Agilent ADS Tutorial (Project 1)

UNC Charlotte Agilent ADS and Cadence Software Tutorial (Project 1)

Overview

First, form project groups for the semester.

The objective of the tutorial is to become familiar with the basics of Agilent ADS software and Cadence software.

NOTE: Use the Project Report Template and keep answers to questions on consecutive sheets of paper with all plots at the end.

IN NO CASE may code or files be exchanged between students, and each student must answer the questions themselves and do their own plots, NO COPYING of any sort! Nevertheless, students are encouraged to collaborate in the lab session.

Only turn in requested plots (Pxx ) and requested answers to questions (Qxx ).

Part 1

Start the software:

From a Linux terminal, ADS should be available in the menu (Mosaic->Engineering->Electrical->Agilent->ADS)

From a PC terminal, you must first open a remote Linux session, (Start->AllPrograms->Mosaic->LinuxConnect->ToAnyServer), then proceed as for a Linux terminal

For snapshots use the Linux menu Graphic::Ksnapshot and select the option to take a legible snapshot of a window rather than a full screen snapshot.

On occasion, HPADS may have an illegible pop-up pane when you first run ADS. The safe way to handle this is to proceed to a Linux workstation, login, run ADS, and read the message. On PC's the font problem is often caused by a missing font, and a risky fix is to click the lower left button. In older software versions, this usually results in choosing the default initialization of RF/digital setup.

Note: (this note may not be valid after 2009) If you find that you have printing problem, see if you have a file ".XprinterDefaults" in your home directory. Move this file to ".XprinterDefaultsOld", and restart ADS ... it will write a new copy of this file that should enable printing.
if this does not work, move your current ".XprinterDefaults" file to ".XprinterDefaultsOld", and try downloading .XprinterDefaults to your home directory. (To download you may need to hold down the "shift key" while you click on the link.) Select the LPDEST printer by File-->PrintSetup-->Options and select Default Printer ($LPDEST) on default_queue

After ADS starts you should get a starting window similar to this:

Click the help menu item in the upper right (MenuBar::Help) and read through the on-line manuals (see the help tab in ADS), for particular questions it is usually best to use the help index from the ADS window MenuBar::Help to search the manuals.

Note: there seems to be a bug with the main help items, in that you may need to have a web browser such as firefox open before help will appear in the browser window .

Create a new project "linecalc1" as shown below. Choose the options indicated below.

Create a new schematic called linecalc:

Access the linecalc program from the tools menu as shown below.

The linecalc tool should appear as shown below.

Although we have not yet discussed transmission lines, we will use this as a simple demonstration of ADS tools

Use linecalc to compute the impedance Z0, and the effective dielectric of a microstrip line W=0.125 inch (125 mils) wide on H=1/16 inch (62.5 mils) FR4 substrate with relative dielectric constant Er= 4 and with a 1/2 ounce copper (T=0.7 mils thick) of conductivity 6.0E7 S/m. Set the frequency to 10 GHz, and line length L = 1000 mils (1 inch). A mil is 0.001 inches. Press the analyze button to compute the line parameters. Note that Z0 gives the line impedance, K_EFF is the effective dielectric constant, and E_EFF is Effective electrical length of line. Copy the linecalc window and paste it into your report (see template above). Make sure that it is legible in your report! YOU MUST ADD CAPTIONS AND FIGURE NUMBERS TO ALL FIGURES!! (P1 )

For snapshots use the Linux menu Graphice::Ksnapshot and select the option to take a legible snapshot of a window rather than full screen

Experiment with other types of transmission lines and different parameters.

Exit the program, File->Exit.

Part 2

Start the software:

Download the following zip-file (you may need to hold down the shift key while you click on the link):
aatpwx1_wrk.zip

When ADS first runs, you should have a new directory apps/ads created in your home directory.

Move the zip-file into the app/ads directory and extract the archive

You should find a new directory aatpwx1_wrk created in apps/ads or whatever your default ADS startup directory is.

Run ADS

Go down through the directory tree to ads/aatpwx1_wrk, and double click that design file.

If you also single click the folders in the FileView (FileView tab), you should see the directory structure:

Select the FolderView tab as below, and double-click the schematic in the folder view:

And the following schematic should appear.

Save a snapshot of the schematic and turn it in. (P2 )

Double-click the "gear" icon (shown at the red arrow above) in the upper right of the window to simulate.

The data plotting window shown below should appear.

To plot the simulation results, click the "rectangular plot" icon indicated by the red arrow above in the left of the window .

Drop the plotting box in the visible area, and in the pop-up window:

Select DataSet -> S(1,1) -> Add -> dB
Select DataSet -> S(2,1) -> Add -> dB
The screen should appear as:

Click OK, and the following S-parameter plot should appear. Click on the "ViewAll" widget indicated by the red arrow in the figure above,

and yu should see a plot as below.

