Simulation Methods for RF Integrated Circuits

Abstract

The principles employed in the development of modern RF simulators are introduced and the various techniques currently in use, or expected to be in use in the next few years, are surveyed. Frequencyand time-domain techniques are presented and contrasted, as are steady-state and envelope techniques and large-and small-signal techniques. Passing a narrowband signal though a nonlinear circuit results in a broadband signal whose spectrum is relatively sparse, as shown in Figure 1. In general, this spectrum consists of clusters of frequencies near the harmonics of