NEC selects Berkeley Design's analog FastSPICE

SANTA CLARA, USA: Berkeley Design Automation Inc. a provider of Precision Circuit Analysis technology for advanced analog, mixed-signal, and RF integrated circuits (ICs), announced that NEC Electronics Corp. has selected its analog FastSPICE circuit simulator for complex-block characterization and full-circuit performance simulation of its leading-edge analog, RF, and mixed-signal integrated circuits and IP cores.

NEC Electronics required fast time to market for the design and characterization of complex analog, RF, and mixed-signal circuits for semiconductor products in the high-end computing, broadband networking, mobile handset, PC peripherals, automotive and consumer markets.

Analog FastSPICE consistently delivered 5x-10x faster characterization with identical waveforms to traditional SPICE for NEC Electronics analog and mixed-signal cores including PLLs, SERDES, DDR I/O, ADCs, consumer, and wireless transceivers. This combination of speed and accuracy was unmatched by any other circuit simulator and NEC Electronics are excited to deploy this tool to their design teams.

Berkeley Design Automation tools include Analog FastSPICE circuit simulation, Noise Analysis Option device noise analyzer, RF FastSPICE periodic analyzer, and PLL Noise Analyzer. The company guarantees identical waveforms to the leading "golden" SPICE simulators down to noise floor (typically 0.1 percent or less), while delivering 5x-10x higher performance and 5x-10x higher capacity.

It achieves this by using advanced algorithms and numerical analysis techniques to rapidly solve the full-circuit matrix and the original device equations without any shortcuts that could compromise accuracy.

Design teams from top-10 semiconductor companies to leading startups use Berkeley Design Automation tools to solve big analog/RF verification problems. Typical applications include complex-block characterization (e.g., PLLs, ADCs, DC:DC converters, PHYs, Tx/Rx chains) and full-circuit performance simulation (e.g., wireless transceivers, wireline transceivers, high-speed I/O macros, memories, microcontrollers, data converters, and power converters).

"We are excited that NEC Electronics, a world leader in semiconductors, has selected Analog FastSPICE," said Ravi Subramanian, president and CEO of Berkeley Design Automation.

"NEC Electronics' success with Analog FastSPICE across a wide variety of circuit types is another example of how our technology is now becoming essential for nanometer analog and RF design. Analog FastSPICE is being successfully used in production by virtually all the leading consumer electronics semiconductor companies throughout the world- a clear testament to the compelling value Berkeley Design Automation delivers in the market today."