AWR to Develop a Design Platform for TSMC's 0.35-micron SiGe next-generation, high-performance wireless ICs

To meet growing demand in the wireless radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC) market for a capable, cost-effective RFIC design platform, Applied Wave Research, Inc. (AWR™), a leading provider of high-frequency electronic design automation (EDA) tools, today announced a corporate agreement with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Ltd. (TSMC) (TAIEX: 2330, NYSE:TSM) to jointly develop and deliver a design platform for TSMC's 0.35-micron silicon germanium (SiGe) process. The platform will include AWR's Analog Office™ RFIC design software, a TSMC 0.35-micron SiGe process design kit (PDK) based on open software standards, and an end-user full product support package.

Under the agreement, TSMC and AWR will develop a new set of process-calibrated and process-tuned device models for the TSMC 0.35-micron SiGe process. The model set will include the most advanced and accurate HICUM bipolar transistor models as well as a comprehensive set of accurately tuned spiral inductor models. XMOD Technologies, http://www.xmodtech.com, a company specializing in RF device modeling, will provide the geometry scalable HICUM model libraries. The new models will enable analog and RFIC designers to develop next-generation, high-performance wireless ICs quickly and easily, leveraging the full capability of the advanced SiGe process, and with full confidence that the circuits will perform as designed in silicon. The newly developed models will be packaged as part of a complete PDK based on the AWR unified data model and other open software platforms.

"AWR welcomes the opportunity to work with the world's most successful dedicated independent semiconductor foundry," said James Spoto, AWR president and CEO. "The combination of AWR's RF design software expertise and TSMC's semiconductor manufacturing leadership will result in a top quality, validated SiGe PDK that will greatly benefit not only the customers of both companies, but the high-frequency design community as a whole."

"A cost-effective RFIC design platform will be a welcome addition to the growing RF wireless design community worldwide, and particularly to emerging design markets," said Edward Wan, senior director of design services marketing for TSMC. "Our collaboration with AWR will provide advanced RF models and PDKs that differentiate TSMC RF process offerings, and will also allow us to more fully meet the library/PDK customization needs of customers."

About Analog Office™
The Analog Office solution is the first complete IC design system in over a decade that is specifically architected and optimized from the ground up for analog and RFIC designs. The 2004 version has been enhanced to provide the industry's most open, unified design environment, offering full interaction with a comprehensive and powerful set of integrated tools. The toolset spans the entire IC design flow, from system-level to circuit-level design and verification, for complete top-to-bottom and front-to-back analog and RFIC design.

Source: Applied Wave Research Inc.

Related stories:

MIT team aims to optimize chip designs
Computer chips inside high-speed communication devices have become so small that tiny variations which occur during chip fabrication can make a big difference in performance.
Researchers Set Speed Record for Silicon-Based Chips
A research team from IBM and the Georgia Institute of Technology has demonstrated the first silicon-germanium transistor able to operate at frequencies above 500 GHz. Though the record performance was attained at extremely cold temperatures, the results suggest that the upper bound for performance in silicon-germanium devices may be higher than originally expected.
Nanoengineered Silicon-Germanium Improves Chips
Georgia Tech scientists and engineers are pursuing the dictum that “smaller is better” to develop a new breed of highly-integrated silicon-based microchips capable of operating in ultra-sophisticated radar systems – and in new generations of NASA spacecraft.
Philips announces a silicon-based BiCMOS technology for emerging microwave applications
Royal Philips Electronics today introduced QUBiC4X, the latest addition to its highly successful QUBiC4 family of high-performance BiCMOS (Bipolar CMOS) process technologies. Based on silicon-germanium-carbon (SiGe:C) technology, this new process features bipolar transistors with fT figures in excess of 130 GHz, suiting it to microwave applications in the 10 GHz to 30 GHz range such as satellite TV receivers and automotive collision avoidance radars. Its ultra-low noise figure suits the process for use in sensitive RF receivers such as those required in high-performance mobile phones.
New silicon germanium technology blooms at IBM
New technology for silicon germanium processors promises to reduce the cost of mobile consumer products, advance high-bandwidth wireless communications, and push such innovations as collision-avoidance automobile radar.
Low-power voltage controlled oscillators in 90nm CMOS using high-quality thin-film post-processed inductors
IMEC realized a 5GHz and 15GHz low-power voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) by post-processing high-quality (Q) inductors on top of 90nm RF CMOS devices using a thin-film wafer-level packaging (WLP) technology. These results prove that IMEC’s WLP technology is a promising solution for the integration of low-power high-performance RF and microwave systems.
Infineon Demonstrated New Tunneling FET Enabling Scalable Ultra-Low Voltage Processes in Standard Silicon Technology
Infineon Demonstrated New Tunneling Field Effect Transistors Enabling Scalable Ultra-Low Voltage Processes in Standard Silicon Technology
At the 2004 IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM) in San Francisco (December 13 – 15, 2004) scientists from Infineon Technologies AG introduced several papers representing outstanding achievements each. Together with the Technical University of Munich the company presented a new scalable transistor concept enabling low voltage digital and analog circuits. For the first time ever, complementary Tunneling Field Effect Transistors (TFETs) are fabricated in a standard silicon process with good performance for static and dynamic parameters.
SiGe Semiconductor’s GPS Radio Enables the Industry’s Best Combination of Performance, Integration and Power Efficiency
SiGe Semiconductor today announced that the award winning SE4100 GPS radio IC has been integrated into a series of cost-effective, high-performance modules by Tyco Electronics. The modules leverage the industry-leading combination of low power consumption and high integration of the SE4100 to enable location-based services in a range of automotive telematic and portable consumer electronic devices.

News discussion:

Technology news