IJCSI International Journal of Computer Science Issues, Vol.

9, Issue 4, No 2, July 2012

ISSN (Online): 1694-0814
www.IJCSI.org 196

Review of ASITIC (Analysis and Simulation of Inductors and

Transformers for Integrated Circuits) Tool to Design
Inductor on Chip

M. Zamin Ali Khan1, Hussain Saleem2 and Shiraz Afzal3

1
Main Communication Network Department,
University of Karachi, Karachi, Pakistan

2
Department of Computer Science,
University of Karachi, Karachi, Pakistan

3
Electronic Engineering Department,
Sir Syed University of Engineering & Technology, Karachi, Pakistan

Abstract as possible to make their products more compact and

Passive elements such as inductors, capacitors, and reliable [2]. While it was possible to fabricate small
transformers have the potential to improve the performance of values of capacitance on-chip, at the same time inductors
key RF building blocks. Despite the fact about their utilization, were virtually impossible due to the large physical area
is not only the need of proper modeling of electrostatic and required to obtain sufficient inductance at a given
magneto-static effects, but also is the coupling of
electromagnetic parasitic substrate. In this paper, a custom-built
frequency. This was compounded by the losses in the
computer-aided-design tool called ASITIC, “Analysis and substrate which made it virtually impossible to fabricate
Simulation of Inductors and Transformers for Integrated high quality devices. Small Si die were desirable to keep
Circuits” is illustrated, which is vastly used for analysis, design, costs low in order to improve reliability since larger die
and optimization of passive devices. This tool allows circuit results in lower yields [3].
and process engineers to design and optimize the geometry of When passive devices were needed, usually they were
passive devices and the process parameters to meet electrical connected externally onboard rather than on-chip. This is
specifications optimally. Since, the losses in the passive devices possible as long as few external components are needed
determine the achievable gain and power dissipation, thus and the package parasitics are negligible in comparison
optimization of such passive devices is now becoming an
integral part in the design of such building blocks.
with the external electrical characteristics of the device.
Keywords: ASITIC, Inductor-on-Chip, CAD, LNA, Parasitic In order to design inductor on chip, a custom CAD tool,
Capacitance. ASITIC was used to analyze a wide variety of test
structures such as square spirals, polygon spirals,
coupled spirals and transformers [1].
1. Introduction In this paper, In this paper, a custom-built computer-
The wireless communication revolution has spawned a aided-design tool called ASITIC, “Analysis and
revival of interest in the design and optimization of radio Simulation of Inductors and Transformers for Integrated
transceivers. Passive elements such as inductors, Circuits” is illustrated, which is vastly used for analysis,
capacitors, and transformers play critical part in today’s design, and optimization of passive devices. With the
transceivers. Until recently, passive devices, especially in introduction in Section-1, Applications of ASITIC tool
integrated form, played relatively minor role in Si for passive devices is explored in Section-2. The ASITIC
integrated circuits in comparison with active devices overview and organization is discussed in Section-3 & 4.
such as transistors. The most important reason for this Optimization of Parameters for Optimal Inductor
can be endorsed as the size difference. Through the era, Performance is covered in Section-5 with a design
active devices are continuously shrinking and occupying example explored in Section-6. Finally the conclusion
less and less chip area whereas passive devices remarks are mentioned in Section-7.
occupying large space. At low frequencies, circuit
designers employed simulated passive devices as much

Copyright (c) 2012 International Journal of Computer Science Issues. All Rights Reserved.
IJCSI International Journal of Computer Science Issues, Vol. 9, Issue 4, No 2, July 2012
ISSN (Online): 1694-0814
www.IJCSI.org 197

(a) (b) (c) (d)

(e) (f)

Fig 1: Applications of passive devices in Si IC building blocks. (a) Impedance matching. (b) Tuned load.
(c) Emitter degeneration. (d) Filtering. (e) Balun. (f) Distributed amplifier. [2].

