The ANSYS Nexxim® circuit simulation engine and analysis software delivers high-performance, high-capacity, transistor-level simulation for complex RF/analog/mixed-signal IC design and verification. Nexxim provides the transistor-level accuracy required for the simulation of sensitive analog and wireless front-end circuits and the robustness and capacity to address the diversity and complexity of modern mixed-signal integrated circuit designs. Nexxim dynamically links to Ansoft's industry-leading electromagnetic field solvers, HFSS™, SIwave™ and Q3D Extractor® . Therefore, engineers can achieve first-pass system success by precisely modeling and integrating high-frequency effects in their circuit designs, gaining insight into signal integrity and power integrity issues.

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Nexxim Advantages

Dynamic links to state-of-the-art EM analyses Electromagnetic effects significantly impact circuit behavior at high frequencies of operation. Nexxim's dynamic links to HFSS, SIwave and Q3D Extractor allow the seamless integration of these effects into circuit design. In addition, Nexxim's high simulation capacity handles the additional complexity and circuit size introduced by the electromagnetic effects.

Statistical analysis and transient simulation New features VerifEye and QuickEye provide statistical analysis and fast convolution simulation capabilities that allow engineers to rapidly characterize high-speed serial channels, but they can be used for single-ended architectures as well.

Time-domain simulation using frequency-domain S-parameters Nexxim's inherent advantages in speed and capacity are enhanced with automatic enforcement of passivity and causality to accurately model and simulate physical behavior in the time domain (such as that of complex interconnects in signal integrity applications). To address the problem of passivity enforcement for large port count, non-passive S-parameter based models; Nexxim includes a "Passivity by Perturbation" option. Nexxim also includes a patent pending "TWA" algorithm. "TWA" will dramatically speed up the State Space fitting procedure often by orders of magnitude. State Space model generation is a critical need for time domain S-parameter simulation.

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Consistency of results across domains Time-domain (transient) and frequency-domain (harmonic balance, AC) simulations are performed using the same circuit netlist and the same device models across analyses, guaranteeing that results in the different domains are consistent.

Higher capacity at increased simulation speed Cutting-edge numerical algorithms and software engineering provide Nexxim with the capacity and speed to handle simulation of high-performance SI and RF devices that have very large transistor/device counts and high harmonic content without sacrificing simulation accuracy.

Robust convergence Nexxim includes robust algorithms across all analysis domains (DC, time and frequency) that ensure convergence even as circuit size, harmonic content and circuit nonlinearities increase.

Model compatibility Nexxim natively supports HSPICE®® and Spectre® device models and netlist formats, providing full foundry device level support. Hence, Nexxim seamlessly integrates within and augments existing design flows.