In all evolving technologies, you eventually reach a point where you must change your way of thinking to go past a certain level. The methods and rules of thumb you have used in the past are no longer adequate. To move forward, you must step back and look at the design process from a new perspective.

To move to the next level in high-speed digital design, with sub-nanosecond edge rates and slim design margins, you must add additional problem solving tools to your trusty toolbox. The ubiquitous oscilloscope, though important, requires complementary software and/or instrumentation to adequately address today’s difficult signal integrity and jitter issues.

We are constantly researching new ways to assist design engineers and has developed a comprehensive set of tools that will keep signal integrity problems under control as you move into higher-speed designs. Instead of relying on guessing and the old rules of thumb, you can measure critical components and create accurate models to simulate and verify your new designs before committing them to hardware. Once the hard ware is built, you can accurately measure the physical layer to validate the signal paths prior to installing components.

SPICEsim has assembled the most advanced signal integrity model libraries available, driven and interpreted by seasoned professionals with decades of high-speed design and RF modeling experience. According to our clients and partners, SPICEsim has achieved an unparalleled "first-time-right" track record with high-complexity PCB designs.

3D Electromagnetic Field Modeling

The HSPICE models generated by the 2D and 3D electromagnetic (em) field solver programs are integrated with HSPICE models of transceivers and other components to obtain simulated waveforms of signal behavior under different conditions such as variable rise times and variable loading conditions. These 2D and 3D EM models can be created for many circuit features such as vias, surface mount pads, etc. This capability allows us to include as much detail as is needed to accurately represent the high-speed designs that our customers need. This simulated data is interpreted and analyzed for design optimization to improve performance and reduce cost.

Simulated Eye Diagrams

SPICEsim has also developed many HSPICE data post-processing routines. These routines can render simulated data into a form more useful for our customers design engineers. For example, when examining a high-speed communications system, engineers often look at what are known as eye-diagrams. These eye-diagrams layer many bits over each other such that the channel's net ability to transmit data can be examined.