Standalone and instrument-specific tools augment design and test
The year 2015 has seen several software innovations that augment the design and test processes. Pure-play software companies like OriginLab and Computer Simulation Technology (CST) have 2015 versions of their flagship products, Origin 2015 and CST STUDIO SUITE 2015, respectively, each of which, for the record, put in its initial appearance in the fall of 2014. In January, Keysight Technologies announced the new version of its Advanced Design System: ADS 2015. In addition, Audio Precision, Cascade Microtech, and Keysight introduced software that complements their test-equipment offerings, with applications ranging from audio to RF/microwave frequencies and hundreds of gigahertz data rates.
OriginLab’s Origin 2015 and OriginPro 2015 scientific graphing and data analysis software debuted at the Automotive Testing Expo 2014 in October. The latest version adds more than 100 features and improvements to version 9.1, which was released in October 2013. Key enhancements are ease-of-use features such as collapsible menus, project file search-for string, thumbnail previews of graphs and tooltips displaying folder or window comments in Project Explorer, choice of icon- or details-listing of project contents, a redesigned graph axis dialog, and an improved graph legend with support for bubble scales. Other features include new graphs such as a heat map and 2-D kernel density plots, 3-D batch plotting, user-defined ordering of categorical data for graphing and analysis, a distribution fit tool, repeated ANOVA computations with unbalanced data, and integration with the Python scripting language.
Antoine Couturier, Ph.D., research engineer at the National Institute for Sports in Paris and a beta tester, stated in a press release, “Besides new features such as Python scripting support which will satisfy many researchers and engineers, OriginLab has put special effort into improving usability in Origin 2015. An entirely redesigned axis dialog makes axis customization easy while also providing extended functionality. Thumbnail previews of graphs in Project Explorer and the ability to now search the project to find any metadata associated with various objects simplify working with large projects.”
The company says Origin and OriginPro are used by more than 500,000 registered customers worldwide spanning Fortune Global 500 companies, research institutions, and colleges and universities across various disciplines including physics, chemistry, biology, pharmacology, engineering, and manufacturing.
Origin is available in various forms ranging from a single user package to an institution- or company-wide site license. In multiple-copy licenses, OriginLab offers concurrent license management, allowing you to install the software on as many computers as you need. Origin can be applied as an OEM solution for instrument manufacturers, and a student version also is available.
Electromagnetic simulation
CST debuted CST STUDIO SUITE 2015 at electronica in November and highlighted it at DesignCon 2015 in January. The company said electromagnetic simulation can be of great benefit to electronic engineers interested in signal integrity (SI), power integrity (PI), and electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) on PCBs and packages by making it possible to analyze the performance of virtual prototypes before tape-out. (For those interested specifically in EMC, the company also introduced CST EMC STUDIO at DesignCon; see “Simulation and measurement tools solve emissions problems.“)
To be most effective in the EDA workflow, simulation should be fast and accurate and offer a more detailed understanding of the causes of SI/PI and EMC issues than measurement alone can provide. For this reason, CST is introducing several features in CST STUDIO SUITE 2015 that have been developed to accelerate the simulation process and make it easier for users to analyze and optimize their designs.
Before any simulation can begin, a mesh needs to be created to discretize the structure. CST STUDIO SUITE 2015 introduces a new tetrahedral meshing algorithm that is optimized for printed electronics. This algorithm exploits knowledge of the general structure of imported models such as PCBs and packages to assemble and mesh them much faster. For frequency-domain simulations of complex packages, this can reduce the total meshing time sevenfold.
Another significant feature is the introduction of Pareto frontier optimization for decoupling capacitors. The placement of decoupling capacitors not only can significantly improve the PI performance of a PCB, but also increases the cost of fabrication. With Pareto frontier optimization, the software can automatically balance the two competing design goals and find the combination of capacitors that minimizes the cost while meeting the design requirements.
