HEILBRONN, Germany -- Atmel Corp.'s European operation here today said it was introducing a revolutionary design tool to allow fabless semiconductor suppliers and other companies to more accurately model high-current devices for silicon-germanium (SiGe) processes.
The new HICUM (high current transistor model) will help save cost by reducing redesigns, said Atmel, which is making the tool available to its SiGe foundry customers.
The design tool supports three existing core processes: Atmel's SiGe1 and SiGe2 (heterojunction bipolar transistors, or HBTs), and BiCMOS. New processes will also be supported by the HICUM modeling tool.
Atmel described the HICUM tool as an advanced low-cost solution for modeling bipolar transistors with main emphasis on circuit design for high-speed and medium-power applications. These models specifically target the requirement for improved simulation capability, especially for high-speed large-signal transient applications and the resultant high collector current densities, said Atmel.
"One important advantage of HICUM compared to competitive advanced BJT models is its lateral scalability," said Wolfgang Kraus, head of the Modeling and Simulation Department at Atmel Wireless & Microcontrollers Division.
