Simulation and Design Verification for Fully Integrated Radio Frequency (RF) Transceivers. Problems and Solutions.

This paper deals with the problems of simulation and design verification for fully integrated radio frequency (RF) transceivers. Single package solutions and multiple radio systems integrated on the same substrate provide extremely limited access to the intermediate stages for testing, if any. It becomes exceedingly critical to verify the design prior to the manufacturing. Capabilities and limitations of various mathematical methods that can be applied in the circuit simulation and final pre-manufacturing verification are discussed. The hybrid frequency/time domain technique that is considered to be the most promising and accurate tool for the integrated RF design verification is presented