Silvaco acquires the assets of Coupling Wave Solutions S.A.

CWS is a French provider of tools for system-level interference analysis of complex SoCs (System-on-Chips) that integrate analog, RF (Radio Frequency), and digital blocks. The acquisition expands the Silvaco's portfolio to address the growing need for RF SOI (Silicon on Insulator) substrate analysis to accurately model and simulate noise interference in circuits used in 5G and IoT applications. The Chief Technical Officer of CWS, Francois Clement, has also joined Silvaco. Silvaco will now offer Coupling Wave Solutions' products WaveIntegrity and SiPEX as part of its product portfolio. WaveIntegrity is a system-level interference modeling and analysis software suite that integrates into any IC design flow to tackle substrate noise interference during digital, analog and RF IP development, and system integration. SiPEX is a silicon substrate extraction tool that allows RF designers to model the interactions between devices, back-end-of-line, and SOI substrates and to simulate layout and design changes with speed and accuracy. “The complexity of RF circuits and the clock frequency of digital blocks in SoC designs increase every year, requiring accurate modeling and analysis of system-level noise interference,” says Firas Mohamed, Vice-President of Advanced R&D and General Manager of Silvaco France, in a press release. “Successfully verifying the noise characteristics of SoCs, the packages they are placed in, and the PCBs they are mounted on has become an increasingly difficult challenge and relying on simple noise models to avoid failures is no longer adequate. CWS’s solutions provide a unique approach to accurate modeling and analysis of noise in RF and high-speed digital SoCs so customers can maximize circuit performance and at the same time avoid over-design and silicon re-spins. “ “We founded CWS to control and manage complex noise issues throughout the development cycle of chip designs targeting advanced SOI and bulk CMOS nodes,” adds Francois Clement, Chief Technical Officer of CWS. “As the industry moves to tighter integration of analog, RF, and digital blocks at ever increasing operating frequencies, substrate noise analysis is essential to avoid failures in manufacturing. We are excited to now be part of Silvaco to reach more customers worldwide with our comprehensive solutions.” “CWS technology strengthens Silvaco's portfolio of integrated circuit layout extraction and analysis tools. The addition of CWS substrate noise modeling and analysis to our Analog Custom IC design solution addresses a growing need in the marketplace and will help our existing customers as they expand into new 5G and IoT applications,” concludes Babak Taheri, Silvaco CEO.