Virtual Reference Design

from ROHM
PathWave ADS Workspace for
ROHM P01SCT2080KE-EVK-001
This application note provides information to obtain and use a PathWave ADS
workspace that you can use to simulate a virtual version of a physical reference
design from ROHM, Model P01SCT2080KE-EVK-001. This model showcases the
second generation planar SiC power transistors (SCT2XXX series) also from
ROHM. Provides the details on how they can be used to build your next-
generation switched-mode power supply. In addition, the reference design – in
both virtual and physical forms - can be used as starting point for your own project.

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Table of Contents

Dependencies/Pre-requisites from Keysight and ROHM .............................................................. 4

Dependencies/Pre-requisites from Keysight ............................................................................. 4
Step 1: Download and Install the PathWave ADS binaries ................................................... 4
Step 2: Request a No-charge 45-days Evaluation License ................................................... 4
Step 3: Download the Workspace Archive for the ROHM Kit ................................................ 4
Installing Advanced Design System (ADS) ................................................................................... 5
Setting Up Licenses on Windows ................................................................................................. 6
Setting Up Floating Licenses on Windows .................................................................................... 6
Step 1: License Server Setup ................................................................................................ 6
Step 2: Client Setup ............................................................................................................... 7
Setting Up Node-locked License on Windows .............................................................................. 7
Step 1: Start License Server Managers ................................................................................. 8
Step 2: Create Windows Service ........................................................................................... 8
Step 3: Set Product Environment Variable ............................................................................ 9
Dependencies/Pre-requisites from ROHM .................................................................................... 9
Launching Advanced Design System (ADS) ................................................................................ 9
Unarchiving the Advanced Design System (ADS) Workspace ................................................... 11
Understanding the ADS Workspace ........................................................................................... 13
Running the Virtual Prototype “as-is” .......................................................................................... 14
PEPro Setup ............................................................................................................................... 17
Ports, Component Models, Nets, Options ................................................................................... 19
Ports Setup .......................................................................................................................... 19
Components Setup .............................................................................................................. 20
Nets Setup ........................................................................................................................... 21
Options Setup ............................................................................................................................. 22
Frequency Plans .................................................................................................................. 22
Simulator .............................................................................................................................. 23
Resources ............................................................................................................................ 24
Running a PEPro Simulation ................................................................................................... 25

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 Results .................................................................................................................................... 25
Generate Sub Circuit ........................................................................................................... 25
Generate Testbench ............................................................................................................ 26
Simulate Testbench ............................................................................................................. 26
View Simulation Results ...................................................................................................... 27
Create a New Data Display Window .................................................................................... 28
Current Density and Radiated EMI Results ......................................................................... 29
Design Space Exploration and “What if…?” Analysis ................................................................. 30
Example: Re-routing Project ................................................................................................... 30
Conclusion .................................................................................................................................. 33

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Dependencies/Pre-requisites from Keysight and ROHM
This section lists the dependencies/pre-requisites that you will require from Keysight and ROHM.

Dependencies/Pre-requisites from Keysight

Step 1: Download and Install the PathWave ADS binaries
1. Go to http://www.keysight.com/find/eesof-ads-latest-downloads.

2. Download the ADS installation file(s):

64-bit: ads_20XX_win_x64.exe

to any folder, for example C:\Temp.

NOTE: If you need any assistance, click “Contact an Expert,” top right.

Step 2: Request a No-charge 45-days Evaluation License

1. Go to http://www.keysight.com/find/eesof-ads-evaluation.

Step 3: Download the Workspace Archive for the ROHM Kit

The web link is
http://edadownload.software.keysight.com/eedl/ads/example_workspaces/2020/ROHM_P01SCT2080K
E_EVK_007-1.zip

The archived Workspace file name is ROHM_P01SCT2080KE_EVK_007-1.7zads

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Installing Advanced Design System (ADS)
To install Advanced Design System on Windows, follow these steps.

1. Run the downloaded installation file from the location where you saved it. Before starting the
installation, the installation file extracts all the necessary files in a temporary folder.

2. Select the language from the drop-down list of Installation window and click OK to continue.

3. On the Introduction screen, click Next to read the License Agreement. This is only a usage
agreement and is not related to the licenses required to run the software.

