Powerful EM Synthesis & Optimization Solution

Overview

High quality built-in and customized passive devices are efficiently designed in PeakView™ using PCircuits. Instead of creating scalable models from sets of discrete measured/simulated geometries, (i.e from lengthy Design of Experiments (DOEs)), PeakView™ users can zero in on ideal device characteristics by directly utilizing its EM engine. This use of the PeakView™ EM solver allows for a broad design-space and more accurate models specific to desired applications. PeakView™ synthesized components can now include high port count and complex devices, whereas it was difficult to characterize these designs due to their large solution space and port numbers.

 

PeakView™ Synthesized EM devices in Design Layout

PeakView is an extensible EM simulation and layout generation tool. PeakView provides users with a standard library of pre-defined parameterized cells consisting of inductors, baluns, transmission lines, interconnect, transformers, etc. These parametrized cells are easy to maintain and customize via python language, unlike our competitors’ outdated yet cumbersome programmable cell/pcell approach which requires extensive coding from the scratch. Users are also able to write their own custom Pcircuits with Python coding. After loading the user defined Pcircuit file into PeakDesign through the pull-down menu, the user-defined EM cells behave the same as standard pre-defined cells, and PeakView can simulate, synthesize ,and generate DRC compatible layouts for them.

A Pcircuit describes a parameterized EM netlist and physical structure using the pre-defined and stored python language based device topology templates. It combines EM properties, connectivity and physical structures in the Python descriptions. Python is a high level open-source scripting language. It has many great features calls to support object-oriented design and provide high level built-in data structures, a much more elegant way to program your parameterized devices than our competitor’s traditional interpretative CAD scripting language.

PeakView EM engine uses a Pcircuit to generate the geometry in PeakDesign environment for performing a 3D, full-wave EM simulation. The Pcircuit can generate a near DRC friendly layout based on design rules from the PeakView layer stacking technology profile and predefined topology templates via an innovative class library that abstracts the construction of the desired device. Compared with conventional parametrized cell generation tools (e.g. SKILL based Pcells), PeakView simplifies this process of creating the perspective device layout and for simulation inputs – and ultimately design elements and models.  The separation of DRC rules from Pcircuit programming objects thus greatly simplifies the process of parameterized layout.

A Pcircuit is also defined hierarchically. A user can construct a more complex Pcircuit by using other basic ones as building blocks. In addition to primitives such as path, line, polygon, PeakView also provides some advanced structures such as spiral square and spiral symmetric.

Pcircuit describes EM structures with a netlist-like format. All elements in a Pcircuit are connected to other elements through nodes. Nodes not only have EM significance, but also direct PeakView to generate vias to connect different paths existing in different metal layers in accordance with their connectivity. Major advantages of using Pcircuits are summarized here.

Eliminates Pcell Dependence

PCircuits™ are free from manual design, development and support associated with Pcells. This addresses the delays involving Pcell development from foundries that slow down projects. Moreover, if specific Pcells are not available with a PDK, or not available with all metal configurations in a PDK,  then users need to resort to manually drawing the cells they require.

PeakView™’s PCircuits eliminate the manual drawing effort required for customized devices. PCircuits are process independent, and therefore, the built-in library of devices templates are immediately ready for reuse regardless of process node. Designers further have the flexibility work with PCircuits in any IC layout editor of their choice.

Eliminates Scalable Model Dependence

PCircuit EM simulation depends only on the PeakView™ process profile. Once the process stack-up information is set up by PeakView™ iRCX or ITF parsers, PCircuits are ready to be used for device synthesis. Conventional practice for designers is to wait for foundries to provide additional Pcells they require. These Pcells are not portable from process to process or stack-up to stack-up, so it ends up in the hands of pcell developer or the very long and inefficient waiting cycle. On the other hand, with PCircuits, if a user switches to a different process node or metal stack-up, only the target PeakView™ profile needs to be set up  for the new process node or flavor. All previously customized and built-in PCircuits can then be re-utilized with the new profile directly without having to depend on the foundry to characterize them as another PDK-specific entities.

Efficient Customization

PCircuits make it easy to add guard rings, pattern ground shields and dummy fills to devices as specialty Pcircuits. These elements are included as PeakView™ options that can be added using the PeakView™ GUI. Each of the elements can be adjusted and optimized easily from within the design platform.

Lorentz Solution can customize PCircuits to extend existing libraries and rapidly accommodate unique design needs of users. Our customization services can provide faster, more efficient design turnaround for EM device synthesis.

PCircuit Catalog Offers Every Type of Devices for Synthesis & Optimization

We have hundreds of PCircuits available today that’s ready for synthesis and optimization and most importantly, they are retargetable for any foundry’s process nodes. Please contact support@lorentzsolution.com for customer access today.

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