilitates the design process by using a single OpenAccess design data library, removing redundant steps of keeping the design across different EDA environments in sync."