2. Applications of Passive Devices minimal reflections, and optimal efficiency when

designing circuit building blocks such as low-noise
Passive devices, such as inductors and transformers, play amplifiers (LNAs), frequency-translation circuits (mixers),
an integral part in the performance of circuit building and amplifiers.
blocks, especially at high frequency. Inductors can be In Fig. 1(b) we see an LC tuned load. A tuned load can
avoided at lower frequencies by using simulated take the place of a resistive load to obtain gain at high
inductances employing active devices. Simulated inductors frequency. The advantages are clear as an LC passive is
are more difficult to realize at higher frequencies as active less noisy than a resistor, consumes less voltage headroom,
device gain drops. In addition, simulated inductors have and obtains larger impedance at high frequency. A
finite dynamic range, require voltage headroom to operate, resistive load is always limited by the RC time constant
and inject additional noise into the circuits. These which limits the frequency response. Tuned loads are also
limitations place a severe restriction on their application, critical components of oscillators. The LC tank tunes the
especially in highly sensitive analog building blocks. In center frequency of the oscillator and the intrinsic Q
Fig. 1, we can observe several common applications of allows the tank to oscillate with minimal power injection
inductors, capacitors, and transformers in wireless building (and hence noise) from the driving transistor.
block circuits. In Fig. 1(c) an inductor is used as a series-feedback
In Fig. 1(a) we see a narrow-band impedance matching element. Series feedback can be used to increase the input
example. Here the input impedance of the second impedance, stabilize the gain, and lower the non-linearity
transistor is matched to an optimal impedance value of the amplifier. By using an inductor in place of a resistor,
desired by the driving transistor. For instance, in a power less voltage headroom is consumed, and less additional
amplifier the input impedance of a large output stage noise is injected into the circuit. The inductance can also
device is low due to the capacitance, and to obtain be used to obtain real input impedance at a particular
sufficient power gain, this low impedance is transformed frequency, thus providing an impedance match at the input
into a larger value. Impedance matching allows circuit of the amplifier.
designers to obtain minimal noise, maximum gain,

Copyright (c) 2012 International Journal of Computer Science Issues. All Rights Reserved.
IJCSI International Journal of Computer Science Issues, Vol. 9, Issue 4, No 2, July 2012
ISSN (Online): 1694-0814
www.IJCSI.org 198

In Fig. 1(d) inductors and capacitors are used to realize a friendly and efficient software tool. ASITIC allows one to
low-pass filter. Filters of this type are superior to active move easily between the electrical, physical, geometric,
filter realizations such as gm-C or MOSFET-C filters as and network domains. In the electric domain, the device is
they operate at higher frequencies, have higher dynamic described by the relevant electrical parameters, such as
range due to the intrinsic linearity of the passive devices, inductance, capacitance, quality-factor Q, and self-
and inject less noise while requiring no DC power to resonant frequency. In the physical domain, the device is
operate. described by the constituent material properties, such as
In Fig. 1(e) we see a center-tapped transformer serving as the thickness, conductivity, permittivity, and permeability.
a balun, a device which converts a differential signal into a In the geometric domain, the device is described by its
single-ended signal to drive external components. physical dimensions and relative position in the volume of
Differential operation is advantageous in the on-chip the integrated circuit. In the network domain, the device is
environment due to the intrinsic noise rejection and described by network two-port parameters.
isolation. Off-chip components, such as SAW filters, In short, the goal of ASITIC is to create an easy-to-use
though, are single-ended and a balun is needed to convert numerical software package for the analysis and design of
external single-ended signals to on-chip differential signals. passive devices over the Si substrate. The key objective is
Finally, in Fig. 1(f) we see inductors and capacitors accuracy, flexibility, and efficiency [2].
forming an artificial transmission line in a distributed
(traveling-wave) amplifier. Since the LC network acts like 4. ASITIC Organization
a transmission line, it has a broadband response. A wave
propagating on the gate-line is amplified and transferred Fig. 2 is a block diagram of ASITIC. ASITIC is composed
onto the drain line. If the wave speed on the drain line of several software modules that interact over clearly
matches the gate line, the signals on the drain line add in defined interfaces. The user interacts with ASITIC at the
phase and the drain line delivers power into a matched top level through the graphical and text interface. The
load [2]. technology file describes the pertinent process parameters
such as substrate layer thickness, conductivity, and
3. ASITIC Overview permittivity data, as well as metal thickness and
conductivity values.
ASITIC is the amalgamation of the key concepts and
techniques as described in [2], assembled into a user-
Input Log

Tech File
Files

Display
OpenGL
Hardware

Command
Graphical Line
TechFile
Interface Processing
Interface

Parser DRC

Geometric Calculation
Engine Engine
Function

Lookup
Green

Table

Meshing Engine

Numerical Back-end

LAPACK BLAS FFTW QUADPACK

Fig. 2. Block Diagram of the ASITIC Modules [2]

