AWR taps Synopsys' HSpice for RF designs

AWR taps Synopsys' HSpice for RF designs
SAN FRANCISCO — Applied Wave Research Inc. and Synopsys Inc. have announced an alliance under which AWR will effectively license Synopsys' HSpice circuit simulator for the design of RF ICs, modules and subsystems.

The arrangement will enable AWR's Microwave Office tools to be the front end for an RF IC design that can be ported into the Synopsys IC design flow. AWR (El Segundo, Calif.) becomes the first licensee of the HSpice tools and models since Synopsys (Mountain View, Calif.) acquired them in its purchase of Avanti Corp. last year. AWR is also the only tool vendor thus far to apply the HSpice tools to RF and microwave circuits.

AWR president James Spoto acknowledged that his company's goal was to make the Microwave Office product the front end for all types of RF designs. The HSpice model library includes an extensive volume of nonlinear elements used in RF design, including inductors, impedance-matching interconnects as well as gallium arsenide transistors, Spoto said. The connection with Synopsys will enable Microwave Office users to easily channel their RF IC designs into a Synopsys design flow, he said.

HSpice has typically been used at the "sign-off simulator" stage in a majority of IC designs, said Geoffrey Ying, Synopsys' marketing manager for analog simulation products. Its library includes models for new-generation silicon germanium, bipolar and RF CMOS processes. HSpice will support vertical bipolar inter-company models for high-frequency processes, Ying said.

Synopsys, it turns out, is also an investor in AWR. The logic synthesis pioneer participated in AWR's Series B financing announced in July. AWR raised $7.4 million in financing from CMEA Ventures, Synopsys, Manatt Venture Fund and several AWR distributors in exchange for equity positions.

CMEA Ventures, which had been an early-stage investor in several EDA companies, maintains a seat on AWR's board.

But the HSpice connection with Synopsys also positions AWR as a direct competitor to the RF IC alliance formed by Agilent Technologies and Cadence Design Systems Inc., Spoto said. AWR maintains connections with Cadence for Microwave Office users who prefer the Cadence IC design flow, he said.

AWR's Microwave Office includes simulation, layout and electromagnetic analysis tools for RF and wireless component and module design. The agreement between AWR and Synopsys enables AWR to deliver a more-advanced RF IC solution that combines AWR's design environment with Synopsys' HSpice analog simulation technology, the principals said. For now, the products are loosely coupled.

AWR expects to deliver a highly integrated version of Microwave Office based upon the Synopsys HSpice technology toward the middle of 2003. This will occur, not coincidently, close to the opening of the 40th Design Automation Conference, Spoto said.