Icemax is an advanced parasitic extraction tool for analyzing
complex IC package designs. Icemax is based on state-of-the-art
finite volume field solver technologies, which allow quick and accurate
electrical characterization of IC package performance. Package designers,
engineers and researchers involved in IC package design can now easily
generate detailed, reliable RLC information for the entire package in
a matter of minutes. Output can be generated in matrix, SPICE, or IBIS
formats.
Icemax Articles
Find out more about Icemax in the following articles.
ANSYS Icemax: Advanced Parasitic Extraction Tool
Icemax Features
Icemax is an advanced parasitic extraction tool for analyzing complex
IC package designs. Icemax is based on state-of-the-art finite volume
field solver technologies, which allow quick and accurate electrical performance
characterization of IC packages. Using Icemax, engineers and researchers
involved in IC package design and analysis can easily generate reliable parasitic
parameters for the entire package in a matter of minutes. Output is available
in matrix, SPICE, or IBIS formats for signal integrity, power integrity and
simultaneous switching noise analysis.
Fast, Accurate, 3-D Finite Volume Field Solver:
Icemax uses robust and proven 3D finite volume algorithms that reduce
electromagnetic field solution time by several orders of magnitude. Therefore,
Icemax makes it practical to characterize the entire package for high-density,
multi-layer flipchip BGA's. Complex ground/power planes can be easily analyzed
using customized meshing and solution schemes. Icemax results have been benchmarked
against analytical, numerical and experimental results.
Easy-to-use, Menu-driven Modeling Interface:
The Icemax modeling interface is very easy to use. Icemax eliminates
the major bottleneck in the model-building process by being compatible with
all EDA platforms used across the IC package design industry. Using super-fast
geometry processing engines, Icemax works directly on industry standard
layout data and generates full 3D numerical models in a matter of minutes.
No special expertise or training is required for working with even the most
complex package models. Model-building tasks are reduced to a series of simple
steps that include:
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Importing layout information and defining the stack-up
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Assigning material properties
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Including bond wire, solder bump and solder ball geometry
All the above steps are performed through an intuitive tool interface that
leads the user through the definition of the complete three-dimensional package
geometry. The user only needs to specify the operating frequency, the net
to be simulated (or the entire package) and the number of neighbors to be
included in the simulation.
Circuit Simulation Ready Output
In addition to providing results in a report-ready format, Icemax is able
to generate an equivalent circuit model, which can be exported in SPICE, or
IBIS formats to perform signal integrity, power integrity and simultaneous
switching noise analysis.
Feature Highlights
- Analysis of wide range of designs, including:
- new! System-in-Package designs:
- Combination of flipchip and bondwire designs
- Package-on-Package (PoP)
- Package-in-Package (PiP)
- Combination of die-up and die-down designs
- new! Package-on-PCB
- Bondwire and C4 (flipchip) packages
- Leadframe packages, BGA packages and printed circuit boards
- Stack die and other multi-die configurations
- Model-building:
- new! "Node" object for arbitrary source & sink definition
- Direct interface to Cadence Allegro database (*.mcm, *.brd formats)
- Import of gerber data generated from layout tools
- Direct import of bondwire and soldermask gerber data
- Netlist import in AIF format
- Optional specification of external ground plane(s) in Icemax model
- Detailed, 3D models for bondwires, solderballs, solderbumps and vias:
- 4-point and 5-point JEDEC standards for 3-D representation of bondwire profiles
- Custom 4-point bondwire profile for special cases such as reverse wirebond
- Buried, blind and through-hole vias with %fill input
- Spherical or cylindrical models for solderballs and solderbumps
- Graphics capabilities:
- new! Mesh display in CAD window
- new! Coloring of objects by nets or by layers
- new! Display of individual substrate layers
- new! Display of nets selected for solution
- new! On-screen display of coordinates
- new! Global positioning option for individual substrates
- new! Automatic alignment and connection for multiple design cases (e.g. stacked packages or package-on-PCB models)
- Fully interactive, model viewing for full package or selected nets
- Solver and meshing:
- new! Selection of internal ground/power nets as reference for signal nets
- new! Distributed/parallel capabilities for meshing and solution
- new! 64-bit Linux solver (Windows was already available in a prior release)
- new! Batch execution of solver jobs
- new!Improved flow for DC IR drop studies on Power/Ground nets
- Advanced geometry cleanup algorithms
- Hybrid quad/tri meshing scheme
- Full package or critical net extraction
- Automatic detection of nearest neighbors for mutual computations
- Fast finite-volume field solver with multi-grid acceleration
- Multi-level, multi-port net simulation
- Solution ID i.e. multiple solution versions within the same model file
- Automatic "Resume" feature after interrupting a solution
- Postprocessing and Reporting:
- new! Viewing and reporting results at arbitrary frequency
- new! Conductance (G) output
- new! Multiple SPICE topology options (T-model, Pi-Model, L-model)
- new! S-parameter export in touchstone format
- new! Impedance and admittance matrix output
- Automatic ground matrix reduction
- Lumped or distributed equivalent circuit output
- Layer-by-layer net length report
- SPICE output options for single subcircuit or multiple subcircuits
- W-element SPICE output
- SPICE output by net name, pin name or die-pad name
- Automatic report generation (Excel and HTML formats)
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