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Broadband & Mobile Featured Article
May 30, 2008
Zensys Selects Berkeley Design Automation Analog FastSPICE
By Niladri Sekhar Nath TMCnet Contributing Editor
Zensys, developer of Z-Wave wireless home control standard, has selected Berkeley Design Automation Inc.’s Analog FastSPICE circuit simulator for complex-block characterization and full-circuit performance simulation of its fully integrated RF communication module.
"Verifying our RF communication module requires extensive transistor-level simulation of a complete RF transceiver with the highest possible accuracy," said Tony Shakib, chief executive officer at Zensys. "Analog FastSPICE completed characterization of our RF transceiver, including a complex sigma-delta modulator, more than 5x faster than our traditional SPICE simulator with true SPICE accuracy. With Analog FastSPICE we will be able to tapeout with higher confidence and get our products to market faster."
Berkeley Design Automation tools include Analog FastSPICE circuit simulation, Noise Analysis Option device noise analyzer, RF FastSPICE periodic analyzer, and PLL Noise Analyzer. The company promises identical waveforms to the leading "golden" SPICE simulators down to noise floor (typically 0.1 percent or less) while delivering 5x-10x higher performance and 5x-10x higher capacity.
Design teams from semiconductor companies use Berkeley Design Automation tools to solve big analog/RF verification problems. Typical applications include characterizing complex blocks (e.g., PLLs, ADCs, DC:DC converters, PHYs, Tx/Rx chains) and running performance simulation of full circuits (e.g., wireless transceivers, wireline transceivers, high-speed I/O macros, memories, microcontrollers, data converters, and power converters).
"Effective design verification of complex analog/RF circuits for ultra-low power RF mesh networking products requires true SPICE accuracy to enable delivery of high-quality products to the consumer market. We are proud to help Zensys dramatically accelerate their analog/RF circuit verification," said Ravi Subramanian, president and CEO of Berkeley Design Automation.
Berkeley Design Automation is in the field of advanced analog/RF verification. Its Precision Circuit Analysis technology combines the accuracy and capacity needed to verify GHz designs in nanometer-scale silicon.
Niladri Sekhar Nath is a contributing writer for TMCnet covering telecommunications, service providers and networking. To see more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.
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