In part one of this application note we had discussed basic design concepts and simulation methods for “printed” PCB antennas. Now in this second part, we will discuss advanced topics:
For design and simulation, Microwave Office v11 with the Axiem and Analyst EM simulators is used.
This document describes the design and simulation of simple PCB antennas for 2.4GHz and 5.6GHz with Microwave Office and the Axiem EM simulator. The first example shows a 2.4GHz single band antenna. The second example then shows a dual band version for 2.4GHz and 5.6GHz. Finally, we will investigate the sensitivity to PCB material tolerances.
From 1. November 2014 until 31. Dezember 2014 we offer Inductor Toolkit with a tremendous discount. For details and prices, please see the attached product flyer.
RFIC_Inductor_Toolkit_generic_datasheet
For more information on Inductor Toolkit, please visit the product page.
An evaluation version for GPDK 180nm is available here.
Mühlhaus RFIC Inductor Toolkit for ADS is an automated solution to find the best possible RFIC inductor layout, with EM accurate results. From 1. Nov 2014 until 31 Dec 2014, the special edition for IHP technologies is available with a massive discount.
https://muehlhaus.com/products/rfic-inductor-toolkit-for-ads/rfic-inductor-toolkit-ihpupgrade
This appnote discusses the useful, but widely unknown Edge/Area Pins in Momentum EM simulation, based on a power amplifier PCB example.
There are some good uses for ports with an explicit (-) ground reference. Using them for SMD elements, where a device is included as 1-port with (+) on one pad and (-) on the other pad, is not a good idea in most cases. Used in the wrong context, you can get totally unexpected results from differential ports. You really need to understand what these ports physically mean for your model.
Semiconductor foundry IHP has licensed Inductor Toolkit for ADS, and now provides this automated inductor synthesis solution to their foundry customers at no cost. Based on target inductance and target frequency, the software will find the inductor geometry with best performance (highest Q factor).
Available layouts include IHP’s octagon shaped with/without center tap. Additional inductor layouts (different shapes, stacked metal, ground shield, localized backside etching) are available as a payed upgrade.
https://muehlhaus.com/products/rfic-inductor-toolkit-for-ads
IHP customers can download Inductor Toolkit PDK for SG25H, SGB25 and SG13 from the IHP designkit server. ADS2012.08 or later is required (not included).
Last July, we published an application note on automated via merging in ADS. The only downside if this approach is the initial setup work, to configure via merging once for a library or PDK. This is no rocket science, but it must be done with care and takes some time. Could we possibly automate this?
YES! The new Retrofit Viamerge tool does the work for you, and automaticaly creates a new substrate version for automatic viamerging. This makes it very easy to add via merging with derived layers to an existing library or PDK, without manual setup work.
Mühlhaus Circuit Model Fit for ADS is all you need to create accurate, reliable equivalent circuit models from RFIC inductor S-parameters.
In most EM simulations of on-chip layouts, the passivation is assumed planar, so that we can easily simulate it with Sonnet or Momentum. However, in real life the top metal is often coated with a conformal passivation.
In many cases, the accuracy of that planar EM simulation is fine. But how about a more accurate test with the Full-3D FEM solver built into ADS? That’s what this application note is about: configure ADS to automatically build the correct, full 3D passivation for FEM simulation.
EM models with full 3D Passivation for FEM simulation