This book, the Mixed-signal Methodology Guide: Advanced Methodology for AMS IP and SoC Design, Verification, and Implementation provides a broad overview of the design, verification and implementation methodologies required for today's mixed-signal designs. The book covers mixed-signal design trends and challenges, abstraction of analog using behavioral models, assertion-based metric-driven verification methodology applied on analog and mixed-signal and verification of low power intent in mixed-signal design. It also describes methodology for physical implementation in context of concurrent mixed-signal design and for handling advanced node physical effects. The book contains many practical examples of models and techniques. The authors believe it should serve as a reference to many analog, digital and mixed-signal designers, verification, physical implementation engineers and managers in their pursuit of information for a better methodology required to address the challenges of modern mixed-signal design.

This book is the first standalone book that combines research into low-noise amplifiers (LNAs) with research into millimeter-wave circuits. In compiling this book, the authors have set two research objectives. The first is to bring together the research context behind millimeter-wave circuit operation and the theory of low-noise amplification. The second is to present new research in this multi-disciplinary field by dividing the common LNA configurations and typical specifications into subsystems, which are then optimized separately to suggest improvements in the current state-of-the-art designs. To achieve the second research objective, the state-of-the-art LNA configurations are discussed and the weaknesses of state-of the art configurations are considered, thus identifying research gaps. Such research gaps, among others, point towards optimization – at a systems and microelectronics level. Optimization topics include the influence of short wavelength, layout and crosstalk on LNA performance. Advanced fabrication technologies used to decrease the parasitics of passive and active devices are also explored, together with packaging technologies such as silicon-on-chip and silicon-on-package, which are proposed as alternatives to traditional IC implementation. This research outcome builds through innovation. Innovative ideas for LNA construction are explored, and alternative design methodologies are deployed, including LNA/antenna co-design or utilization of the electronic design automation in the research flow. The book also offers the authors’ proposal for streamlined automated LNA design flow, which focuses on LNA as a collection of highly optimized subsystems.

This book describes in detail all required technologies and methodologies needed to create a comprehensive, functional design verification strategy and environment to tackle the toughest job of guaranteeing first-pass working silicon. The author first outlines all of the verification sub-fields at a high level, with just enough depth to allow an engineer to grasp the field before delving into its detail. He then describes in detail industry standard technologies such as UVM (Universal Verification Methodology), SVA (SystemVerilog Assertions), SFC (SystemVerilog Functional Coverage), CDV (Coverage Driven Verification), Low Power Verification (Unified Power Format UPF), AMS (Analog Mixed Signal) verification, Virtual Platform TLM2.0/ESL (Electronic System Level) methodology, Static Formal Verification, Logic Equivalency Check (LEC), Hardware Acceleration, Hardware Emulation, Hardware/Software Co-verification, Power Performance Area (PPA) analysis on a virtual platform, Reuse Methodology from Algorithm/ESL to RTL, and other overall methodologies.

This peer-reviewed book explores the methodologies that are used for effective research, design and innovation in the vast field of millimeter-wave circuits, and describes how these have to be modified to fit the uniqueness of high-frequency nanoelectronics design. Each chapter focuses on a specific research challenge related to either small form factors or higher operating frequencies. The book first examines nanodevice scaling and the emerging electronic design automation tools that can be used in millimeter-wave research, as well as the singular challenges of combining deep-submicron and millimeter-wave design. It also demonstrates the importance of considering, in the millimeter-wave context, system-level design leading to differing packaging options. Further, it presents integrated circuit design methodologies for all major transceiver blocks typically employed at millimeter-wave frequencies, as these methodologies are normally fundamentally different from the traditional design methodologies used in analogue and lower-frequency electronics. Lastly, the book discusses the methodologies of millimeter-wave research and design for extreme or harsh environments, rebooting electronics, the additional opportunities for terahertz research, and the main differences between the approaches taken in millimeter-wave research and terahertz research.

Circuit Design = Science + Art! Designers need a skilled "gut feeling" about circuits and related analytical techniques, plus creativity, to solve all problems and to adhere to the specifications, the written and the unwritten ones. You must anticipate a large number of influences, like temperature effects, supply voltages changes, offset voltages, layout parasitics, and numerous kinds of technology variations to end up with a circuit that works. This is challenging for analog, custom-digital, mixed-signal or RF circuits, and often researching new design methods in relevant journals, conference proceedings and design tools unfortunately gives the impression that just a "wild bunch" of "advanced techniques" exist. On the other hand, state-of-the-art tools nowadays indeed offer a good cockpit to steer the design flow, which include clever statistical methods and optimization techniques.Actually, this almost presents a second breakthrough, like the introduction of circuit simulators 40 years ago! Users can now conveniently analyse all the problems (discover, quantify, verify), and even exploit them, for example for optimization purposes. Most designers are caught up on everyday problems, so we fit that "wild bunch" into a systematic approach for variation-aware design, a designer's field guide and more. That is where this book can help! Circuit Design: Anticipate, Analyze, Exploit Variations starts with best-practise manual methods and links them tightly to up-to-date automation algorithms. We provide many tractable examples and explain key techniques you have to know. We then enable you to select and setup suitable methods for each design task - knowing their prerequisites, advantages and, as too often overlooked, their limitations as well. The good thing with computers is that you yourself can often verify amazing things with little effort, and you can use software not only to your direct advantage in solving a specific problem, but also for becoming a better skilled, more experienced engineer. Unfortunately, EDA design environments are not good at all to learn about advanced numerics. So with this book we also provide two apps for learning about statistic and optimization directly with circuit-related examples, and in real-time so without the long simulation times. This helps to develop a healthy statistical gut feeling for circuit design. The book is written for engineers, students in engineering and CAD / methodology experts. Readers should have some background in standard design techniques like entering a design in a schematic capture and simulating it, and also know about major technology aspects.