Copyright (c) 2012 International Journal of Computer Science Issues. All Rights Reserved.
IJCSI International Journal of Computer Science Issues, Vol. 9, Issue 4, No 2, July 2012
ISSN (Online): 1694-0814
www.IJCSI.org 199

By means of ASITIC commands, users are able to create,

modify, optimize, and analyze passive devices. The top
ASITIC layers rely on the geometry and calculation
engines to create and analyze structures. The geometry
engine is able to synthesize structures such as square and
polygon spirals. The calculation engine is able to quickly
analyze the structures and display electrical parameters.
The calculation engine in turn depends on the meshing
engine to convert geometric representations of devices into
electrically small geometric sub elements used for the
analysis. The numerical back-end modules convert the
electrical sub-elements into algebraic equations through
numerical integration. These numerical computations are
accelerated by several software libraries such as Basic
Linear Algebra Subroutines (BLAS), Linear Algebra
Fig. 3 Normalized spiral resistance as a function of frequency
Package (LAPACK) [4], an extension of (LINPACK), and
Fastest FFT in the West (FFTW) [5], and the numerical
areas are favorable. This is doubly true for highly
integration package QUADPACK [6].
conductive substrates that suffer from eddy-current losses
Another important element in ASITIC is graphical
at high frequency [9].
interface. ASITIC is capable of displaying devices in two
and three dimensions. The three-dimensional
Thus, the optimization of such structures must be done
representations produced with OpenGL are highly useful
carefully on a case-by-case basis. To aid this process, a
in understanding and verifying complex multi-metal
custom tool has been developed. The techniques presented
structures. Physical dimensions can be distorted to more
in this paper have been collected into Analysis and
easily visualize the structure. For instance, the z-direction
Simulation of Inductors and Transformers for IC’s
can be scaled to clearly delineate closely spaced metal
(ASITIC), to a user friendly computer-aided-design (CAD)
layers.
tool designed to aid the RF circuit designer in the
designing, optimizing, and modeling of the spiral inductor
5. Optimization of Parameters for Optimal and transformers. The tool is flexible, allowing the user to
Inductor Performance tradeoff between speed and accuracy. For example,
ASITIC can be used to quickly search the parameters
Much is known about the optimization of the technological space of an inductor optimization problem.
parameters of a process for optimal inductor performance
[7]. Thicker or higher conductivity metal improves the
quality factor at low frequencies, whereas a higher 6. Design Example
resistivity substrate and thicker oxide help to isolate the A 2GHz LC tank will be designed as a part of LC
device from the substrate at high frequencies. The oscillator. C value is given as 3pF.
optimization of the geometry of inductors and transformers, (a) Find L value.
though, is more difficult. Even for simple structures, such (b) Design a spiral inductor with L value (± 5%
as square spirals, there are several parameters to optimize, range) obtained from (a) using ASITIC.
including the area of the spiral, the metal width and Optimize the design parameters: W, S, D and N
spacing, and the number of turns. Not much can be said in to get a high Q (Qmin = 5).
general since the optimal geometry depends on the Show L, Q, fSR value obtained from simulation.
frequency of operation. [8] (c) Show the layout.
For instance, at low frequency, one usually uses the (d) Give a lumped circuit model.
minimum spacing available to maximize magnetic
coupling, but at high frequency, proximity effects and SOLUTION:
magnetic coupling favor a larger value of spacing [9]. This
is illustrated in Fig. 3, where we plot the resistance of a (a) LC tank oscillation frequency is given as 2GHz.
typical spiral using two values of spacing. Similar
considerations apply to the area of the spiral and the
number of turns. At lower frequencies, large areas allow
……(1)
wider metal widths to meet a given inductance at lower √
values of series resistance and therefore higher but at high
…… (2)
frequencies, this is dominated by the substrate and smaller

Copyright (c) 2012 International Journal of Computer Science Issues. All Rights Reserved.
 ∴ ( ) ( )

11nH is desired.

(b) L = 2.11nH (±5%) is used as input parameter.

