I just heard from the guys and gals at Sigrity – specialists in signal and power integrity solutions – that they have just introduced a tool called PowerDC Thermal. As they rather enthusiastically say: "Our breakthrough PowerDC environment reduces time and effort for IC package and PCB designers, provides unparalleled accuracy to avoid smoke and fire failures in high-current designs."

Sigrity's new PowerDC Thermal works in concert with the company's popular PowerDC Electrical simulation software to create (what they claim to be) the industry's first and only integrated thermal / electrical analysis environment for IC packages and printed circuit boards.  (I may be mistaken, and i certainly don't want to steal anyone's thunder, but I thought that folks like Mentor and Cadence and Synopsys also had tools in this arena ... maybe someone can provide additional feedback on this point).

But I digress... I'm informed that the PowerDC Thermal product eliminates manual iterations between simulations with separate electrical and thermal tools, reduces time, and improves results convergence. Also, that it is ideal for avoiding field failures.

Sigrity's PowerDC electrical and thermal co-simulation efficiently pinpoints design risks

"Our customers find an increasing number of IC package and printed circuit board designs must safely operate at high current levels," said Dr. An-Yu Kuo, Director of Thermal and Mechanical Products of Sigrity. "The new Sigrity integrated thermal and electrical co-simulation environment provides unprecedented accuracy and ease of use for assessing potential field failure risks such as smoke and fire." 

PowerDC thermal simulation fully considers both die heating and copper heating on the package and the board, and also takes temperature and location dependencies into account.  Such precision simulation has not been available until now. Up to this point, design teams either have relied on overly pessimistic IPC peak temperature estimates, or thermal simulations that fail to fully account for the critical impact of high current density.

The new PowerDC automated environment with co-simulation maximizes accuracy by leveraging powerful electrical current density analysis, computing accurate thermal temperature distributions, and iterating on the combined effects. Thus, it fully considers factors such as the increasing electrical resistance at higher operating temperatures. Similarly, the converged results accurately reflect the impact of the increasing component power dissipation that takes place as temperatures rise.

Design files from all popular printed circuit board and IC package layout systems can be imported seamlessly into Sigrity's electrical / thermal co-simulation environment.  Analysis can proceed on designs that are partially or fully placed and routed. The comprehensive simulations account for complex plane shapes, including cut-outs, wires, solder balls, solder bumps, and via structures to maximize accuracy.  Sigrity's unique task-based workflow simplifies set-up and makes results easy to interpret.  A range of reporting options as well as electrical and thermal color maps enable users to see the converged results so they can rapidly pinpoint improvement options.

Sigrity's new thermal and co-simulation capabilities are available as an add-on option to Sigrity's PowerDC – a DC analysis tool with a reputation for ease-of-use, fast throughput, accuracy and its patent-pending technology for automatically finding best remote sense locations. An electrical and thermal combined product also is available for new customers.

Pricing and Availability
The new PowerDC environment with DC analysis, thermal analysis and co-simulation capability is available on Windows and Linux platforms with annual prices starting at $30,000. PowerDC Thermal also is available as an added option for currently licensed Sigrity PowerDC users.  It adds thermal analysis and co-simulation to the present DC analysis capability; annual prices start at $15,000.

For more information about how to ensure operational designs by using Sigrity's package physical design and power and signal integrity analysis solutions, please visit: www.sigrity.com.