Written by hundreds experts who have made contributions to both enterprise and academics research, these excellent reference books provide all necessary knowledge of the whole industrial chain of integrated circuits, and cover topics related to the technology evolution trends, fabrication, applications, new materials, equipment, economy, investment, and industrial developments of integrated circuits. Especially, the coverage is broad in scope and deep enough for all kind of readers being interested in integrated circuit industry. Remarkable data collection, update marketing evaluation, enough working knowledge of integrated circuit fabrication, clear and accessible category of integrated circuit products, and good equipment insight explanation, etc. can make general readers build up a clear overview about the whole integrated circuit industry. This encyclopedia is designed as a reference book for scientists and engineers actively involved in integrated circuit research and development field. In addition, this book provides enough guide lines and knowledges to benefit enterprisers being interested in integrated circuit industry.

This book provides a system-level approach to making packaging decisions for millimeter-wave transceivers. In electronics, the packaging forms a bridge between the integrated circuit or individual device and the rest of the electronic system, encompassing all technologies between the two. To be able to make well-founded packaging decisions, researchers need to understand a broad range of aspects, including: concepts of transmission bands, antennas and propagation, integrated and discrete package substrates, materials and technologies, interconnects, passive and active components, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of various packages and packaging approaches, and package-level modeling and simulation. Packaging also needs to be considered in terms of system-level testing, as well as associated testing and production costs, and reducing costs. This peer-reviewed work contributes to the extant scholarly literature by addressing the aforementioned concepts and applying them to the context of the millimeter-wave regime and the unique opportunities that this transmission approach offers.

The Verilog Hardware Description Language (Verilog-HDL) has long been the most popular language for describing complex digital hardware. It started life as a prop- etary language but was donated by Cadence Design Systems to the design community to serve as the basis of an open standard. That standard was formalized in 1995 by the IEEE in standard 1364-1995. About that same time a group named Analog Verilog International formed with the intent of proposing extensions to Verilog to support analog and mixed-signal simulation. The first fruits of the labor of that group became available in 1996 when the language definition of Verilog-A was released. Verilog-A was not intended to work directly with Verilog-HDL. Rather it was a language with Similar syntax and related semantics that was intended to model analog systems and be compatible with SPICE-class circuit simulation engines. The first implementation of Verilog-A soon followed: a version from Cadence that ran on their Spectre circuit simulator. As more implementations of Verilog-A became available, the group defining the a- log and mixed-signal extensions to Verilog continued their work, releasing the defi- tion of Verilog-AMS in 2000. Verilog-AMS combines both Verilog-HDL and Verilog-A, and adds additional mixed-signal constructs, providing a hardware description language suitable for analog, digital, and mixed-signal systems. Again, Cadence was first to release an implementation of this new language, in a product named AMS Designer that combines their Verilog and Spectre simulation engines.

For the first time, this up-to-date text combines the main issues of the hardware description language VHDL-AMS aimed at model representation of mixed-signal circuits and systems, characterization methods and tools for the extraction of model parameters, and modelling methodologies for accurate high-level behavioural models.

Now in a thoroughly revised second edition, this practical practitioner guide provides a comprehensive overview of the SoC design process. It explains end-to-end system on chip (SoC) design processes and includes updated coverage of design methodology, the design environment, EDA tool flow, design decisions, choice of design intellectual property (IP) cores, sign-off procedures, and design infrastructure requirements. The second edition provides new information on SOC trends and updated design cases. Coverage also includes critical advanced guidance on the latest UPF-based low power design flow, challenges of deep submicron technologies, and 3D design fundamentals, which will prepare the readers for the challenges of working at the nanotechnology scale. A Practical Approach to VLSI System on Chip (SoC) Design: A Comprehensive Guide, Second Edition provides engineers who aspire to become VLSI designers with all the necessary information and details of EDA tools. It will be a valuable professional reference for those working on VLSI design and verification portfolios in complex SoC designs