Mimix Broadband Solves An Entire MMIC Chip Using AXIEM 3-D Planar EM Software

By Cadence Design Systems, Inc.

AXIEM Challenge:
To outperform in speed and complexity any other commercial EM solution

Result:
Only AXIEM can solve the entire structure. Other commercial/competing EM point-tools necessitate a divide & conquer approach.

The Design Challenge

Mimix is designing a mm-wave converter using an innovative design in the passive circuitry. If the design technique works the way Mimix believes, they can achieve very aggressive specs for system performance without having to use larger, conventional mm-wave structures resulting in larger die size and thus greater cost.Only by solving the entire structure can Mimix designers verify their design ideas.

The Solution

Mimix was unable to electromagnetically (EM) simulate the entire monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) circuit, which includes more than 100 ports and 100K unknowns, using other EM solvers and turned to AWR to take the AXIEM challenge. The result: AXIEM solved the entire structure on a desktop PC. With an electromagnetic solution to the full chip, Mimix can begin to explore a deeper understanding of the circuit's physics and open up new vistas in mm-wave design.