Alliance to marry thermal analysis techniques

Gradient Design Automation and Flomerics have formed a partnership to codevelop software solutions for the IC design market.

Gradient Design Automation, the pioneer in full-chip thermal analysis for digital and mixed-signal integrated circuits (ICs), and Flomerics, the pioneer and leading provider of computational fluid dynamics software for thermal design of electronics, have announced a partnership to codevelop software solutions for the IC design market.

The jointly developed solutions will allow chip designers to analyse and avoid temperature-induced electrical issues at the chip level while taking into account the effects of the package and the ambient conditions.

Flomerics and Gradient plan to develop an integrated software solution combining both companies' products.

Gradient's FireBolt software is a chip-level thermal analysis tool that enables IC designers to predict temperature anywhere within a chip and evaluate how to improve the design with respect to timing, leakages, and reliability.

Flomerics' Flopack product is a package-level thermal analysis tool that characterises the package surrounding the chip and automates model creation through wizard driven, intelligent geometry macros called SmartParts.

Smartparts produce thermal models in detailed or two-resistor and Delphi (JEDEC-compliant) compact forms.

Together FireBolt and Flopack will form a complete silicon-to-environment thermal analysis solution that enables temperature-aware silicon design within the context of the surrounding environment that includes the package, PCB and chassis.

"This partnership will enable Flomerics to provide the most complete thermal analysis solution possible with a range of tools that support thermal design from the chip to the room".

"In addition, the tools are fully integrated".

"Data from one level can be abstracted automatically and used for design at adjacent levels which broadens the context for thermal design", said Sherman Ikemoto, Business Development Manager for Flomerics.

"The complexity and circuit density of digital and mixed-signal ICs are producing extreme on-chip temperature variations".

"If they are unknown, they'll have to be lumped into the random on-chip variations (OCV), which are also growing ominously".

"That and the simplistic assumption of constant die-temperature and worst-case temperature-corners are just causing the nanometre-scale chips to leave too much performance in the margins", said Bob Johnson, Vice President, Gradient Design Automation.

"The product we are developing with Flomerics will enable design engineers to look at accurate temperature data, evaluate their impact, and take corrective actions before tape-out".

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