SEPTEMBER 15, 2009 -- Optiwave Systems Inc. has announced the immediate availability of OptiSPICE 1.0, which it touts as the industry’s first circuit design software for analysis of integrated circuits including interactions of optical and electronic components. This capability makes OptiSPICE the only offering that enables the design and simulation of opto-electronic circuits at the transistor level, from laser drivers to transimpedance amplifiers, optical interconnects, and electronic equalizers, Optiwave claims.
According to Dr. Jan Jakubczyk, president of Optiwave, “With the imminent coexistence of electrical and optical components at the chip and board level, it is important to provide designers with a reliable simulation framework that can accurately and efficiently predict signal behavior in opto-electronic integrated circuits.“
Simulation of optical and electrical components simultaneously is a multi-disciplinary problem. Equations governing optical and electrical components are incompatible for co-simulation within traditional numerical engines. In addition, optoelectronic components are temperature dependent and this dependence needs to be incorporated into the simulation to obtain correct results.
“Developing a revolutionary methodology to model optical signals in an electrical simulation framework suitable for ensuring reliable and self-consistent simulation of optical and electrical signals formulated for incorporation in a single-engine is what makes OptiSPICE a pioneering effort,” said Dr. Pavan Gunupudi, professor at Carleton University. “Engineers now have one ideal modeling solution to meet their complex design requirements.”
OptiSPICE is designed to provide self-consistent simulation of optical, electrical, and thermal energy domains. Supporting a wide variety of electrical circuit elements such as diodes, transistors, BJTs, and MOSFETS along with optical components such as laser diodes, optical fibers and photodiodes; OptiSPICE provides transient time domain, small-signal frequency, and noise analysis.