IN Brief:
- Keysight and WIN Semiconductors have introduced a joint workflow for GaN MMIC design houses.
- The workflow connects on-chip multi-domain simulation, 3D layout verification, and off-chip evaluation-board design.
- The approach targets RF components for 5G base stations, Wi-Fi access points, satellite payloads, and defence radar.
Keysight Technologies and WIN Semiconductors have introduced a joint GaN MMIC design workflow intended to reduce tapeout risk for high-frequency RF components used in 5G, satellite, Wi-Fi, and defence radar applications.
The workflow links on-chip multi-domain simulation, 3D layout verification, and off-chip MMIC evaluation-board design in a single environment. It uses WIN Semiconductors’ NP 120P GaN Process Design Kit with Keysight tools including Advanced Design System and RF Circuit Simulation Professional.
GaN MMIC design houses face high commercial exposure when a first pass fails. A fabrication respin can add weeks to development, delay customer evaluation, and increase foundry cost. The joint workflow is designed to automate the simulation, optimisation, and verification steps needed before a design is submitted for fabrication, reducing the chance that a critical analysis is missed before sign-off.
The workflow also extends beyond the die. MMIC customers typically need to measure performance on a physical evaluation board before committing to a design. That board includes the MMIC, package, PCB, connectors, biasing, and test interfaces, all of which can affect measured RF performance. Bringing the on-chip and off-chip elements into the same workflow can improve correlation between simulation, fabrication, and measurement.
WIN’s NP 120P GaN PDK gives designers access to foundry-specific process models and layout rules. Richard Kuo, Director of Design Service at WIN Semiconductors, said: “We are delighted to collaborate with Keysight to deliver a customised LVS solution within the WIN ADS PDK. By combining Keysight’s ADS expertise with WIN’s robust PDK and advanced process technology, we provided a comprehensive verification solution that streamlined the customer’s design flow and accelerated the time-to-market for advanced RF products with greater confidence and reliability.”
RF component development is becoming more demanding as higher-frequency systems move deeper into commercial and defence equipment. Richardson’s mmWave MMIC distribution work with Nxbeam has already broadened access to GaN and GaAs devices up to 76GHz, while Infineon’s production of an 8Tx8Rx radar MMIC shows how high-channel-count RF silicon is being pushed into scalable sensing platforms.
GaN remains attractive because of its power density, efficiency, and high-frequency performance. Those strengths are valuable in active antenna systems, electronic warfare, satellite payloads, radar, point-to-point links, and advanced wireless infrastructure. The difficulty is that GaN MMIC performance is shaped by far more than transistor characteristics. Thermal behaviour, package transitions, parasitics, board materials, connectors, and measurement setup can all change the result seen by the customer.
As frequencies rise, the gap between schematic performance and evaluation-board behaviour becomes more expensive. A design can pass die-level expectations yet fail to deliver once packaging, launch transitions, layout discontinuities, bias networks, and connector effects are included. Integrating electromagnetic simulation, circuit verification, layout checking, and board-level evaluation reduces the number of late surprises.
Nilesh Kamdar, General Manager, EDA, Design Engineering Software at Keysight, said: “WIN’s complete PDK, combined with Keysight’s simulation and verification tools, gives designers a single path from chip design through evaluation board. Design houses can now prove full system performance before fabrication, giving their customers the confidence to commit.”
The collaboration reflects the direction of RF design, where foundry PDKs, EDA tools, electromagnetic modelling, verification, and measurement planning are becoming less separable. First-pass success has become part of the commercial proposition for GaN MMIC suppliers, particularly in markets where programme schedules, qualification windows, and customer evaluation cycles leave little room for avoidable respins.
