High-frequency design tools are evolving much like the computers that run them, growing in performance and versatility over time. As electronic applications continue to consume frequency spectrum, use of millimeter-wave (mmWave) frequencies is becoming more common, as in advanced driver-assistance system (ADAS) radars and 5G wireless communications systems. Thus, more components and devices are needed to support mmWave applications.
Computer-aided-design (CAD) software tools help create innovative designs at higher frequencies, modeling the behavior of components, devices, printed circuit boards (PCBs), and systems before expensive mistakes can be made. The latest high-frequency CAD tools support models well into the mmWave range (30 to 300 GHz), enabling simulation of a design’s performance whether at component, device, circuit, or even system level.