RF Design

Modeling Oscillators with Arbitrary Phase Noise Profiles

Tawna — Thu, 24 May 2012 13:00:00 GMT

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....(read more)

Measuring 2-Tone Intermodulation Using Envelope-Following Analysis

Tawna — Wed, 16 May 2012 15:01:00 GMT

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...(read more)

Guidelines for Maximizing Speed vs. Accuracy in SpectreRF simulations - Part 3

Tawna — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 20:44:00 GMT

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...(read more)

SpectreRF AppNotes and Tutorials....Still One of our Best Kept Secrets!

Tawna — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 23:25:00 GMT

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...(read more)

Nport Application Note has been Updated and Re-Released

Tawna — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 14:00:00 GMT

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...(read more)

Guidelines for Maximizing Speed vs Accuracy for Harmonic Balance - Part 2

Tawna — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 23:00:00 GMT

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...(read more)

Guidelines for Maximizing Speed vs Accuracy for Harmonic Balance - Part 1

Tawna — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 19:00:00 GMT

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...(read more)

Measuring Fmax for MOS Transistors

Art3 — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 15:00:00 GMT

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...(read more)

Guidelines for Setting Pnoise/HBnoise Sidebands to Get Accurate Results

Tawna — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 22:00:00 GMT

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...(read more)

Q&A: TI Wireless Team Describes Advanced Phase-Noise Characterization for RF Oscillators Using SpectreRF

helenet — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 19:00:00 GMT

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...(read more)