- Transient Thermal Simulation

The HeatWave transient electro-thermal simulator computes both the spatial and temporal temperature distribution within the full-chip, with resolution down to the device and interconnect levels, and integrates smoothly into standard analog, mixed-signal and custom IC design flows.

HeatWave can reveal hotspots and excessive temperature variations in mixed signal designs at different points in time. The temperature data can also be used to add thermal awareness to circuit simulation and other electrical analysis tools. The tool has features to automatically monitor temperature values, differences, and variations to help detect thermal hazards in the design.

To run HeatWave, you need to provide a thermal technology file (die stack-up) for the foundry process, and thermal information for the package. HeatWave obtains the design layout and the power source waveform information from your design environment to compute a time-varying, 3-D temperature profile of the full-chip. It outputs instance-specific temperatures and wire temperatures as time-varying waveforms, driven by the electrical power waveforms. This information can be annotated into simulation to determine the thermal impact on the circuit's performance and reliability, and to account for the time-dependent electro-thermal effects within the chip.

HeatWave takes into account the influence of the bond wires/bumps and the package thermal characteristics, including die-attach and ambient temperature. You may specify them as a set of 6 boundary thermal resistances or heat fluxes as seen at the die faces.

Benefits

• HeatWave provides accurate chip temperature data, which varies in time, according to the operations of the circuitry. This reveals opportunities to neutralize the adverse temperature effects at different points in time, and improve design quality.
• By providing nanoscale temperatures throughout the chip, as a function of time, HeatWave enhances your ability to detect reliability issues.
• Smooth integration with analog design flow.

3D Visualization Capability

HeatWave can be run in interactive GUI mode, allowing the user to navigate in three dimensions throughout the entire chip and to visually inspect the temperatures on the substrate and the metal layers. It can be also run in a text mode, allowing for scripting and integration of results into other analysis tools.

Visit our booth at the IEEE International 3D Systems Integration Conference at the Hyatt Embarcadero, San Francisco, California.

Date: September 28-30, 2009

Please send email to: sales@gradient-da.com to schedule a demo session.

"We collaborated with Gradient on HeatWave, which is a full-chip transient electro-thermal simulator. Simulation results for a chip containing power transistors and temperature sensors, taken over a two second interval, correlated well with measured data."

Yves Depret,
DST Mixed Signal & Digital Flows Manager,
ON Semiconductor Corp.