5G is poised to bring more integrated and sophisticated antenna and circuit modules to the modern defense and commercial electronics markets. For example, Fig. 1 shows the type of antenna module that is now being prototyped by manufacturers like IBM and Ericsson. This 28-GHz 5G antenna module is a 2.8 × 2.8 in, 8 × 8 patch array with 64-dual polarized elements and four monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs) using a silicon-germanium (SiGe) process.
Other proposals in the design community use a combination of silicon and gallium-arsenide (GaAs)/gallium-nitride (GaN) technologies. The advantages of these types of modules are lower cost, smaller size, integration of multiple technologies, and ease of deployment.
This article, part 1 of a two-part series, examines today’s multi-technology circuit and electromagnetic (EM) simulation challenges and the software tools that are needed to support the successful design of 5G products. Part 2 presents examples that illustrate the use of multi-technology in an EM simulation and EM/circuit co-simulation of an actively-scanned antenna array. Advanced technologies, such as parameterized 3D cells, shape pre-processing and simplification, 3D EM extraction, and in-situ measurements, are described.