Design Palette Creates Thin-Film-On-Glass Circuits

With its ability to integrate numerous passive and semiconductor devices into a single, thin-film-on-glass microcircuit, the PassPort design palette reportedly can reduce significantly the size, cost, component count and tolerance variability of circuits compared to discrete versions. With PassPort, engineers can design, simulate and lay out microcircuits that range from integrated passive devices (IPDs) to single- or multi-function modules, such as VCOs, low-noise amplifiers (LNAs), and complete transceivers. This foundry library, design, simulation and layout tool costs $15,000/seat, with the fabing of a prototype included in the price. The firm is also using PassPort to develop products for sale, with the first being a SMT, 4 x 4 x 1.2-mm, 1.5-2.7-GHz PHEMT LNA module costing $14.95 each/10K.