4. On the License Agreement screen, accept the agreement and click Next.

5. On the Choose Install Set screen, choose any one of the two installation options:

o Complete: For complete ADS installation. It requires about 4.5 GB of disk space and installs the
ADS design environment, simulators, documentation, examples, and design guides. If you choose
Complete installation, skip the next step.
o Custom: For custom ADS installation where you can choose from the ADS items you want to
install. While you can choose which ADS items you want to install, the ability to run them is
determined by the purchased licenses.
6. For custom installation, the next screen lets you choose the items you want to install. Click any item
name to see the description of the same in the window. Select the items you want to install and click
Next.
You must choose to install ADS programs and tools which includes Layout, Simulators and
Schematic Capture; else ADS will not run properly. Manuals and Help is selected by default to install
the entire ADS documentation set. If you uncheck this item, documentation and help files will not be
available regardless of which other items you choose.

7. At the Choose Install Folder screen, click:

o Next to install to the default folder. The installation program creates this folder if it does
not already exist. One more option Restore Default Folder is also provided to restore the
default folder after every uninstallation.
o Choose to specify a different destination folder. If you specify a folder that does not already exist,
the installation program will create it for you.
The default folder for ADS installation is: 64-bit: "C:\Program Files\Keysight\ADS20XX".
You can change the default location and select your own desired path. Ensure that you must have
permissions to write to the disk drive on which you want to install ADS. The installation also adds
entries to your PC's Windows Registry, so ensure that you have permissions to do so.
8. At the Set Your Home Directory screen, click:
o Next to accept the default.
o Choose to select a different folder. The folder you specify will be the default startup folder for
ADS. It will also be used to store the configuration data in a subfolder called hpeesof. For every
single release and sub-release of ADS (such as ADS 2012.08, ADS 2013.06, ADS 2014.01, ADS
2015.01 and ADS 2016.XX), you must choose a new Home folder for each version. For the best
performance, choose a folder on your local, not network drive.

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9. At the Choose Shortcut Folder screen:
o You can type a name in Start Menu Folder Name to have the same named folder in Start menu,
by default it is Advanced Design Systems 2016.XX.
o If you want ADS icon on desktop, check the Icon To Desktop option.
10. At the Pre-Installation Summary screen, review your choices, and click:

o Previous to access previous screens to verify entries and make changes. This screen appears
again if you go back to make other choices.
o Install to start the installation. Immediately after you click Next, the Setup Status screen appears,
and the program configures the installation process. When the program determines that your
system is ready for installation, it begins to install files. The status screen displays the files being
installed and the progress.
o Cancel to exit the Setup without completing the installation.
11. After installation, click Done to quit the installer. The ADS License Setup Wizard starts automatically
after this and check for the license status. Before launching ADS, you must complete the ADS
license setup.

Setting Up Licenses on Windows

This section describes how to set up a node-locked license or a floating (network) license on Windows.

Both node-locked and floating licenses require license server to get installed and started. For a node-
locked license, license server and the client machine are the same machine (that is, your local
machine). For a floating license, these can be separate machines.

Setting Up Floating Licenses on Windows

Setting up floating licenses on Windows is a two-step process where both server-side setup and client-
side setup are needed.

Step 1: License Server Setup

To setup a dedicated floating license server that has no Keysight EDA software installed, you will need
to download and install the EEsof EDA License Server Software. This will install the license daemons
and utilities needed to configure and start the license server.

Repeat the following steps for each license server you have.

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Step 2: Client Setup
Once the license is configured successfully for all the license servers, configure each client computer to
point to the network license server. License Setup Wizard offers the easiest method to get this done
Alternatively, you can perform this step manually by following step 3 of Setting up Node-locked License
on Windows section. Make sure to specify the network license server in the format of
[email protected] or if no static TCP port is used on the license server, use the format
@host.domain.

Examples

[email protected]

@myServer.myCompany.com

In case a license server is down or is running slow, it is recommended to remove it from the server list
using the License Setup Wizard to avoid any performance degradation caused by the dead/slow
servers.

Setting Up Node-locked License on Windows

On Windows, the License Setup Wizard offers the easiest way to set up your node-locked license. We
strongly recommend you to use the License Setup Wizard, especially when you have multiple Keysight
EEsof products installed on one computer. For more information, refer to Quick Install-Windows. This
section describes how to set up a node-locked license manually, should you decide not to use the
License Setup Wizard.

Do not perform manual setup steps with the License Setup Wizard. Choose one method or the other.
License Setup Wizard may not be able to replace what you set up manually due to Administrator
Privilege differences.

