Agilent Technologies Inc. announced the release of the HiSIM_HV Model Extraction Package for advanced high voltage metal oxide semiconductor (HVMOS) device models. The package, for use with Agilent’s Integrated Circuit Characterization and Analysis Program (IC-CAP) software platform, provides an easy-to-use, efficient and customizable method for measuring and extracting accurate parameter values for the HiSIM_HV device model.

The HiSIM_HV device model, developed by Hiroshima University in Japan, is an industry-standard model for HVMOS devices used in a wide range of consumer products such as flat-panel display drivers, automotive electronics, RF power amplifiers, switches and power management applications. Earlier compact models, such as the BSIM4, were primarily developed for traditional symmetrical low-voltage complementary metal oxide semiconductor CMOS devices for digital applications. The HiSIM_HV model was designed for both symmetrical HVMOS and for asymmetrical laterally diffused MOS (LDMOS) devices used in RF power applications.

The HiSIM_HV model is based on the HiSIM2.4 compact device model for bulk CMOS devices. Unlike earlier compact CMOS models, both HiSIM models calculate current and charges based on the internal surface potential, for more accurate, smoother and continuous results. Continuous derivatives are essential for accurate RF modeling of intermodulation and power performance.

The HiSIM_HV model includes other typical high-voltage effects such as modeling drift region resistance, quasi-saturation effects and self-heating effects.

“The macro modeling HVMOS approach had fundamental limitations in simulation convergence and speed, and posed parameter extraction challenges,” said Roberto Tinti, product manager with Agilent’s EEsof EDA division. “The new HiSIM_HV model overcomes the technical challenges posed by the macro modeling approach and it also provides a solution which will be available as a standard model in most commercial circuit simulators.”

IC-CAP provides a powerful open and flexible environment for measuring and extracting device models for a broad range of process technologies, including CMOS, HVMOS, BJT, HBT on silicon and compound semiconductors. The HiSIM_HV package -- the latest in Agilent’s series of IC-CAP Device Model Extraction Packages -- gives designers the ability to automatically generate a complete device model or adapt the package to meet specific modeling needs.

In addition to the HiSIM_HV model, the IC-CAP device modeling software platform enables the extraction of other HVMOS device models. Examples include macro models based on BSIM3 or BSIM4 sub-circuits and the popular Synopsys proprietary Level 66 model, which is available in HSPICE.

The HiSIM_HV Model Extraction Package provides direct links to Synopsys’ HSPICE and Cadence’s Spectre simulation software products.