Helic:Helic Wiki

Helic is an EDA specialist developing innovative and disruptive design automation technologies for the semiconductor market. Founded in May 2000, the company is backed by strategic and venture capital investors. Helic reaches its customers with a service model combining EDA tools, IP and services, with a mission to enable first-pass silicon while greatly shortening the development cycles of high-speed digital, analog RF and millimeter-wave ICs.

Helic's background technology is a unique high-speed parasitics extraction methodology. It was conceived to address a critical missing link in custom IC design flows and accelerate the development of complex RFICs and systems-in-package by enabling rapid, whole-chip electromagnetic modeling early in the design flow. The technology has been in use since 2000 by fabless companies and silicon IDMs worldwide.

Combining our specialized EDA tooling with breakthrough IP we are helping our customers develop first-time-right silicon, slash their development costs and reduce their time to market. Our technologies are particularly well suited for demanding high-speed designs, multi-band transceivers and high-frequency front-ends, especially where high performance, low power and low cost are the driving requirements.

Helic develops and provides EDA technology that enables rapid electromagnetic synthesis and modeling of on-chip passive devices, high-frequency interconnects, bondwires and package parasitics. At the core of Helic's technology, an ultra-fast RLCK modeling engine offers signoff accuracy comparable to full-wave EM simulators, while outperforming the fastest reported EM engines by 100x or more in terms of speed and capacity. Helic has made significant advances in the development of efficient design flows that help designers overcome some known obstacles in the development of high-performance RF and high-frequency ICs.

Helic's tool flows help fabless semiconductor and IDM customers achieve:

• Minimization of silicon real estate employed by on-chip inductors and passives.
  
• Centering of challenging high-speed circuits such as wideband amplifiers and oscillators.
  
• Rapid simulation of signal integrity aspects such as inductance- and package-loaded transient response.
  
• Concurrent low-noise/low-power RF circuit optimization, based on the synthesis of passive devices.
  

In accordance to the vision of its founders for a ubiquitously-connected wireless world, the application focus of Helic’s design innovations was placed on the emerging field of multi-mode, multi-band digital wireless. PolyRadio™, conceived at the early days of the company, entails an adaptable direct conversion transceiver architecture that can support both WLAN and WAN standards, such as IEEE 802.11, 3GSM GPRS and UMTS, on a single silicon die.

Helic is also pioneering in EDA technologies and design IP for system-in-package radio modules. Advanced substrate/packaging materials such as LTCC can complement and enhance a silicon-based radio, making it possible to integrate high-quality passives and devices such as filters, baluns, couplers and others. Helic creates tools and reference designs that raise the integration level and functionality of RF systems-in-package.

http://www.helic.com/