This month, AMCAD engineering introduced the last release of its IVCAD 3.1 software for its transistor test and modeling platform.

On a single platform, IVCAD combines the necessary tools to help RF test engineers fully characterize an RF semiconductor device. The measurement management suite is dedicated to basic measurements, as well as advanced characterization such as pulsed IV, pulsed S parameter and load pull measurement. In addition, it includes transistor’s equivalent circuit model extraction tools and circuit behavioral modeling plug-in. IVCAD is also a data base management system with a search engine which selects the best components as a function of the design target.

Because of the large amount of data generated, this powerful tool has been firstly developed to give an added value to the measurements provided by AMCAD. This tool helps the customer to easily navigate through the most interesting results, thus making the characterization and modeling services more valuable.

This new platform is now available for foundries and OEMs which deal with their own measurements and modeling lab.

IVCAD is also a reliable and repeatable test solution which is able to drive pulsed IV and load pull measurement systems.. IVCAD development has always been focused on developing a flexible and intuitive user interface.

Pulsed IV and pulsed S parameter data management plug-in

Load Pull data management plug-in

The measurements are then read by the behavioral or compact modeling toolbox. This helps the engineering to easily extract equivalent nonlinear models.

A tool box enables data manipulation through filtering, smoothing and other data management functions. Once the measurements were filtered, exports functionalities and associated templates enable the data visualization using Agilent’s® ADSTM or AWR’s® Microwave officeTM software. Using IVCAD, comparison between measurements and simulation are now simplified. IVCAD is not a simulation software, but rather a bridge between measurement setup and CAD tools.

With RF & microwave measurement becoming more complex in advanced labs, it is critical that R&D engineers have a solution with the right mix of performance and flexibility allowing them to quickly, reliably and cost-effectively perform measurement data management and model extraction," said Tony Gasseling, general manager of AMCAD Engineering. "Our new IVCAD platform, with its ability to perform advanced measurements and model extraction, is delivering the solution today's engineers demand. IVCAD is the only tool which integrates pulsed IV & S2P, Load Pull measurements and model extraction. The IVCAD platform provides a comprehensive toolset that makes the circuit design flow simpler and much more cost effective.