Bridging the Gap between Physical and Circuit Analysis for Variability-Aware Microwave Design: Modeling Approaches

• DOI: 10.3390/electronics11060860
• Publication Date: 2022-03-09T16:30:38Z
• Authors: Simona Donati Gue...; Chiara Ramella; Eva Catoggio; Fabrizio Bonani
• Keywords: process-induced variations; TCAD nonlinear variability; physics-based co-simulation; EM simulations; black-box models; MMIC circuits; 0202 electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering; 02 engineering and technology

Process-induced variability is a growing concern in the design of analog circuits, and particular for monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs) targeting 5G 6G communication systems. The RF (MW) technologies developed deployment these systems exploit devices whose dimension now well below 100 nm, featuring an increasing due to fabrication process tolerances inherent statistical behavior matter at nanoscale. In this scenario, analysis must be incorporated into circuit optimization, with ad hoc models retaining direct link addressing typical MMIC nonlinear applications like power amplification frequency mixing. This paper presents flexible procedure extract black-box from accurate physics-based simulations, namely TCAD active EM simulations passive structures, incorporating dependence on most relevant parameters. We discuss several approaches compare them highlight their features, both terms accuracy ease extraction. detail how can implemented EDA tools typically used design, allowing fast yield analysis. demonstrate proposed extracting building blocks amplifier GaAs technology X-band applications.