Several design parameters are tried to get high Q
and fSR values. Final design has
Parameters:
W = 19µm,
S = 1µm,
Fig. 5. π-model produced through ASITIC data
D = 200µm,
N =3.5
7. Conclusion
Resulting Inductor:
L = 2.06nH, The ASITIC tool is found to be very useful in designing
Q = 7.11, passive devices on chip, like inductors, and transformers.
fSR = 9.99GHz @ 2GHz It also helps to optimize the parameters so as to increase
the speed and efficiency of the circuit.
This design is acceptable as Q > Qmin and f < fSR .
References
(c) ASITIC generates the layout automatically as [1] Niknejad, A. M., et al., “Analysis and Optimization of
Monolithic Inductors and Transformers for RF IC's”,
mentioned in Fig-4. It can be saved and imported to
University of California, Berkeley, California, 1998.
be used in other tools such as Cadence, ADS and [2] Niknejad, A. M., “Analysis, Simulation, and Applications
Sonnet. of Passive Devices on Conductive Substrates”, Ph.D.
Thesis, University of California at Berkeley, 2000.
[3] Paul R. Gray & Robert G. Meyer., “Analysis and Design of
Analog Integrated Circuits.” Wiley, New York, 3rd edition,
1993.
[4] J.J. Dongarra & J. Demmel, LAPACK: A Portable High-
performance Numerical Library for Linear Algebra.
Supercomputer, 8 (6), 33–38, 1991.
[5] M. Frigo & S. G. Johnson, “FFTW: adaptive software
architecture for the FFT”, in Proc. of the 1998 IEEE Intl.
Conf. on Acoustics Speech and Signal Processing, pp.1381-
4, 1998.
[6] R. Piessens et al., Quadpack: A Subroutine Package for
Automatic Integration, Springer-Verlag, Berlin; New York,
1983.
[7] J.R. Long & M.A. Copeland, “The Modeling,
Characterization, and Design of Monolithic Inductors for
Silicon RF IC’s”, IEEE J. Solid-State Circuits, vol. 32, pp.
357–369, Mar. 1997.
[8] A.M. Niknejad, & R.G. Meyer, “Analysis, Design, and
Fig. 4. Square Spiral Inductor Layout
Optimization of Spiral Inductors and Transformers for Si
generated through ASITIC Tool RF IC’s”, IEEE J. Solid-State Circuits, vol. 33(10), Oct.
1998.
[9] J. Craninckx & M. Steyaert, “A 1.8-GHz low-phase-noise
CMOS VCO using Optimized Hollow Spiral Inductors,”
(d) Analysis in ASITIC gives a π model as mentioned in IEEE J. Solid-State Circuits, vol. 32, pp. 736–745, May
Fig.5. π model is usually not symmetrical and this can 1997.
be used for differential configuration where none of
the two ports is ac-grounded.
IJCSI International Journal of Computer Science Issues, Vol. 9, Issue 4, No 2, July 2012
ISSN (Online): 1694-0814
www.IJCSI.org 201

Dr. M. Zamin Ali Khan is a Head of

Main Communication network
department at University of Karachi.
He has received B.E (Electrical
Engineering) from NED University,
Karachi, Pakistan and MS (Electrical
and Computer Engineering) from
Concordia University, Montreal,
Canada and PhD in Computer Science
from UoK. He has more than 18 years
of experience of teaching and industry.
He has worked in Victhom Human
Bionics, Canada as an Engineer Scientist. Currently. He is a
senior member of Pakistan Engineering Council, Canadian
Engineering Council and IEEE. His research interest includes
VLSI, Digital design, Digital signal processing and Analog front
end of wireless devices.

Hussain Saleem is currently Assistant

Professor and Ph.D. Research Scholar
at Department of Computer Science,
University of Karachi, Pakistan. He
received B.S. Electronics Engineering
from Sir Syed University of Engineering
& Technology, Karachi in 1997 and has
done Masters in Computer Science
from University of Karachi in 2001. With
having vast experience of about
15 years of University Teaching,
Administration and Research in various
dimensions of Computer Science,. He
is also founder member of the Main Communication Networks
Department, University of Karachi. Moreover, he is Academic
Head of Computer Application Compulsory courses at Faculty of
Arts and Sciences at University of Karachi. He is the Author of
several International journal publications. His field of interest is
Software Science, System Automation, Hardware design
engineering, and Simulation & Modeling. He is member Pakistan
Engineering Council (PEC).

Shiraz Afzal is a full time faculty

member of SSUET. He received his
B.E. degree in Electronics from Sir
Syed University of Engineering and
Technology Karachi, Pakistan and M.E
degree in Electronics Specialization in
Micro-System design from NED
University of Engineering and
Technology Karachi, Pakistan in 2006
and 2012 respectively. His research
interest includes Microelectronic circuit
design. He is also a member of PEC.

Copyright (c) 2012 International Journal of Computer Science Issues. All Rights Reserved.