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5G RF Design Startup Delivers Cutting-Edge GaN / GaAs Devices

Case Studies

The next generation of cellular applications requires complex devices that can amplify signals in

the upper-gigahertz range while handling high-power density and high voltages. With 5G cellular

networks becoming the focus of the RF (radio frequency) market, demand for GaN and GaAs power

amplifiers is on the rise, as is the competition.

To achieve success in the growing wireless industry, a company must deliver cutting-edge devices

at competitive speeds. Doing so requires powerful design and simulation tools that can accurately

measure the high frequencies that 5G demands.

An RF design startup in Northern Ireland delivering custom monolithic microwave integrated circuit

(MMIC) solutions recently found itself up against a substantial hurdle while working with GaN and GaAs

technology. The company, iconicRF, grappled with how to quickly deliver the reliable GaN and GaAs

device modeling and prototypes its customers demanded for a range of cellular, wireless, and aerospace

applications. Using Keysight PathWave Advanced Design System (ADS) software, iconicRF found a way

to reduce its risk of delivering high performance customer prototypes with a first pass success rate.

PathWave ADS also decreased design and simulation time — all within a year of starting business.

The Challenge: Faster Solutions from

Design to Prototype

The technology behind high-performance MMIC and module design is increasingly complex. Board

sizes are shrinking, data rates are increasing, and the number of technologies on a single device is

growing. That complexity is a key reason companies outsource complex designs to specialized RF

design teams like iconicRF. But outsourcing places enormous pressure on the teams to create designs

that are reliable, cost-effective, and efficient while still meeting customer demand to be first to market.

The challenges iconicRF faced in its 5G design efforts centered firmly on measurement accuracy and

the need to perform high-frequency simulation. Measuring accurately at high frequencies required for

next-generation cellular applications, up to 30 GHz, is difficult. Finding a software tool that can design

and simulate 5G devices is rare. Additionally, designing next-generation devices requires electronic

design automation software with high-frequency simulation capabilities that span design to prototype.

The Solution: A Trusted Design Tool to

Ensure Accuracy and Speed

To ensure reliable and accurate results, iconicRF turned to Keysight. Keysight PathWave ADS is the

industry’s leading RF, microwave, signal integrity, and power integrity design platform (Figure 1).

PathWave ADS integrates EM simulation, circuit design, and layout in a single tool that spans design to

packaging. The designers saved significant import and export time throughout the design prototyping

and test workflow. The algorithms in PathWave ADS are accurate and reliable, well beyond 28 GHz.

Using the software and its high-frequency and co-simulation capabilities, iconicRF was able to quickly

design, simulate, and optimize its customers’ GaN and GaAs-based MMIC devices.

To aid test results visualization, the iconicRF team utilized the integrated features of PathWave ADS to

evaluate measured load pull results (Figure 2). The team could quickly assess measured performance

of the base cell and ensure the optimum matching topology for their RF and mmWave PA designs, all

within the PathWave ADS simulator environment.

With PathWave ADS, iconicRF performed co-design and co-verification of its multi-technology

components to bring the design from design specifications to fully working prototype within a short

period of time.

A key feature of this rapid development was the new EM Simulator in PathWave ADS, RFPro. At

millimeter wave frequencies packaging parasitics are increasingly important in the product design.

RFPro not only allows the 3D visualization of the MMIC (Figure 3), but also helps designers perform

EM circuit co-simulation on their designs. Using these capabilities, iconicRF was able to quickly

fine-tune its circuit schematics, perform EM simulations at the package level (Figure 4), and verify its

layouts to ensure the successful operation of its MMIC devices in the customer environment.

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