| PowerGrid
Overview
PowerGrid™ is a unique suite of both DC and AC power integrity tools for IR drop and ground bounce analysis for IC packages and printed circuit boards (PCB). PowerGrid AC is 100x faster than 3D full-wave solvers and provides comparable accuracy. It is ideal for rapid design iterations on the layouts of signal traces and power distribution networks.
As IC designs get more complicated, the chip power and current are increasing rapidly. At 200 amps, even 0.1 mohm of resistance will translate into 20 mV drops, enough to upset the voltage margins of a one-volt design. The IR drops and electromigration concerns are now moving from IC to the package and PCB designs. How many bond wires, C4 bumps, vias and solder balls are needed to support the large amount of currents? What is the total IR drop from a voltage regulator module (VRM), through PCB and package, to each transistor?
At the same time, the ground bounce, an effect due to fast switching activities, is becoming the bottleneck of high-performance chip designs. How many decoupling capacitors at what locations are needed to suppress the switching noise and power/ground plane resonance?
How about the insertion and return losses of signal traces in the presence of plating or via stubs? A traditional 3D full-wave solver can be tedious to set up and it can take a long time to run.
Optimal’s PowerGrid was developed to help the IC, package and PCB engineers solve both DC and AC design issues in a timely fashion.
PowerGrid DC
PowerGrid™ DC computes the voltage, current and current density distributions in various types of electronic packages and printed circuit boards (PCB). Arbitrary groups of voltage and current sources can be assigned to solder bumps, bond wires, solder balls and pin locations. The equivalent SPICE netlists are also created with virtually all kinds of port assignments. The finite element method, in conjunction with triangular meshes, is used to model the complex geometries of signal traces and power/ground planes exactly. The built-in graphical display helps engineers quickly identify the hot spots in a package or PCB and the total currents through bond wires, vias, solder balls and pins.
2.5D Finite Element Method (FEM)
PowerGrid DC uses the rigorous finite element method, in conjunction with triangular meshes, to model the irregular-shaped geometries exactly layer by layer. The bond wires, vias, solder balls and solder bumps are replaced by resistors. The huge combined resistive network, formulated by modified nodal analysis (MNA), is solved using a built-in high-speed solver. The result is accuracy, flexibility and high performance in modeling IR drop, computing voltage and current density distributions and generating equivalent SPICE netlists.
PowerGrid AC
PowerGrid™ AC computes the S, Y and Z parameters in various types of electronic packages and printed circuit boards (PCB). Arbitrary groups of ports can be assigned to solder bumps, bond wires, solder balls and pin locations. Decoupling capacitors can also be specified at arbitrary locations. Proprietary modeling techniques, in conjunction with triangular meshes, are used to accurately simulate the complex geometries of signal traces and power/ground planes over a wide bandwidth. PowerGrid AC provides accuracy comparable to 3D full-wave simulation tools, making PowerGrid AC ideal for rapid design iterations.
Near-3D Model-Based Full-Wave Extraction
PowerGrid AC uses patent-pending model-based full-wave extraction techniques to compute S-parameters of both signal traces and power/ground planes. Irregular-shaped geometries and arbitrary locations of ports and decoupling capacitors are modeled exactly by triangular plane resonance models. This patent-pending technology delivers results up to 100x faster and provides comparable (+/– 5-20%) extraction accuracy to alternative 3D full-wave extraction tools. PowerGrid-AC is ideal for rapid design iterations before final verification by a 3D full-wave solver, such as Optimal’s O-Wave solution.
CAD Interfaces
PowerGrid can read Gerber, Cadence Allegro, Encore BGA, Mentor Graphics MCM Station and Zuken CR-5000 package designs; Gerber and Cadence Allegro PCB designs.
System Requirements
 |
Minimum 512 MB of memory (1 GB is recommended) |
|
More than 2 GB or hard disk storage space |
|
Microsoft Windows NT/XP/2000 |
|
