TowerJazz Announces New Interoperable Process Design Kit for Keysight Technologies ADS on TPSCo’s Advanced 65nm RF CMOS Platform

TowerJazz, the global specialty foundry leader, today announced that TowerJazz Panasonic Semiconductor Co. (TPSCo), working with Keysight Technologies, has developed an Advanced Design System (ADS) interoperable PDK (process design kit), as well as a calibrated Momentum module deck on TPSCo’s advanced 65nm RF CMOS platform to allow mutual customers to improve design efficiency and realize first time to market. The new interoperable PDK targets various applications such as WiFi, Transmitters/Receivers (Tx/Rx), cell phones, tuners, and automotive radar, among others.

The new ADS interoperable PDK allows designers to edit their designs in both ADS and Cadence Virtuoso using a single database without any interference. It greatly improves design efficiency and enables designers to maintain what they consider to be the “best of breed” tool for their design environment. Also, the well-calibrated Momentum deck has been added to this TPSCo’s Advanced RFCMOS platform to run a very accurate electromagnetic simulation to validate overall performance. TPSCo and Keysight customers will have access to LNA reference designs to demonstrate the ADS interoperable PDK.

“By providing the new interoperable PDK, we can offer our customers a unified environment that supports both the Virtuoso and ADS platforms,” said Tomoyuki Sasaki, Chief Technology Officer, TPSCo. “The first interoperable PDKs will be available for our 65nm RF CMOS platform, which is widely used for cellular and WiFi antenna switches in mobile phones, as well as automotive radar and many other applications. Further collaborations with Keysight for the RF design environment will include a mmWave technology platform that we have developed at TPSCo.”

“TPSCo customers can now access Keysight EEsof EDA ADS dedicated RF design flow tools based on a standard Virtuoso PDK,” said Volker Blaschke, Silicon RFIC product marketing manager, Keysight EEsof EDA. “The new interoperability feature facilitates the design process by using a single design data library for ADS and Virtuoso, removing redundancy of having to keep the design across the two EDA environments in sync. By including the Momentum substrate with the interoperable ADS PDK, the designer can perform an EM co-simulation on a layout, partitioned between circuit Spice models and interconnect structures for EM simulation. The combination of the interoperable PDK and validated EM substrate file unlocks the full potential of an RF-aware design process that reduces time-to-market by enabling silicon accurate designs.”

For more information on the Silicon RFIC Interoperability available in Keysight ADS, please visit https://www.keysight.com/find/eesof-rfic-design.