Alongside these improvements, CST STUDIO SUITE 2015 also includes a range of performance and productivity improvements developed to make the integration of simulation into the EDA workflow easier and more powerful.
RFIC design and interoperability
The new ADS 2015 release from Keysight Technologies’ EEsof Division features silicon RFIC interoperability with Cadence’s Virtuoso and capabilities intended to increase design efficiency. The company says the convergence of GaAs and silicon design, coupled with the move to higher frequencies in silicon designs and their tighter integration into packages or modules, have increased the need for an interoperable co-design flow. Silicon RFIC interoperability in ADS enables users to edit and simulate schematic designs created in either Virtuoso or ADS. Users also can open a Virtuoso 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.
ADS-Virtuoso interoperability works on top of a baseline Virtuoso process development kit (PDK). ADS 2015 is backed by PDK support from a number of RF silicon foundries, with interoperability-enabled PDKs available from TSMC, GLOBALFOUNDRIES, TowerJazz, IBM, and IHP.
In addition to providing users a complete silicon RFIC design platform, GoldenGate, Keysight’s simulation, analysis, and verification software for large-scale RFIC circuit design, now is integrated into ADS 2015. “With the availability of GoldenGate-in-ADS and foundry-interoperable PDKs, we have given our customers access to our leading silicon RFIC circuit simulation technology directly within the ADS platform,” said Joe Civello, ADS product manager for Keysight EEsof EDA, in a press release. “Additionally, the new RFIC cockpit in ADS allows users to use the same Virtuoso simulation test bench and settings directly in ADS.”
Keysight also has updated GoldenGate. Version 2015.01 features a number of enhancements to its simulator, including support for both envelope tracking modulation applications and for multiple, nonharmonically related frequency dividers. Frequency divider coverage enables designers to more accurately predict receiver crosstalk, which is common in LTE-A carrier aggregation simulation. GoldenGate 2015.01 also offers a new multithreaded sparse matrix solver that enables 10% to 50% faster transient simulations.
For designing and validating high-speed digital interconnect, Keysight has introduced its N1930B Physical Layer Test System (PLTS) 2015, the latest release of its signal-integrity test software. A key software enhancement in PLTS 2015 includes an N-port automatic fixture removal feature, which corrects the effects of multiple test fixtures with a single step—reducing the error-correction time by 75% when compared to other traditional error-correction methods, the company reports.
Courtesy of Keysight Technologies
PLTS now provides support for Keysight’s modular PXI vector network analyzers (Figure 1). Leveraging the multiple ports (up to 32) of the PXI VNAs, engineers now can characterize eight differential channels in one measurement. Additionally, the graphical user interface manages more than 900 S-parameters in one data file. When multiple data channels are analyzed at once, additional insight is gained into the device characteristics, and data management is simplified.
Audio test software
Audio Precision announced in January the availability of the latest release, version 4.1, of its APx500 audio test software (Figure 2). The release provides a number of enhancements, including full input bandwidth across all channels for the company’s two-channel (APx555 and APx525) and 16-channel (APx586) analyzers. For both APx555 and 525 analyzers (the latter with option BW52 installed), this means 1 MHz of input bandwidth on both channels. With regards to the APx586, v4.1 software enables up to 90 kHz of input bandwidth across all 16 channels.
Figure 2. APx500 audio test software
Courtesy of Audio Precision
Additional enhancements to the APx software suite include a more flexible choice of filter settings in the signal path, allowing a wider range of cutoff frequencies and improving the user’s ability to fully explore the device under test. Version 4.1 also offers users greater control over the Acoustic Response time window, with either auto or manual setting of the window start time and establishment of an absolute time zero for measurement. This enables accurate loudspeaker measurements even in the presence of high-level reflections.
“These latest enhancements reinforce the power and versatility of AP’s audio test software and our APx Series audio analyzers,” said Dave Schmoldt, Audio Precision CEO, in a press release. “More importantly, each new software release and set of fresh features demonstrate our commitment to our customers and to the advancement of audio test.”