The following instructions assume that you have already installed Keysight EEsof Licensing Tools in
C:\Program Files\Keysight\EEsof_License_Tools folder. In case you have not yet installed the tools, run
the Keysight EEsof Licensing Tools installer on the machine to which the license is tied to.

• If you have installed an EEsof product released before 1st August, 2014 on your system prior to
installing an EEsof product released after 1st August, 2014 then the default EEsof Licensing tools path
will remain C:\Program Files\Agilent\EEsof_License_Tools. On the systems that only have EEsof
products released after 1st August, 2014 installed then the default EEsof Licensing tools path will be
C:\Program Files\Keysight\EEsof_License_Tools.
• Make sure to save the license file on the same machine where you install the Keysight software.

The following 3-step process shows how to manually set up a counted license that is tied to a CPU ID.

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Step 1: Start License Server Managers
Start the FlexNet license server managers (lmgrd and agileesofd) on the computer to which the license
is tied as follows:

1. Open the MS-DOS command prompt and change directory to the following path:C:\Program
Files\Keysight\EEsof_License_Tools\bin.

2. Specify the full path and location of the license file and the license log file, respectively, by typing the
following command:
lmgrd.exe -c <license file path> -l <license log file path>
where,

o <license file path> specifies one or more full pathnames to the license file(s).
o <license log file path> is the full pathname to the debug log file.
The spaces in pathnames requires double quotes around the path-names.

Example

lmgrd.exe -c "C:\Program
Files\Keysight\EEsof_License_Tools\licenses\license.lic" -l
"C:\Users\Public\my_server_log.txt"

Step 2: Create Windows Service

To automate the restart of the license server mangers upon PC reboot, configure a Windows Service as
follows:

You must have Administrator Privileges to configure a Windows Service. The service will run under the
Local System account.

1. Run the lmtools.exe from C:\Program Files\Keysight\EEsof_License_Tools\bin. The lmtools utility

window is displayed.

2. In the Service/License File tab, select the Configuration using Services option.

3. Click the Config Services tab and enter the following details:

o Service Name: Type the service name (for example, EEsof EDA License Server).
o Path to the lmgrd.exe file: Click Browse and specify the path to thelmgrd.exe file on the
license server (for example, C:\Program Files\Keysight\EEsof_License_Tools\bin\lmgrd.exe).
o Path to the license file: Click Browse and specify the path to the license file on license server
(for example, C:\Program Files\Keysight\EEsof_License_Tools\licenses\license.lic ). If you have
multiple license files for serving multiple Keysight EEsof products, you should include them all.
o Path to the debug log file: Click Browse and specify the path to the debug log file on license
server (for example,C:\Users\Public\my_server_log.txt).
4. Select the Use Services option.

5. Select the Start Server at Power Up option.

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6. Click Save Service.

7. To verify that the service is created, click the Start/Stop/Reread tab and observe that your service
shows up in the FlexNet license services installed on this computer list. To verify if the license
managers are running, click again on the Config Services tab later and click View Log. A log
window appears that confirms whether lmgrd and agileesofd are up and running.

Step 3: Set Product Environment Variable

Set the environment variable <PRODUCT>_LICENSE_FILE to point the machine running the license
server managers (lmgrd and agileesofd).

1. Select Start > Control Panel > System. Click Advanced system settings. The System Properties
dialog box appears and the Advanced tab is selected by default).

2. Click Environment Variables.

3. In the Environment Variables dialog box, add the product specific environment variable
<PRODUCT>_LICENSE_FILE as a new system variable. For example, for SystemVue, it is
SYSTEMVUE_LICENSE_FILE, for ADS, it isADS_LICENSE_FILE, for EMPro, it is
EMPRO_LICENSE_FILE and so on.

4. In the New System Variable dialog box, set the value to be the same as what you specified in the --c
argument when you start lmgrd. To use the example illustrated in Step 1, second bullet, this value
would be C:\Program Files\Keysight\EEsof_License_Tools\licenses\license.lic.

5. Repeat 3 and 4 for each Keysight EEsof product you have installed on your computer.

Dependencies/Pre-requisites from ROHM

For details on the ROHM hardware, including information on how obtain it, please visit
https://www.rohm.com/power-device-support.

Launching Advanced Design System (ADS)

To start Advanced Design System (ADS), click Start > Advanced Design System 201x.xx from the
taskbar.

