6/23/2019 18 CAD Tools Every RF and Microwave Design Engineer Should Consider

Inside Frequency Control

18 CAD Tools Every RF and Microwave

Design Engineer Should Consider
Posted by Bliley Technologies on Jul 28, 2016 8:32:06 AM

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RF and Microwave Design can

be ENJOYABLE with these 18
CAD Tools...
Got a burning question? I can
help!
Don't believe me? Many of us already A Visual
know Guide to the Effect of
how
Phase Noise on Various
designing can easily become extremely long, boring,
Applications
and tedious. This is especially true for all you RF and
Microwave Design Engineers!

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6/23/2019 18 CAD Tools Every RF and Microwave Design Engineer Should Consider

Spending hours upon hours designing, nding

problems, xing problems, then repeating the process
all over again...It all can become so mentally draining.
Am I bringing back bad memories? Sorry, time for the
good news...
So how can you make the long and tedious design
process easy (and possibly even enjoyable)? 
You guessed it... Automation and design tools are key. 
Having some great CAD tools on your side can release a
signi cant burden off your back. These tools can save
you time and dramatically increase your productivity.
Our Top 4 Productivity and collaboration tools will help
skyrocket your productivity even further.
Today, we thought we'd help you out by sharing these
18 CAD design tools that can lead to a more simple &
enjoyable design session.
**Related Post: Check out our picks for the 5 best
laptops for engineers.**

18 Best CAD Design Tools for RF Design

Engineers

1. Advanced Design System (ADS)

Advanced Design System is the world’s leading electronic
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design automation software for RF, microwave, and high

speed digital applications. In a powerful and easy-to-use
interface, ADS pioneers the most innovative and commercially
successful technologies, such as X-parameters and 3D EM
simulators, used by leading companies in the wireless
Got a burning question? I can
communication & networking and aerospace & defense
help!
industries. A Visual Guide to the Effect of
Phase Noise on Various
Applications
2. Microwave Office
Renowned for its intuitive user-interface, the unique
architecture of Microwave Of ce software seamlessly
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6/23/2019 18 CAD Tools Every RF and Microwave Design Engineer Should Consider

integrates powerful, innovative tools and technologies with

application-speci c tools from partner companies to bring
their high-frequency designs to life quickly and easily.
Microwave Of ce software represents the future of high-
frequency design.

3. PADS
Geared toward PCB designers and engineers looking for high-
value, production-proven tools, PADS Standard provides
schematic design and layout capabilities in an intuitive and
easy-to-use environment. PADS Standard is ideal for less
complex board design, and where cost is a high priority.

4. Cadence
Cadence® is a leading provider of EDA and semiconductor IP. 

Their custom/analog tools help engineers design the
transistors, standard cells, and IP blocks that make up SoCs.
Their digital tools automate the design and veri cation of
giga-scale, giga-hertz SoCs at the latest semiconductor
processing nodes.
Got a burning question? I can

5. HFSS A Visual Guide to the Effect of

help!

ANSYS HFSS software is the industry standard forNoise

Phase simulating
on Various
3-D, full-wave, electromagnetic elds. Its gold-standard
Applications
accuracy, advanced solvers and high-performance computing
technologies make it an essential tool for engineers tasked

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6/23/2019 18 CAD Tools Every RF and Microwave Design Engineer Should Consider

with executing accurate and rapid design in high-frequency

and high-speed electronic devices and platforms.

6. Electronics Workbench
Electronics Workbench delivers widely used schematic
capture and circuit simulation software with an installed base
of more than 180,000. The product portfolio includes software
for schematic capture, circuit simulation (SPICE, VHDL, and
patented cosimulation), PCB layout, and autorouting.

7. Altium
By incorporating all the tools engineers and PCB designers
need into a single, stress-free user interface, Altium Designer
dramatically increases design successes, while reducing
overall design times. From concept to PCB design, 3D
modeling, and output generation for nal manufacture,
Altium Designer provides an ef cient, powerful work ow for
board-level electronics designers.

8. L-Edit
L-Edit is a complete analog/mixed-signal IC physical design
environment that is exible and highly con gurable. Create
layouts that match the schematic the rst time, maximizing
ef ciency and reducing the CAD manager’s support burden.

9. S-Edit
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User-friendly schematic capture environment for even the

most complex analog/mixed-signal designs. Tanner S-Edit
schematic capture increases your design productivity while
handling the most complex IC designs.
Got a burning question? I can

10. Ansoft Designer A Visual Guide to the Effect of

help!

Ansoft, now a division of ANSYS Inc., had developed a new

Phase Noise on Various
design environment from the ground up, integrating what had
Applications
been separate circuit, system and planar EM simulation
products. The product addressed high frequency design by

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6/23/2019 18 CAD Tools Every RF and Microwave Design Engineer Should Consider

offering a hierarchical approach to simulating complex

distributed networks directly within the context of a circuit.

