Alps Electric Selects Berkeley Design's Precision Circuit Analysis Technology

Berkeley Design Automation announced that Alps Electric will be using its Analog FastSPICE circuit simulator and Noise Analysis Option for characterization and performance simulation of its advanced electronic devices. Berkeley provides Precision Circuit Analysis technology required in advanced analog, mixed-signal and RF integrated circuits (ICs).

 

Alps Electric manufactures electronic devices and sensors which can be used in automobiles, PCs, cellular phones, audio and home appliances.

 

The company’s Group Manager, Keisho Miyazaki said, “At Alps Electric we make careful decisions to upgrade our design flow with next-generation tools that extend our competitive advantage, compress our design cycle, and help us continue to deliver high quality designs to our customers.”

 

He also added, “Our products require true SPICE accuracy and accurate transistor-level noise analysis prior to fabrication. Analog FastSPICE easily delivered identical waveforms to our traditional SPICE simulator 5x-10x faster. The Noise Analysis Option enables us to accurately analyze the noise specifications of our circuits including the impact of device noise with excellent silicon correlation.”

 

Berkeley Design Automation provides various tools including Analog FastSPICE circuit simulation, Noise Analysis Option device noise analyzer, RF FastSPICE periodic analyzer, and PLL Noise Analyzer. Identical waveforms, noise levels less than 0.1 percent at 5x-10x high performance and capacity are typical features offered in the “golden” SPICE simulators. Such accuracy is maintained by using advanced algorithms and numerical analysis techniques which help solve the full-circuit matrix and the original device equations properly.

 

Most design teams in semiconductor companies employ Berkeley Design Automation tools for solving complex analog/RF verification problems. The applications where they are used include complex-block characterization (e.g., PLLs, ADCs, DC:DC converters, PHYs, Tx/Rx chains) and full-circuit performance simulation as in wireless transceivers, wireline transceivers, high-speed I/O macros, memories, microcontrollers, data converters, and power converters.

 

Ravi Subramanian, president and CEO of Berkeley Design Automation said that he was happy that Alps Electric has selected his company’s tools. Alps Electric’s selection of both Analog FastSPICE and Noise Analysis Option further reinforces the unique, strong, and compelling advantage Berkeley technology provides, he added.

 

Berkeley’s Precision Circuit Analysis technology offers accurate, precise performance and capacity with which GHz designs can be verified in nanometer-scale silicon.