• For existing ADS users, ADS starts normally.

• For a new ADS user, The Welcome to the Advanced Design System screen is displayed with two
options:
o New to ADS - Starts ADS Quick Start, which enables new users to discover the basics of ADS
quickly.
o Familiar with ADS - Starts ADS in normal mode and enables you to explore all the powerful and
advanced ADS capabilities.

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ADS Quick Start Mode Highlights

• First-time User Detection: ADS Quick Start mode is enabled by default for the first time ADS
users. It can be enabled or disabled in the ADS (Main) preferences.
• Simplified Experience: Skips all the startup screens and wizards of the standard mode.
• Overlay Tips: Provides quick steps for getting started effectively with circuit drawing, setting
up simulation, and plotting/viewing results.
• Missing Step Detection: Displays messages when critical steps have been missed such as
placing a Simulation Controller or in some case a Source.

Tips to Invoke ADS Quick Start Mode

For new user For existing user

When ADS starts, the Welcome to the Advanced ADS starts normally. To enable ADS Quick Start:
Design System screen is presented. To turn off
the screen:
• Check the “Don’t show this again.” on the lower • Type ads -quickstart from the command
left corner of the screen. or prompt. or
• From ADS Main window, click Options > • Create a new ADS shortcut that calls ads -
Preferences and uncheck the "Enable quickstart. or
Quickstart" checkbox. • From ADS (Main) window, click Options >
Preferences and check the "Enable
Quickstart" checkbox

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Unarchiving the Advanced Design System (ADS) Workspace
To unarchive the workspace:

1. Click File > Unarchive.

The Select an Archive File browse window is displayed.

2. Browse to the folder where you downloaded the workspace.

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3. Click Open.
The Unarchive wizard is displayed.

4. Browse to select the destination folder.

5. Click Finish.

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Understanding the ADS Workspace
1. ADS Main Window

The default view into the

workspace is a hierarchical
Folder View

2. Folder of Components

Folder of imported
vendor models

Folder of Components

Cell

Folders that contains a

Cell and Cell views

Views

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Running the Virtual Prototype “as-is”
ADS Layout View and Substrate Editor

1. Double-click layout view of pcb001p_rev.

This view provides a possible layout with all the circuit components for this design. It can then be
opened in PEPro where an EM model extraction can be performed.

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2. To view/edit the substrate, double-click the substrate in the ADS Main Window.

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The Substrate Editor window view:

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PEPro Setup
1. In the Layout window, click Tools > PEPro > Open.

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2. In the PEPro Main window, view the Project and Setup dockable sub-windows content. The Project
sub-window contains all elements included in the layout that is nets, components, pins, and so on.
The Setup sub-window is used for EM analysis of either entire design (Parasitic Extraction-All Nets)
or only selected nets (Parasitic Extraction-Selected Nets).

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Ports, Component Models, Nets, Options
In the example, Ports, Component Models, Nets, Options have already been configured. You can
double-click the Run button to run an EM Model Extraction. To understand the setup, read the details in
the subsequent sections.

Ports Setup
Select pins under Design > Pins. Right-click and chose Create One Port per Pin.

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Components Setup
Select the component instances under Design > Components. Drag them to the Setup sub-window
and drop onto Analyses.

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Nets Setup
Select the nets under Design > Nets. Right-click and set them as Switching, Power, Ground or
Undefined. Drag the selected nets to the Setup sub-window and drop onto the Analyses.

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Options Setup
Frequency Plans
There are several types of frequency sweeps. For switched mode power converters, we use an
automatic frequency plan for switched-mode power supplies (SMPS) in Power Electronics. It creates a
composite frequency plan that can capture the most important EM features of a PCB in SMPS circuits.
To use this plan, the user needs to provide circuit characteristics in the frequency plan table. Once the
required input data is set, the frequency plan will be generated automatically and used in the
subsequent EM simulation.

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Simulator
There are three Simulator Presets available:

• Momentum RF
• Momentum Microwave
• FEM
Momentum RF provides the fastest EM simulation speed with good accuracy. Momentum RF is a fast,
quasi-static 3D planar solver that is appropriate for SMPS PCBs and packages. The slower Momentum
Microwave setting is intended for a different purpose, namely multi-gigahertz microwave circuits where
the highest wavelength, that is, speed of light divided by highest frequency is physically much smaller
than the size of the board. FEM is intended for objects with arbitrary 3D geometries such as connectors
or boards with very high layer count.

