Cadence, GlobalFoundries Collaborate on RF and mmWave Design Flow to Accelerate Mobile and 5G Innovation

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Cadence Design Systems, Inc. announced that it has collaborated with GlobalFoundries (GF) to accelerate 5G and mobile design innovation through the delivery of the Cadence RF and mmWave flow for the GF 22FDX platform. As a proof point, the Cadence full-flow RF solution was used to design and tape out a 28GHz 5G mmWave IC on the GF® 22FDX platform and design an integrated antenna as a complete system-in-package (SiP) solution. Furthermore, the mmWave IC design was simulated with the Cadence AWR® Virtual System Simulator™ (VSS)—using the combined Rohde & Schwarz signal creation and analysis tools within the R&S® VSESIM-VSS supporting 5G NR—and showed a high correlation to silicon measurements and lab testing performed by the German institute, Fraunhofer IIS/EAS.

The comprehensive RF and mmWave design flow enables customers to optimize the complete mmWave IC and SiP for performance, power efficiency and reliability. The flows include several key features, including system-level budget analysis, mmWave IC design, implementation, concurrent SiP co-design with integrated electromagnetic analysis, RF circuit simulation, reliability analysis and physical verification. The Cadence RF and mmWave solutions support the Cadence Intelligent System Design™ strategy and enable customers to achieve system-on-chip (SoC) design excellence.

“By collaborating with Cadence, we’re making it faster and easier for customers to design 5G and mobile applications, leveraging both the Cadence RF and mmWave flows and our 22FDX platform,” said Dr. Bami Bastani, SVP and GM, Mobile & Wireless Infrastructure Strategic Business Unit at GF. “Our 22FDX platform delivers the power efficiency and performance levels that customers need for 5G design, and we’re looking forward to seeing mutual customers accelerate mobile innovation.”

“5G mobile designs require advanced technology integrations and semiconductor processes to meet aggressive size, weight and performance targets, and the Cadence flows were developed to support the GF 22FDX platform and improve overall design efficiency,” said Tom Beckley, senior vice president and general manager in the Custom IC & PCB Group at Cadence. “Through our collaboration with GF, we’ve demonstrated success with a 28GHz 5G mmWave IC in a package, which, in turn, provides our customers with confidence that they can achieve their own design goals.”