In the process of learning ADS, I found that there is rarely a relatively complete and systematic tutorial on the domestic platform (Workspace Library Cell ADS), so I opened this blog to share with you while learning by myself. Due to the limited level of the author, it is inevitable that there will be a series of omissions. I hope that the teachers will not hesitate to give me advice.
The content of this tutorial comes from Youtube ( original video link ). If you are interested, you can watch the original tutorial directly. The author’s original intention is to share the learning experience with everyone. If there is any infringement, please feel free to contact me to delete it. Thank you!
In ADS, files are stored in a Folder, which includes Working library, Schematics, Layout and Data display.
To create a Workspace, you need to click “File – New – Workspace” in the main window of ADS. At this time, you can see that some other options are grayed out. These options will not be enabled until the Workspace is created.
After clicking, the following window will appear:
We can see that there is a “What is a workspace?” option in the lower left corner of the window, where you can learn more about related concepts:
Workspace is a directory used to organize design work. Its contents are as follows
Include libraries
Referencing external libraries
Contains simulation data
Contains Data Display files
Contains other related documents such as AEL and manufacturing data
Workspaces in ADS 2011 and later replace projects in earlier versions of ADS.
Library is a container for storing cells. All cells must be placed in the cell library. Its contents are as follows:
Contains designs: All designs are included in the Library (inside Cells)
Define technology: All designs in the library use the same layers, units, and technology
Define namespace: Cells in different libraries can use the same name
Shared: The library can be added to different workspaces
Must have a unique name: a workspace cannot contain two libraries with the same name
A Cell is a container that holds the schematic view, layout view, and symbol view of a single component.
The name of the cell is the name of the component. For example, if you are creating a schematic for a filter and name it MyFilter, then name the cell MyFilter.
Schematic, Layout and Symbol are different items, called Cell views. A Cell view cannot be created independently. It must always belong to a Cell.
The default names of the common unit views are:
schematic
layout
symbol
emModel
Veriloga
Unless you are using polymorphism, you should always use the default names for cell views. Using different names may result in unexpected behavior.
Polymorphism means that a component can have two different implementations. For example, one implementation might have lower accuracy but faster simulation speed, while the other implementation might have higher accuracy but slower simulation speed.
Consider a unit called MyFilter. In non-polymorphic usage, MyFilter contains a single schematic view that defines a filter:
MyFilter
schematic
ADS (Advanced Design System) uses this schematic view for simulation.
A polymorphic version of MyFilter might have two schematic views. A view named schematic uses ideal components, while schematicWithParasitics includes parasitics and other second-order effects:
MyFilter
schematicWithParasitics
Schematic
ADS can simulate MyFilter using either schematic or schematicWithParasitics. You can tell ADS which view to use for simulation in several different ways. For more information, see Dynamic Model Selection.
Return to the Create Workspace interface, name this design ADS_Tutorial_wrk, and then choose where to create the Workspace.
Then click “Create Workspace” to create it successfully.
In the Folder View of the ADS main window, you can see the Workspace you just created:
In Library View, you can see the created Library file, which has the same name as the Workspace:
At this point, under “File – New”, you can see that the remaining options have been activated:
To start designing, you must first create a Cell. You can create a Schematic View or a Layout View. In this tutorial, we will first create a Schematic View.
There are some shortcut buttons below the menu bar. This time we click 
to create a Schematic View and name it Design1:
Then click “Create Schematic” to open the Schematic Window and start designing the Schematic.
On the left side of the window, there are various components. You can insert components into them and start circuit design.
Similarly, you can click 
to create a Layout View and name it “Layout1”.
After clicking “Create Layout”, a Technology selection window will pop up:
In this window, various library layout techniques are displayed, among which the various techniques are as follows:
- Create PCB Technology: Create printed circuit board (PCB) technology.
- Quantum Technology: Quantum technology.
- Quantum Multi-Layer Technology: Quantum Multi-Layer Technology.
- Standard ADS Layers, 0.0001 mil layout resolution: Standard ADS layers, 0.0001 mil layout resolution.
- Standard ADS Layers, 0.0001 millimeter layout resolution: Standard ADS layers, 0.0001 millimeter layout resolution.
- Standard ADS Layers, 0.0001 micron layout resolution: Standard ADS layers, 0.0001 micron layout resolution.
- Custom (opens new Technology dialog): Custom (opens new Technology dialog).
In this experiment, we selected “Standard ADS Layers, 0.0001 millimeter layout resolution”.
After clicking Finish, the Layout Window appears:
Now, we have created two cells, one to store the Schematic and one to store the Layout:
In the design, there can be one or more schematics/layouts under one Cell, and ADS management is very flexible.
In the toolbar, click 
to open a sample workspace:
As you can see, ADS provides us with various examples, including:
- Getting Started and Tutorials: Used to demonstrate basic ADS functions and concepts to help users design and simulate circuits for RF, microwave, and high-speed digital (HSD) applications.
- Simulation Examples: Demonstrate the simulation capabilities of ADS and help users set up and use simulation options.
- Design Flow Examples: Demonstrates various design flow examples such as RF Board, MMIC, RFIC, and Multi-Technology Module (MTM).
- Training Examples: Demonstrate advanced features of ADS.
- All Examples (in alphabetical order): Example workspaces listed in alphabetical order.
Similarly, we can search for the examples we want in the search box. For example, searching for “coupler” will display all examples related to coupler:
Next article: ADS Tutorial (II) Schematic Basics