S11 is a measure of the reflected wave as a function of frequency.

S21 is a measure of gain.

S-parameters will be investigated in greater depth in the next project.

Save a snapshot of your plot, as above, and turn it in. (P3 )

Part 3

Install Cadence software

Note for previous users of Cadence:

DO NOT RUN ANY CADENCE SOFTWARE UNTIL YOU SAVE ALL OLD FILES

Please note that any old files may be overwritten by the new installation in Aug 15 2012.

If you were a previous user of Cadence software, you are strongly urged to first move your cadence directory to something such as "cadence_old" and move your cadence6 directory to something such as "cadence6_old" to prevent any destruction of old data

Saving to an external usb drive is probably also a good idea

From a Linux terminal, Cadence6/Virtuoso should be available in the menu (Mosaic->Engineering->Electrical->Cdence->Cadence6)

From a PC terminal, you must first open a remote Linux session, (Start->AllPrograms->Mosaic->LinuxConnect->ToAnyServer), then proceed as for a Linux terminal

As soon as you run Cadence software for the first time, it will automatically install all NCSU ami06 libraries in your cadence6 director. The ami06 libraries will be used to fabricate in the ON Semiconductor 0.5 micron process through MOSIS.com

Note: installation may take a few minutes after you accept the pop-up prompt to have this installed... so wait until the following windows appear on your screen.

If all goes well, you should see something like:

Save a snapshot of your Library manager window as above ( P4 )

Create a new library using MenuBar::File::New::Library from library manager menu bar and use the input parameters as shown below to create a 0.5 micron design:

Next create a new cell in cadence using the MenuBar::File::New::CellView from library manager menu bar and use the input parameters as shown below to create a 0.5 micron design.

NOTE: a common bug in Cadence is that the new popup window is hidden behind your other windows

Set all layers to be visible using MenuBar::Options::Display and set display levels to Start=0 Stop=32 in the display options pop-up menu,

and also click the PinNames and Instance options as below.

Select the poly material in the left side of the screen (see below) and use the MenuBar::Create::Shape::Path command to draw your initials in poly.

Next create a PMOS transistor with the command MenuBar::Create::Instance and select the following parameters

Place the transistor near your initials as in the following figure
Using MenuBar::Edit::Basic::Properties select the transistor and edit the transistor property (2-finger gate) as follows:

Select the transistor and edit the transistor property for a 1-finger gate and with multiplier=4 to observe a transistor with multiple source/drain contacts appropriate for an intergdigitated device layout equivalent to 4 devices in parallel

Save a snapshot of your first RFIC Chip Layout with your initials and a multiplier=4 PMOS transistor ( P5 )

Finally, run a DRC (Design Rules Check) using MenuBar::Verify::DRC as below:

Observe the error summary that appears in the ICFB text window area that opened when you first started Cadence:

Dont worry about any errors, just print whatever errors you have as shown above ( P6 )

More tutorials are at a variety of other websites.see also

http://www.eda.ncsu.edu/wiki/NCSU_EDA_Wiki

http://www.seas.upenn.edu/%7Eeecad/cadence/cadence.html

http://www.cadence.com/support/university/Pages/default.aspx

http://www.cs.utah.edu/cadence/

http://www.cadence.com/support/university/ww_usp.aspx

http://www.ece.umd.edu/~dilli/research/layout/cadencetutorial/cadencedemo9.html

http://coefs.uncc.edu/tpweldon/cadenceproductsatunccharlotte/

Part 4

Look at the on-line manuals (see the help tab in ADS), then answer the following questions and turn them in. It is usually best to use help index accessible from an ADS window to search the manuals.

In what year did Heinrich Hertz demonstrate radio wave propagation? (Q1 )

In what year did Marconi make the first transatlantic transmission from Glace Bay Nova Scotia? (Q2 )

In 1971, what did Federico Faggin design for Intel? (Q3 )

Most microwave oven operate at a frequency of 2.45 GHz. What is the maximum clock frequency of an Intel I7 Ivy Bridge 22nm CPU? (Q4 )

Report

NOTE: Use the Project Report Template and keep answers to questions on consecutive sheets of paper with all plots at the end.

Do not add extraneous pages or put explanations on separate pages unless specifically directed to do so. The instructor will not read extraneous pages!

Only turn in requested plots (Pxx ) and requested answers to questions (Qxx ). All plots must be labeled P1, P2, etc. and all questions must be numbered Q1, Q2, etc. YOU MUST ADD CAPTIONS AND FIGURE NUMBERS TO ALL FIGURES!!

Cadence, Spectre and Virtuoso are registered trademarks of Cadence Design Systems, Inc., 2655 Seely Avenue, San Jose, CA 95134. Agilent and ADS are registered trademarks of Agilent Technologies, Inc.