October 23, 2009

WIN Semiconductors today announced the availability of a new MMIC tool bar personality for ten Advanced Design System (ADS) process design kits (PDKs) for its popular Enhancement/Depletion-Mode PHEMT and HBT process technologies. The new add-on WIN PDKs, developed for use with current and future releases of Agilent Technologies' ADS 2009, enable high-frequency RF and microwave designers to create compact integrated circuits comprised of power amplifiers, switches, low-noise amplifiers, mixers, and logic circuitry. The add-on PDKs are available now from WIN Semiconductors.

"These add-on kits will significantly improve the design experience for our mutual customers working on the latest MMIC designs," said Gary St. Onge, senior vice president of international sales at WIN Semiconductors. "Our customers expect us to fit seamlessly into the ADS flow to make their design flow more efficient and to allow them to achieve first-pass success quickly and with reduced development costs."

The new MMIC tool bar personality enables the full set of ADS layout editing commands customized for WIN PDKs, including several single-button commands for converting a trace to transmission-line elements, automatic via insertion, invoking a 3-D layout viewer, and launching the ADS desktop design rule checker. These capabilities improve design efficiency by enhancing the design verification and synchronization between the ADS schematic and layout environment. Along with the industry proven 3-D planar EM technology, MMIC designers can now enjoy the seamless MMIC design flow ADS provides.

"We have worked closely with WIN Semiconductors to evaluate and release the new add-on PDKs in the shortest time possible," said Avery Chung, foundry program manager of Agilent's EEsof EDA organization. "Thanks to this collaboration and the existing capabilities in ADS, we are successfully meeting the needs of our mutual MMIC design customers. By using the new MMIC toolbar personality in ADS 2009, these customers can now realize unprecedented efficiencies in their design experience."