RFIC Design Methodologies Using Perfectly Calibrated Internal Ports

Power is inserted into microwave circuits during EM analysis by means of "ports". Such ports always add a small error because of their associated port discontinuity, which takes the form of fringing fields surrounding the port. These errors preclude certain design methodologies. The advent of perfect port calibration eliminates this restriction. New design methodologies now enabled include component selection methodology and tuning port methodology. Design closure, the process of selecting the optimal final layout based on EM analysis, is an order of magnitude faster using these methodologies. These methodologies are described in this paper with respect to RFIC design. The impact of perfectly calibrated ports on model extraction is also discussed.