SiSoft collaborates with Inphi to extend IBIS-AMI for repeater modeling

DesignCon 2011, SANTA CLARA, USA: Signal Integrity Software Inc. (SiSoft) announced the company is working with Inphi Corp., a leading provider of high-speed analog semiconductor solutions, to extend the IBIS-AMI SerDes Modeling Standard to support multi-gigabit repeaters and other non-linear elements.

The current IBIS 5.0 specification makes the assumption an Analog Serial Channel is both Linear and Time-Invariant (LTI), and therefore cannot accurately model nonlinear elements such as analog repeaters. New IBIS-AMI extensions developed by SiSoft and used by Inphi will allow IBIS-AMI models and EDA tools to:

* Model the nonlinear behavior of high-speed analog repeaters.
* Model noise introduced by active (repeater) elements in the middle of a transmission path.
* Model any number of connected nonlinear channel elements.

SiSoft has been collaborating with Inphi since early 2009 to develop advanced techniques for simulating links operating at rates of 25 Gb/s and higher. “We chose to work with SiSoft because of their demonstrated leadership in IBIS-AMI,” said Norman Yeung, VP of Engineering at Inphi. “SiSoft’s deep expertise in simulation and modeling with an exclusive focus on advanced system-level signal integrity aligns with Inphi’s continued innovation in high-speed, high-signal integrity semiconductor solutions.”

“Working with Inphi has been a great experience”, said Barry Katz, SiSoft’s President and CTO. “At a time when most of our customers were looking at 10 Gb/s, Inphi was already working at much higher speeds with emphasis on signal integrity. Collaborating with Inphi has allowed us to develop simulation and modeling techniques that accurately represent behavior down to the picosecond level, which is critical at these very high speeds.”