BTA Technology Unveils Mismatch Simulation Design Tool; AnalogXpert Provides Fast and Accurate Simulation for Deep Submicron Designs.

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 19, 1999--

BTA Technology, Inc., the company that provides innovative design solutions to ensure deep-submicron performance, today introduced AnalogXpert(TM). This new simulation product provides fast and precise simulation of device mismatches, a primary design concern for 0.25um devices and below. By integrating AnalogXpert, the industry's first commercially available mismatch simulation tool, into their design toolsets, designers can develop high-performance, high-precision analog designs in a faster turn-around time, with greater accuracy.

"AnalogXpert is one of the technology cornerstones in establishing BTA as the industry's leading provider of design tools that address deep submicron performance issues," stated Dr. Zhihong Liu, CEO and president of BTA Technology. This tool allows designers to quickly and accurately simulate the effect of deep-submicron mismatches on their circuit designs, a growing concern as we continue to scale down device geometries. It will prove particularly useful to telecommunications and wireless companies, as they need to ensure their high-precision, high-performance, D/A, A/D, and phase-lock loop analog blocks work as specified."

The move to SOC has precipitated a need to integrate analog circuitry using deep-submicron (0.18um and below) digital processes. These technologies are known to induce problems for analog and mixed-signal designers. A particularly prevalent problem is mismatch--when identically designed devices differ from each other. Mismatch is especially troublesome for many analog and mixed-signal circuits such as A/D, D/A, PLLs, and Op Amps. The ability to accurately simulate subtle but important mismatches is important for analog and mixed-signal designs, since most analog designs are based on matched device principles. AnalogXpert is the tool that works to solve this problem by accurately simulating circuit mismatches.

"AnalogXpert will play a prominent role as the industry migrates to SOC implementations," noted James Chen, product marketing manager at BTA. "As a majority of these next-generation devices will contain analog components, it is essential that the analog components work as specified. By tapping AnalogXpert, designers can simulate precisely the effect of mismatch on the overall performance of their designs. AnalogXpert puts into designers' hands powerful analysis capabilities to safeguard their designs against mismatch problems. As such, we see a huge market opportunity for this new product offering."

Prior to the introduction of AnalogXpert, designers often used time-consuming methods such as Monte Carlo simulation, as well as ad-hoc methods, such as hand calculations, to estimate the effect of mismatch on circuit performance. Both are burdensome processes that are prone to errors. In addition, designers needed to put in extra design margins to immunize their design against any degree of mismatch. With AnalogXpert, designers can load in pre-characterized mismatch model files from many of the world's leading foundries or input "what-if" mismatch levels and see the effects on their circuit. These capabilities ultimately enable the designer to reduce unnecessary design margins, such as avoiding over-sized device geometries, and design with a more realistic representation of the technology. By using smaller geometries, designers can more fully utilize each technology to develop the highest-performance and highest-precision analog components.

Pricing and Availability

AnalogXpert is available now for a U.S.-list price of $40,000 for one floating license. AnalogXpert can be purchased as a stand-alone product or integrated into Cadence Design Systems' (NYSE: CDN) Analog Artist environment.

About BTA Technology

BTA Technology Inc. provides innovative design solutions to ensure deep-submicron performance. The company's simulation tools ensure first-silicon success by simulating the effects of hot-carrier and device mismatch on circuit performance. These effects become vital for achieving accuracy in today's designs, especially those with geometries of 0.18 micron and below. In addition to design tools, BTA offers a comprehensive line of modeling tools. These tools emphasize accuracy, ease of use, and tight integration of advance modeling capabilities for SPICE DC/AC, interconnect, RF, noise, and reliability model parameter extraction. Lastly, BTA provides complete consulting services through BTA Labs which is focused on solving modeling challenges for deep-submicron technology.

The company is headquartered at 1982A Zanker Rd., San Jose, CA 95112, phone [phone], fax [phone], email [e-mail], web http://www.btat.com