ConfirmaXL
“The easy to use RF, analog and mixed-signal design system for chip designers”
Free for Non-Commercial Use
Currently in advanced stages of beta testing
Our site is still under construction …the Link to download ConfirmaXL will be available soon - please check back often!
What is ConfirmaXL?
ConfirmaXL is an emerging Electronic Design Automation (EDA) platform designed for RF, analog, and mixed-signal integrated circuit (IC) design. It builds on existing tools to offer a user-friendly, streamlined workflow—ideal for individual designers, university teams, startups, and companies looking to enhance their current design processes with lower cost and reduced complexity options.
ConfirmaXL has been specifically engineered to provide a cost-effective alternative to tools such as Cadence Virtuoso. It achieves this by leveraging various high-quality point tools and software developed by teams from across the world. Users may customize the design flow by plugging in the tools, free or paid, that best suit their specific needs and budgetary requirements.
Confirma Backgrounder
The original version of Confirma has been in captive use for many years, enabling the design of >80 integrated circuits for an international customer base. Confirma has been deployed in Design Services Companies, Tier-One Semiconductor Companies, University-Affiliated Research Labs, and other IC-focused organizations, targeting semiconductor process technologies from TSMC, Tower/Jazz, Global Foundries, National, Maxim, TI and others. It has been used to design complex IC’s such as 4G cell transceivers, 802.11 Wifi chips, PM catalog IC’s, SERDES transceivers, PLL’s, integer and fractional RF Synthesizers and other IP blocks for applications such as Radar, GPS, BLE & Satellite Transceivers.
ConfirmaXL - now updated & available to all
Free for non-commercial use, this vastly updated version of ConfirmaXL benefits from the rise of high-quality open-source design tools—most notably, KiCad, Xyce & NGspice — and passes these benefits to you!
Advanced Features
Enhanced Kicad Integration: Utilizes the very popular Kicad PCB tool for schematic capture, greatly expanded, to support hierarchical design, multi-bit buses, and parameterized symbols akin to features found in commercial tools like Cadence Virtuoso. However, unlike with expensive commercial tool flows, KiCad is license-free, so you’ll never lose access to your portfolio of designs.
SPICE simulate-able hierarchical behavioral QPSK transceiver system captured in EEschema
Sharable Hierarchical Symbol Libraries for IC: Easily crafted symbols may point to SPICE primitives, SPICE circuits in netlist files or to underlying circuit schematics. Libraries can be easily accessed across the design team and can be re-used across projects.iuhy2
ConfirmaXL Analog Cockpit: Features an interface similar to Cadence’s ADE & Keysight’s ADS, enabling efficient hierarchical navigation, hierarchical spice netlisting and simulation management. Engineers may easily and seamlessly switch between top-level simulation test benches. Layouts may be accessed quickly and directly from the cockpit interface. Hspice style foundry corner model simulation settings (i.e., tt, ss, ff, etc) are also set here also. Design variables and spice netlists are easily accessible to the designer.
Flexible Simulation Support: Compatible with various SPICE simulators, including Topspice, NGspice, Xyce, LTspice, Qspice, Hspice, Eldo, Smartspice, AFS and others, allowing users to plug in multiple instances of SPICE engines of their choosing without altering the design flow. Drive multiple simulators from the cockpit & from the same set of schematics. Reduce costs by designing lower-level blocks with free simulators, saving expensive, high-end, fast simulators for the most difficult top level verification sims. No need to port schematics to run a new simulator. No time wasted in learning another new schematic tool.
Plug in multiple SPICE simulators of your choosing. Control and launch all simulators from the cockpit. Simulators settings may be specified through forms or via a text “include” tab enabling different design styles and preferences.
Modular Layout Tool Integration: Supports integration with layout tools such as Klayout, LASI, L-Edit, Glade, Calibre and others, providing flexibility in the physical design process. Layouts are quickly and easily opened directly from the ConfirmaXL Design Cockpit. SPICE Layout Parasitic Extracted (LPE) & schematic view netlists can be co-simulated through a view switching methodology similar to the Cadence Hierarchy Editor. Plug in the layout tool you are most expert in or that best supports your target process. Add new layout tools as they become available.
Digital Synthesis for Analog Designers: Offers easy to use logic reduction and automated generation of logic circuits from truth tables and equations, bridging the gap between analog and digital design.
RF and AMS Design Capabilities: Includes expanded SPICE control menus for RF measurements (e.g., Pout vs. Pin, NF, CNR, gain, simultaneous match), supports s-parameter based design methodologies, facilitating the design of RF amplifiers and other components. A robust library of SPICE simulate-able behavioral AMS components, such as data converters, is also provided. RF/uW libraries have been extended to allow simulation of TLIN’s, coupled TLIN’s and microstrips on ordinary SPICE simulators. Design microstrip filters and distributed element amplifiers.
Easily runs on WIN10/11, supports LINUX: Allows shared folders across operating systems and networks to enable interaction with LINUX based tools such as Calibre for LVS, DRC checks and LPE simulations. Enables delivery of IP developed in ConfirmaXL for integration into commercial IC flows such as Cadence Virtuoso when required.
Team Collaboration: Designed to streamline multi-engineer project developments and chip integrations, supporting shared libraries and networked project management for design teams. Structured chip assembly using individual workspaces delivering into a golden folder methodology to avoid design collisions.
Design flow supports University Teams: Easily structure class projects with working folders for each student. Provides baseline design methodology and predefined test benches, model setups, projects links for fast setup and best opportunity for a successful start. Each student can be outfitted with their own ConfirmXL to keep as a tool in their future development.
