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It’s very difficult to create accurate device-simulation models for advanced CMOS digital processes. Why? Because hard-to-model effects like gate accumulation and tunneling, trap-assisted tunneling, and halo effects have become so prevalent at ultra-deep-submicron technology nodes. For designers of RFcapable systems-on-a-chip (SoCs), this has become a critical issue in the accurate prediction of the behavior of highly nonlinear RF circuits, such as mixers, amplifiers, and switches.

To address this challenge, Agilent has released the first commercially available HiSIM2.4 model extraction package for dc and RF parameters for advanced CMOS device models (see the figure). The package, for use with Agilent’s Integrated Circuit Characterization and Analysis Program (IC-CAP) software platform, provides an efficient and customizable method for measuring and extracting accurate dc and RF parameter values for the HiSIM2.4 model.

Developed by Hiroshima University in Japan, the HiSIM2.4 device model is a next-generation, industry-standard CMOS compact model for circuit simulation. Earlier compact models, such as the BSIM4, were primarily developed for digital circuits and have limitations when used for analog and RF applications at smaller technology nodes. The HiSIM2.4 calculates the device’s surface potential, enabling a more accurate description of the deep-submicron physical phenomena and resulting in a more accurate description of the internal currents and charges.

IC-CAP provides an open and flexible environment for measuring and extracting device models for a broad range of process technologies, including CMOS, bipolar junction transistor (BJT), and heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) on silicon and compound semiconductors. The package lets designers automatically generate a complete device model for dc and RF parameters or adapt the package to meet specific modeling needs.

The HiSIM2.4 Model Extraction Package provides a high-speed link to Agilent’s Advanced Design System (ADS) software. ADS supports the latest version of the HiSIM2.41 model, which is necessary to generate an accurate extraction of dc and RF parameters.

The Agilent HiSIM2.4 Model Extraction Package is an option with the IC-CAP 2008 Add-On 1 release. Available now, prices start at approximately $22,000.

DAVID MALINIAK

AGILENT EESOF EDA • www.agilent.com/find/eesof