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Resources
You can run EM simulations on a local or remote host machine and benefit from faster simulation times.

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Running a PEPro Simulation
Double-click Run to start the EM simulation. The simulation takes several minutes depending on
available computation resources. When the simulation completes, close the Simulations window.

Results
Generate Sub Circuit
Once the simulation is complete, double click Generate Sub Circuit to generate an EM model that can
be used in the EM-circuit co-simulation. If the sub circuit already exists in the workspace, it may
overwrite with the new EM simulation data. The example already contains a sub-circuit named
schematic_Parasitic_Extraction-Selected_Nets and it will be overwritten (updated).

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Generate Testbench
Testbenches for Voltage Spikes, Conducted EMI and Radiated EMI are available. The example already
contains a testbench named pcb001p_rev_ConductedEMI_Parasitic_Extraction-
Selected_Nets_testbench. The testbench can be accessed from the ADS Main Window.

Simulate Testbench
Make the required connections in the testbench. The testbench in the example already has the
connections. To run simulation, select Simulate > Simulate or use the F7 function key.

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View Simulation Results
When the simulation is complete, a data display window is displayed with the results. The example uses
a data display template on which the simulation results are plotted.

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Create a New Data Display Window
1. In the Data Display Window, click Page > New Page and accept the default name.

2. Select the Rectangular Plot icon under Palette window and place empty frame on Data Display
Window’s area. The Plot Trace and Attributes window is displayed.

3. In the left-bottom, enter any Equation field type equation and press the Add button next to this entry
field. The equation should appear in the right window.

4. When task is completed, press OK.

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Current Density and Radiated EMI Results
Depending on the simulation settings in PEPro, you may be able to access Current Density and
Radiated EMI results from the PEPro Results section.

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Design Space Exploration and “What if…?” Analysis
In contrast to a sequence of expensive and time consuming “solder-and-see” physical prototypes, the
virtual prototype is more cost-effective for exploring the design space and performing “What if…”
analysis. For example, the reference design as-is may be close to what you need, but not an exact
match. But if you modify it you run the risk of introducing unwanted side effects like excessive voltage
spikes and EMI problems. The virtual prototype gives you insight on how to change it while minimizing
side effects. Try replacing some of the components with lower cost, lower performance ones. An
example would a capacitor with higher series inductance or resistance and hence a lower self-resonant
frequency. Next try re-routing the PCB traces, especially those in the switched loop that has high di/dt
trapezoidal waveforms. See how the ringing and EMI are affected.

Example: Re-routing Project

Consider the following project:

Your task is to clear a lane for additional circuitry on the layer marked in yellow here:

You determine that the patch (connecting source of top transistor Q30 to the drain of bottom transistor
Q130 on layer wir3 (yellow)) arrowed in the figure above may be unnecessary. There are multiple
current paths between these nodes. If you can remove it without disturbing the waveforms, you have the
space you need:

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Unfortunately, when you re-simulate, the gate driving signal becomes worse (compare the red and blue
waveforms below). However, you realize there is space to improve the gate driving signal return path by
adding tracework circled below:

The result of the both modification is shown in pink, along with the original (red) and the removal-only
modification (blue):

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Turn-off waveform at the gate.

Turn on waveform at the gate.

The blue waveforms are unacceptable (undershoot and turn on time), but the red and pink are
acceptable. In addition, the configuration that yields the pink waveform gives us the space we need.

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 Conclusion
Virtual prototypes like this one are complementary to physical prototypes. Physical prototypes are the
gold standard for compliance and measured characteristics of course but they have several drawbacks:

• Expensive and time consuming to design, build, and measure

• Vulnerable to catastrophic failure – the infamous smoke test that produces actual smoke
• Hard to get a measurement probe onto interior nodes so you can’t really see what is going on
inside
In contrast, virtual prototypes are easy to change and while they do indicate device overstress, they
never emit real smoke. The voltage, current, and fields at every spatial point in the 3D grid and every
time step in the simulation can be recorded and made accessible for plotting, even point that are
physical inaccessible in the real world such as inside a semiconductor package.

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For more information on Keysight Technologies’ products, applications or services,
please contact your local Keysight office. The complete list is available at:
www.keysight.com/find/contactus

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This information is subject to change without notice. © Keysight Technologies, 2020 - 2021, Published in USA, January 18, 2021, 3120-1476.EN