HF/SI NEWS AND EVENTS JANUARY 2004; VOL. 4, NO. 1 1. Announcing 2004 HFSS Users Workshop Series and Call for Presentations 2. ePhysics Adds Coupled Thermal and Stress Analysis to HFSS 3. HFSS Used in UMC's Breakthrough RFCMOS Design Methodology 4. Taiyo Yuden Releases RF Component Library for Ansoft Designer 5. Ansoft 2003 Global Seminars Wrap Up 6. Current Events and Training DESIGNER’S CORNER LTCC RF Modules Low-temperature-co-fired-ceramic (LTCC) technology offers the means to integrate active and passive components on compact modules for both commercial and military applications. This elegant technology can provide tremendous benefits in terms of high performance and small size but requires careful design discipline to achieve repeatable results. A novel procedure using Ansoft Designer allows passive and active modules, such as power amplifiers (PAs), radio frequency (RF) switches, and RF front-ends, to be designed quickly and easily on LTCC substrates. Read more about this in the September 2003 issue of Microwaves & RF: ftp://ftp.ansoft.com/techsup/download/web/articles/03.09_MWRF.pdf. 1. Announcing 2004 HFSS(tm) Users Workshop and Call for Presentations Ansoft's 2004 HFSS Users Workshop Series will take place in Los Angeles on February 19-20 and in Boston on February 24. These free workshops will give Ansoft customers an excellent opportunity to meet with each other and with Ansoft's technical staff to discuss ideas and applications related to HFSS. For specific venues and information on how to submit a brief abstract for presentation, go here: http://www.ansoft.com/hfworkshop04. 2. ePhysics(tm) Adds Coupled Thermal and Stress Analysis to HFSS(tm) Ansoft's ePhysics is new software that expands the capabilities of HFSS to include coupled, three-dimensional thermal and stress analysis. HFSS with ePhysics is vital for applications such as high-speed packages, antennas, monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs), high-power microwave devices, military and broadcast communications, and biological heating with RF sources. For details, go here: http://www.ansoft.com/ephysics. 3. HFSS(tm) Used in UMC's Breakthrough RFCMOS Design Methodology UMC, a leading semiconductor foundry, recently announced a breakthrough Electromagnetic Design Methodology (EMDM) for RFCMOS designs. This new methodology applies electromagnetic (EM) analysis tools to replace very expensive and highly time-consuming physical prototypes with EM-based virtual prototypes. UMC has extensively validated the success of this EMDM for RFCMOS designs through the fabrication and measurement of hundreds of components. UMC's EMDM, which utilizes Ansoft’s HFSS™ 3D simulation software, allows engineers to easily and accurately create RF structures, such as spiral inductors, in their design without going through several wafer splits and the painful tasks of measurement, data fitting, and modeling. To read more, go here: http://www.ansoft.com/news/press_release/031215.cfm. 4. Taiyo Yuden Releases RF Component Library for Ansoft Designer(tm) Ansoft and Taiyo Yuden recently announced the release of a new device library for Ansoft Designer v1.1 based on Taiyo Yuden(r) high-density miniaturized surface-mount components. The component library will help engineers designing electronic equipment, such as Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs), car navigation systems, base stations, and cellular handsets, by providing accurate electrical responses and mechanical layout features for manufacturing. To learn more, go here:http://www.ansoft.com/news/press_release/031120.cfm. 5. Ansoft 2003 Global Seminars Wrap Up Leading technology companies worldwide showcased their innovative high-frequency and high-speed design methods at Ansoft's 2003 Delivering Performance Global Seminar Series. The seminars included presentations from many of today's leading high-tech companies, including Raytheon, Motorola, UMC, Molex, and others. To download presentations, go here: http://www.ansoft.com/deliveringperformance. 6. Current Events and Training TRADE SHOWS DesignCon West 2/3-5 Santa Clara, CA; Booth 316 Wireless Systems Design Expo 3/8-11 San Diego, CA; Booth 934 PCB West 3/16-17 San Jose, CA; Booth 420 WORKSHOPS Xilinx, Mentor, Ansoft Signal Integrity Seminars 1/27-29 Three locations in CA 2004 HFSS Users Workshop, LA 2/19-20 Los Angeles 2004 HFSS Users Workshop, Boston 2/24 Boston TRAINING Ansoft Designer 1/14 San Jose, CA HFSS 1/15 San Jose, CA HFSS 1/29-30 Boston, MA HFSS 2/10 Los Angeles, CA HFSS 2/12 San Jose, CA Ansoft Designer 3/16 Los Angeles, CA Ansoft Designer 3/17 San Jose, CA HFSS 3/18 San Jose, CA WEB SEMINARS Ansoft Designer/HFSS 1/8 Online Ansoft Designer - RF Systems 1/15 Online HFSS-ePhysics - RF/Microwave EM-Thermal 1/22 Online Ansoft Designer - Communication Systems 1/29 Online For more information on any of these events, please go to www.ansoft.com and click on the "EVENTS/TRAINING" link on the top or bottom navigation bar. ABOUT HF/SI NEWS & EVENTS HF/SI News & Events is electronically distributed every other month, then posted on our Web site here:http://www.ansoft.com/news/publications/index.cfm. If you know someone who would like to receive it, please forward this email. To subscribe, go to www.ansoft.com, go to Ansoft's Membership Login page (http://www.ansoft.com/membership/login.cfm?campaign=41), enter your email address and password, select one of the newsletter checkboxes at the bottom of the screen, and click the "Submit" button. To unsubscribe, send an email to si_hf_news@ansoft.com, with "REMOVE-HF/SI NEWS" in the subject line; or contact your local Ansoft salesperson. Ansoft Corporation Four Station Square Pittsburgh, PA 15219 Tel: 412-261-3200 Fax: 412-471-9427 Web: www.ansoft.com