11. Microwave Soft
MicrowaveSoft Inc. offers solutions for electromagnetic
design challenges. They provide you with full wave 3D nite
element simulation software both for high and low frequency.
If you are a SolidWorks user your life will be so easy as both
of their softwares are fully integrated inside SolidWorks.

12. AutoCAD
The forefront of design. Create stunning designs and improve
collaboration with innovative productivity tools in AutoCAD®
software.
Take an interactive AutoCAD guided tour HERE. 

13. Eagle
Eagle PCB designer incorporates multiple tools including
a Schematic Editor, Layout Editor, and Autorouter for a great,
all-in-one, designing experience. 

14. OrCAD
OrCAD® PCB solutions provide a complete environment from
initial schematic to nal artwork. The platform delivers a
complete, integrated work ow. Unlike other PCB solutions, 
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OrCAD has the ability to grow with evolving design

challenges providing the security of scalability for future
challenges.

15. HSpice
Got a burning question? I can
HSPICE is the industry's "gold standard" for accurate circuit
help!
simulation and offers foundry-certi ed MOS device Guide
A Visual modelsto the Effect of
with state-of-the-art simulation and analysis algorithms.
Phase Noise on Various
Applications

16. Calibre

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6/23/2019 18 CAD Tools Every RF and Microwave Design Engineer Should Consider

Calibre® xACT™ delivers high performance parasitic

extraction for digital, custom, analog and RF designs. With its
integrated fast 3D eld solver and highly parallel
architecture, Calibre xACT provides attofarad accuracy with
the performance needed for multi-million instance designs.

17. Micro-Cap
The multi-page hierarchical schematic editor makes it easy to
sketch a circuit. Once a circuit is created, you can do a
transient, AC, DC, transfer function, sensitivity, or distortion
with a simple command. The editor features stepping, scaling,
panning, multiple-object selection, rotation about three axes,
mirroring, clipboard functions, and multistage undo and redo.

18. MATLAB 


Millions of engineers and scientists worldwide use MATLAB®

to analyze and design the systems and products transforming
our world. It is used for machine learning, signal processing,
image processing, computer vision, communications,
computational nance, control design, robotics, and much
Got a burning question? I can
more.
help!
A Visual Guide to the Effect of
Phase Noise on Various
Secret Bonus Tool: FindChipsApplications
FindChips.com is anther great resource to save you a ton of
time when searching for RF and Microwave components for

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6/23/2019 18 CAD Tools Every RF and Microwave Design Engineer Should Consider

your design. It's like Google but for RF and MW Design

Engineers. Read more about it HERE.
*All above descriptions taken directly from company/ linked website

You Got the CAD Tools...Now

What?
Now that you've got the CAD tools, consider learning these 5
simple steps to insanely effective design reviews to
signi cantly reduce errors in your designs.
 

Topics: engineering, General Topics, general

Michael Grady 8/7/2016, 4:22:31 PM

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Thanks!

Reply to Michael Grady

Bliley Technologies 8/8/2016, 5:03:23 PM

Got a burning question? I can
Thanks for stopping by, Michael! Hope this helped. help!
A Visual Guide to the Effect of
Reply to Bliley Technologies Phase Noise on Various
Applications

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6/23/2019 18 CAD Tools Every RF and Microwave Design Engineer Should Consider

Civil Works Services 9/11/2016, 10:02:36 AM

Great list of useful information. Thank you for sharing.

Reply to Civil Works Services

Bliley Technologies 9/12/2016, 6:57:54 PM

We're happy you found this useful! Thank you for stopping by!

Reply to Bliley Technologies

Marco-Luis SALCEDO TOVAR 11/26/2016, 5:47:27 AM

Thanks for sharing..I'm a CADSoft Eagle user from some time ago, great tool!

Reply to Marco-Luis SALCEDO TOVAR

Evgeny Kostin 4/28/2017, 5:06:21 PM

Ok!

Reply to Evgeny Kostin

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Evgeny Kostin 4/28/2017, 5:07:37 PM

Очень хороший сайт.

Reply to Evgeny Kostin Got a burning question? I can

help!
A Visual Guide to the Effect of
Phase Noise on Various
Applications
Rajesh Kharche 11/15/2017, 9:51:42 AM

Nice post....very useful list you have put in article Thanks for sharing.
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6/23/2019 18 CAD Tools Every RF and Microwave Design Engineer Should Consider

Reply to Rajesh Kharche

Rob - Bliley Technologies 11/15/2017, 4:13:48 PM

Hi Rajesh! Great to hear you found this post helpful! Thanks for
stopping by (and hope to see you here again soon of course!)

Reply to Rob - Bliley Technologies

Ramakrishnan 4/18/2018, 10:20:08 AM

Great post. The points you mentioned are very important. Thank you for
sharing.

Reply to Ramakrishnan

Rob R. - Bliley Technologies 4/18/2018, 5:24:00 PM

Thanks for stopping by, Ramakrishnan! Great to hear you enjoyed the
post. Hopefully see you back here again soon :)

Reply to Rob R. - Bliley Technologies

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