ADS experience (reposted)

JasonYoo

ADS experience (reposted) [Copy link]

I spent some time playing around with ADS and wrote down some tips to help RFIC designer novices spend less time on it.
1. Installation. ADS2001 can only be installed under WIN2K (I haven't tried 98 and ME). There were some problems with the installation on WIN XP. Some
files could not be installed, and after installation, they could not be used. However, ADS2002 had no problems under WIN XP. I suggest that everyone try to use
the new version ADS.
2. Help. The ADS help is quite comprehensive, but the Search function of ADS2002 is not available. It is said that a
java virtual machine needs to be installed, and some say that it cannot be used even if it is installed. So I didn't try it again and used
the Search function of ADS2001 directly.
3. Getting started. The set of training materials on Microwave Online is very practical and can help you get started quickly. It is recommended that novices use this as an
introductory material.
4. Libraries and models. Sometimes the foundry only provides the simulation text model .net file of ADS, but does not provide symbols.
You can
a. Create an empty schematic, use netlist include to include the model .net file, add ports according to the pins in
the model (the order of names is correct), and no wiring is required. Set the corresponding parameters and symbol type
. The symbol can be directly called in the upper circuit.
b. If an error occurs during simulation after calling the symbol in the upper layer. Generally, it is because
the subcircuit is defined by a define statement in the .net file, and in general, ADS will turn the entire upper layer into a subcircuit and then
simulate it . However, subcircuits are not allowed to be nested in the ADS syntax, so an error occurs. Therefore, it is written in the ADS help that
NETLIST
INCLUDE is required to be used at the top level. For our usage, we can modify the .ael file. Find the
corresponding .ael file, open the text, and modify the 15th parameter (extraAttribute) of the create_item function
to "ITEM_SCOPE_GLOBAL", and the corresponding value is 16777216.
5. The rest is simulation.