A process design kit (PDK) for 3D Glass Solutions’ (3DGS) glass-based mmWave device process is available for NI AWR’s design software. 3DGS has developed a patented, low loss, photosensitive APEX® glass technology which it offers through foundry services.
The PDK enables the design of passive components such as filters and amplifier impedance-matching circuits for mmWave applications such as 5G and automotive radar. It contains electrical models and parameterized layout cells (PCells) that work with the NI AWR Design Environment platform, including Microwave Office circuit design software and the Analyst™ finite-element method EM simulator. The NI AWR Design Environment combines the ease of schematic capture design entry with the accuracy of EM analysis.
Designers can create mmWave designs using distributed simulation models for suspended stripline transmission line components based on the 3DGS process and the PDK parameterized package enclosure and interconnect transmission line structures. Filters, matching circuits, couplers and other passive components can be placed within the parameterized enclosure with stripline-to-microstrip transitions.
The PDK is available directly from 3DGS. A bandpass filter reference design is also available to mutual customers and included. This PDK complements the existing 3DGS integrated passive device (IPD) PDK, which uses parameterized PCell inductors and capacitors to develop lumped element filters, matching networks and related subsystems.
“The new PDK enables our customers to co-design a variety of compact, high performance mmWave passive devices such as bandpass filters, matching networks, splitters and combiners, as well as other necessary RF front-end building blocks,” said Jeb Flemming, 3DGS CTO.
“The parameterized extraction flow in the 3DGS PDK provides unprecedented EM accuracy within the Microwave Office circuit design tool for seamless product development of high-quality passive components and system-in-package (SiP) devices built using the 3DGS foundry process,” said Sherry Hess, VP of marketing for AWR Group, NI.