While most RF engineers are familiar with EDA tools such as Microwave Office, ADS, Ansoft Designer or Genesys, their CAD co-workers are more reliant on PCB layout tools such as Pantheon from Intercept. PANTHEON RF bridges the divide between electrical design and board layout with an advanced PCB/Hybrid/RF design application that eases the RF and mixed-signal design process by providing options for a layout-driven design or a traditional schematic driven design with Mozaix, Intercept’s schematic capture application. The tools flexible design options include a library of RF models for use with bidirectional interfaces to Ansoft HFSS™, Agilent EEsof ADS, and Applied Wave Research Microwave Office®.

RF design is made easier and intelligent by incorporating physical hierarchy using Pantheon's block geometry technology, flexible shape and fill manipulation, conversion of primitive shapes to intelligent area fills, and a special Route Parametric Component mode that creates connections between RF elements using parametric stripline and micro-strip lines and bends with the click of a mouse. All of these advanced RF design capabilities can be created in the layout and back annotated to Intercept’s Mozaix schematic application using an advanced back annotation application,Palindrome.

Palindrome can detect new components placed in Pantheon and place them automatically on schematic sheets from a library, or list unplaced components in an interactive panel for drag-and-drop placement.
■ Full schematic and layout integration.
■ Bidirectional Interfaces to HFSS, Microwave Office, ADS.
■ Advanced schematic creation from layout with Palindrome.

Pantheon also includes a number of PCB design features that are of particular interest to high frequency design including Via fencing, layout driven design, Shape/Fill manipulation convert primitive to intelligent, route parametric, component parametric RF model browser, route Fill/Multi-Fill/Intelligent paths, design reuse and powerful Bi-Directional Interfaces. Several of these features are described in greater detail below.

POWERFUL BIDIRECTIONAL INTERFACES

Import and export data to and from HFSS, Microwave Office, or ADS, eliminating the need to recreate circuits or circuit changes by hand. Users can start a design in Pantheon and send it to HFSS for analysis at any time. Or, if preferred, start the RF circuit in HFSS, analyze it, and then send it to Pantheon to complete the layout design. All three bidirectional interfaces offer the same flexibility, with fully intelligent objects.

DESIGN REUSE WITH LAYOUT HIERARCHY

The ability to reuse proven RF sub-circuits can greatly reduce the design cycle time. Utilizing Pantheon’s block technology, there is no need to recreate each RF circuit from scratch. Create a block geometry out of the sub-circuit, and place the block one or more times in any number of designs that require it. Edits are automatically updated to all blocks that are placed in the layout, while copying, moving or rotating the sub-circuits is as easy as maneuvering a single component object.

ROUTE PARAMETRIC COMPONENT

Use Pantheon’s Route Parametric Component interactive routing mode to create intelligent parametric components with the click of a mouse. With a click of the mouse, Pantheon automatically converts the route into parametric component shapes, including strip-lines, bends and microstrips. The resulting parametric components can be edited via the RF Model browser.

FLEXIBLE SHAPE AND FILL MANIPULATION

In Pantheon, users have the most powerful shape and fill creation and manipulation available in the industry. This powerful functionality allows designers to create intelligent, unique RF shapes with speed and efficiency:
■ Slice/Merge
■ Chamfer
■ Add/Cutout
■ Grow/Shrink
■ Add/Move Vertex
■ Route Fill

PARAMETRIC RF MODEL BROWSER

Pantheon’s RF Model Browser is an interactive model generator for the creation and editing of RF components. Choose from hundreds of ADS and Microwave Office compatible models. Once a model is selected, the parametric generator displays a preview of the model as parameters are specified by the user. Once placed, the resulting component is fully intelligent, and special RF Design Rule Checks ensure the design’s integrity.

CONVERSION OF PRIMITIVE SHAPES TO INTELLIGENT AREA FILL

Another powerful feature of Pantheon is its ability to convert primitive shapes into intelligent net objects (wires and area fills) in one easy step. The converted net objects adopt the net name of the net they touch. Primitive shapes can be created in a session, or imported from one of several CAD formats, such as DXF or Gerber.