Probe-station software
For its part, Cascade Microtech cites predictions that tens of billions of devices will connect to the Internet by 2020, pumping huge amounts of data through the cloud, requiring leading-edge semiconductor technology to convert that data into information. Semiconductor manufacturers will see requirements for flexibility in test setups to accommodate a wide variety of designs, Cascade says, as demands will grow for increased correlation of instrumentation and equipment that can only be achieved through higher levels of integration.
To assist those manufacturers, this year Cascade announced Velox 2.0, the latest version of its probe-station control software to support emerging demands of data processing, instrument integration, processing flexibility, and higher levels of integration and automation. Velox 2.0 (Figure 3) is a combination of the best attributes of the company’s legacy probe-station control platforms, Nucleus and ProberBench, and is backwards-compatible with all current Cascade Microtech probe systems.
Figure 3. Velox 2.0 probe-station control software
Courtesy of Cascade Microtech
“This latest release of Velox supports collaboration on critical projects, enabling several users to work on a single recipe and share wafer maps across multiple stations. A unified platform accelerates the time to data for process design kits, saving time for the designers and fab engineers,” said Michael Burger, president and CEO, Cascade Microtech, in a press release. “With Velox 2.0, we create an environment in which the prober platform is the common platform for the test executive—turning a probe system into the host for the test and measurement instrumentation. Velox 2.0 will deliver the fastest time to job completion for mixed-environment labs for the vast majority of our customers.”
Velox 2.0 simplifies setup and execution of automated measurements using WaferSync, an exclusive two-way communication link between Velox and Keysight Technologies’ WaferPro Express automated on-wafer measurement software. WaferPro Express provides accurate and repeatable device and component characterization, making it easy to set up and run complex wafer-level test plans. By synchronizing wafer maps and coordinating sub-die information, customers can significantly reduce time to first measurement.
“Market requirements are constantly changing for our customers who design and manufacture semiconductor devices used in everything from the latest cell phones to power grids. Our software engineers are committed to anticipate future requirements while protecting our customers’ probe system capital investment,” said Burger. “This latest evolution of our probe station control software—Velox 2.0—combines all of the power and flexibility of two very popular legacy platforms to deliver productivity enhancements from the lab to the fab.”
The emergence of PAM-4
Everything from audio files and power grid information to phone calls and IoT device data will likely at some point traverse a high-speed digital link. Based on buzz at DesignCon, PAM-4 (pulse amplitude modulation with four amplitude levels) is a strong candidate technology for those links since it offers multilevel signaling to increase data rates without increasing clock rates. To support PAM-4, Keysight also has introduced software designed to help engineers characterize PAM-4 signals using the Keysight 86100D DCA-X wide-bandwidth oscilloscope platform. Keysight 86100D-9FP PAM-N analysis software provides comprehensive analysis of optical and electrical PAM-4 signals.
Multilevel signaling systems are particularly susceptible to noise, so the 86100D’s low-noise, wide-bandwidth plug-in modules are well suited for characterizing PAM signals. 86100D Option 9FP PAM-N analysis capabilities are supported by all 86100D DCA-X plug-in modules, such as the 86108B precision waveform analyzer module for accurate analysis of electrical signals to 32 Gbaud or the 86105D-281 for accurate analysis of high-speed optical signals. Additionally, engineers can perform offline analysis on saved or simulated PAM signals using N1010A Option 9TP PAM analysis software installed on a PC (Figure 4).
Courtesy of Keysight Technologies
“The switch from NRZ to PAM-4 signaling presents many new design and measurement challenges for our customers,” said Dave Cipriani, vice president and general manager of Keysight’s Oscilloscope and Protocol Division, in a press release. “Keysight’s analysis software helps engineers address these challenges and quickly get their designs to market.” And those PAM-4 designs coming to market could well enable the transition from 100Gb to 400Gb Ethernet speeds.
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