Mentor intros FloTHERM IC for semiconductor package thermal characterization and design

SANTA CLARA, USA: Mentor Graphics Corp. announced the FloTHERM IC productivity tool targeting the semiconductor industry for thermal characterization and design.

Addressing increased complexity, chip density, and high-speed requirements for today’s silicon designs, the FloTHERM IC solution is deployed as a unique web-based platform that delivers a high level of automation to the design tasks associated with full-spectrum thermal characterization and validation.

A typical semiconductor thermal team spends approximately 60 percent of its time on standard package thermal characterization and design, and the remaining time for customer-specific characterizations.

The FloTHERM IC tool dramatically reduces the time spent on thermal characterization and design by providing an automated process that includes pre-verified thermal models to reduce the risk of modeling errors. The tool can also achieve reductions of up to 25 percent in the time usually needed for customer-specific characterizations.

The FloTHERM IC tool is based on proven Mentor Graphics technologies: the industry-leading FloTHERM computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software, used to simulate airflow, temperature and heat transfer in electronic systems, and the FloTHERM PACK Smart Parts modeling tool. This new solution addresses the following essential areas of a semiconductor package thermal characterization and design:

* Full-spectrum thermal metric and compact model generation with full adherence to published JEDEC standards.
* “Package-aware” parametric design for “what-if” analysis.
* EDA tool interfacing for detailed modeling of BGA substrates for physical layout.
* Data mining of simulation data to enable optimized design time and re-use.

"Within our organization, our teams all need access to thermal information at different stages of the design and manufacturing cycle. My group has an extensive background in using FloTHERM IC for electronics cooling applications; however, not everyone needs access to the full power of FloTHERM IC. That is why FloTHERM IC can fulfill an important role in the design process," stated Dr. Claudio Maria Villa, Thermal Design, Corporate Packaging and Automation Group, STMicroelectronics.

"FloTHERM IC’s intuitive interface makes it convenient for experts and non-experts to access the technology online, quickly build a model from the libraries and test their performance, thereby freeing thermal experts to focus on solving difficult semiconductor packaging thermal problems and mission-critical issues instead of fulfilling routine requests."

The product’s wizard-based user interface is simple to use, designed for both the core thermal team and field engineers. Supported fully by an intuitive and flexible library and database infrastructure, the software enables a complete range of JEDEC thermal metrics and compact models to be generated easily and efficiently.

“We recognize the importance of thermal analysis for today’s semiconductor packaging market, and we believe our FloTHERM IC solution will be a competitive advantage for our customers,” stated Dr. Erich Buergel, general manager of Mentor Graphics Mechanical Analysis Division. “The ease of use and the ability to perform critical analyses quickly will provide tremendous ROI for our semiconductor customers who are concerned with market-delivery and cost constraints.”