4. Conclusion

The AMS/RF simulator is indispensable in both the design and verification phases of circuit design. It is a key economic factor in reducing time-to-market by providing users with increased performance in terms of execution speed and capacity, given the ever-increasing size of circuits and the characteristic precision requirements of certain blocks such as PLLs and ADCs. The availability of statistical and sensitivity analyses will reduce production costs by anticipating variability problems linked to manufacturing processes. The needs of users and the safety, reliability and robustness requirements of automotive, avionics, medical and military applications are driving the development of analyses such as ageing and electrothermics, which are now taken into account very early on in the design and verification flows.

Robust design and design for reliability also have...