System designers now have a powerful new software tool for analysis and simulation at the circuit board and integrated-circuit (IC) package level—the Clarity 3D Solver from Cadence. From a software developer long associated with efficient and effective semiconductor design tools, this three-dimensional (3D) electromagnetic (EM) simulation software takes design and analysis at least one level higher—to the system level. Thus, one can study the effects of different circuit structures, such as package interconnections, on the overall performance of the circuit/system.
The 3D analysis software is well-suited for simulating the impact of different materials on ICs, system on IC (SoIC) devices, and system-in-package (SiP) designs, and even to predict the effects of different interconnections within each PCB and from PCB to PCB. Perhaps best of all, the Clarity 3D Solver does not require a specialized computer for its system-level simulations: It performs simulations even on a laptop computer! For users with more powerful computing resources, Clarity 3D Solver has nearly linear scalability in terms of processing power when using multiple machines to analyze complex structures.