Worldwide
Worldwide
Physical Connectivity Engine |  |
|
Polygonal-Based Layout ConnectivityPolygonal-based layout connectivity introduces a new paradigm to microwave-based designs. It removes interconnect constraints placed on microwave designers in the form of wires and traces and provides the ability to establish electrical connections with polygonal-based layout artwork. In other words, microwave designers can now do what they have been doing for a long time, with the addition of having their custom-tailored native interconnect configurations exhibiting electrical connectivity.
The benefits of this new functionality are numerous. The primary ones include allowing microwave designers to work in an EDA environment that gives them the flexibility to start a design either in schematic or layout, implement custom-tailored layout interconnects (beyond simple traces), perform on-the-fly layout interconnect information extraction, and back-annotate custom-tailored interconnects to the schematic. Other benefits include more robust design crosschecks between layout and schematic-- open connections, nodal and components' values mismatches, zero-width wires in layout, overlaid components, layout shapes touching but belonging to different nodes, polygon/component overlapping, and non-pin-to-pin connections. Significant improvements to design connectivity validation include polygonal shapes touching or overlapping but belonging to different nodes or not making a pin-to-pin connection. Before Agilent EEsof EDA implemented the physical connectivity engine, such potential connectivity problems went unchecked, mainly due to the lack of arbitrary layout artwork connectivity information. Vertical InterconnectsAs polygonal shapes now exhibit electrical connectivity characteristics resembling real world conditions, vertical electrical connections are now possible without requiring pre-built via components. This means that microwave designers are no longer limited to the availability of pre-built via components in design kits (for MMIC designs) or component libraries (for PC board and module design) to establish vertical electrical connections.
ADS users can also define pin-less vias - either in via macros or by overlapping layout artwork on a multilayered stack. The advantages of the new pin-less vias are simplified vertical connections, and the absence of the need to have via components placed in schematic as well as layout. Edge/Area Pins
Another enhancement to ADS Layout connectivity is the expansion of pins beyond the point-pin concept to include edge and area pins. This new capability is most useful for design kit and component library developers, because it allows them to define unique edge and area pins to their layout components, however simple or complex they may be. Nodal and Physical Interconnect VerificationWith the availability of a new physical connectivity engine in ADS, designers have an enhanced ability to perform robust interconnect verification. Because all polygonal shapes in layout carry electrical connectivity information, ADS users can perform a significant number of verification checks, including nodal and physical connectivity checks, at any point in the design process:
Nodal interconnect check lets ADS users check the design's nodes in schematic and layout (the definition of node is understood as a pin/port and all touching interconnects, excluding design components, whether they are active or passive.) This feature is very useful for performing schematic/layout nodal "cross-probing," which allows microwave designers to verify the accuracy of their designs as simple wires in schematic transform into elaborate physical interconnects. Physical interconnect check provides ADS designers with the ability to highlight all shorted (touching) metal in multilayer hierarchical designs. This feature allows for an easy-to-perform interconnect integrity check for a design's physical layout. With a mouse click, ADS designers can easily tell what a given metal trace, path, polygon, or transmission line touches. Designers can now click on any metal in a given design and instantly see all other metal that shorts to it. This level of performance and ease of use takes physical interconnect verification to a new level. For More Information ...
|
|
|
||||||||||||
Contact Us
top of page
printer-friendly version
email this page
