| PakSi-E
Overview
PakSi-E is a versatile 3D quasi-static electromagnetic simulation tool for electronic packaging. With this user-friendly tool, engineers and designers can address and resolve electrical performance issues in their IC packaging designs in a timely manner.
Whole Package 3D RLGC Extraction with Restart
PakSi-E is the only 3D quasi-static extraction tool on the market that provides whole package RLGC parasitic extractions. As shown in the above figure, small features like wires, vias, solder balls and pads must be modeled in a 3D model to generate accurate high frequency SPICE sub-circuits. Even though 3D modeling is essential to high frequency simulation, many competing products on the market still use the less accurate 2D or 2.5D for whole package extraction because of the technical challenges associated with 3D modeling. With many breakthroughs in computational algorithms, PakSi-E is able to perform true 3D whole package parasitic extractions quickly and accurately. PakSi-E also has a restart feature so that users can stop a whole package extraction in the middle and resume the extraction later, from the previous step. With this unique feature, users of PakSi-E can have precise RLGC values for each and every net of their design to ensure sound signal and power integrity.
Precise Extraction of Ground and Power Nets
With the triangular prism elements and powerful automatic finite element mesh generation code, PakSi-E can simulate complex ground and power nets accurately. As illustrated in the following picture, geometric details such as holes in a plane, vias, and solder balls are all modeled precisely by PakSi-E. These small geometric features can greatly affect characteristic behaviors of a ground or power net. In addition to generating RLGC parasitic parameters of the ground and power planes, PakSi-E also provides users with voltage drops and current densities of the ground and power nets.
Versatile and User Friendly Interface
Although 3D modeling is important to high frequency parasitic extractions, building and editing a 3D simulation model can be quite tedious and time consuming. PakSi-E provides the easiest graphical user interface for package designers to build a 3D model. An average PakSi-E user can learn and run PakSi-E on their actual designs in less than 2 hours. PakSi-E automatically builds 3D models after users have provided, through many on-screen tables and pictures, the geometric and material information. Shown below are illustrations for the assignment of external ground planes and solder balls.
Fully Automatic Parasitic Extraction
As illustrated in the following diagram, PakSi-E first builds detailed 3D models based on input CAD design files. The 3D model building, including boundary conditions assignment, is fully automatic in PakSi-E. It then solves the quasi-static Maxwell equations and obtains electrical and magnetic fields of the 3D models. From the resulting EM fields, PakSi-E extracts the RLGC parasitic parameters and generates SPICE models for subsequent signal integrity simulations.
Multi-Port Extraction
For simultaneous switching noise simulations, it is often necessary to extract multi-port parasitic parameters of the power and ground nets. PakSi-E’s Multi-Port module allows users to assign port configurations, (active, float, or ground) of any given multi-port net to extract the RLGC parameters of the target ground or power net.
Output Results
 |
RLGC matrices. |
|
SPICE sub-circuits. |
|
Whole package IBIS models. |
|
W-Element models. |
|
SDF delay models. |
|
Signal integrity parameters: S, Y, Z, cross-talk ratio, etc. |
CAD Interfaces
PakSi-E can read Gerber, Cadence Allegro, Encore BGA, Mentor Graphics MCM Station and Zuken CR-5000 package designs; Gerber and Cadence Allegro PCB designs.
|
