Cadence teams with startup for packaging solution

Cadence teams with startup for packaging solution
SANTA CRUZ, Calif. — Claiming to offer the industry's first integrated IC packaging design and signal-integrity analysis solution, Cadence Design Systems on Wednesday (Oct. 1) announced Advanced Packaging Engineer 3D (APE-3D), which includes a 3D field solver from startup Optimal Corp. The resulting solution, according to both companies, is both faster and more accurate than existing packaging tools.

Optimal provides PakSi-E, a quasi-static RLGC (resistance, inductance, capacitance, conductance) field solver for packages. The company has also developed a full-wave field solver called PakSi-Wave, which provides more accuracy and calculates S, Y and Z parameters. APE-3D uses the PakSi-E field solver.

APE-3D is an electrical and physical design system that lets IC buffer designers and PCB systems designers explore, design, implement and verify interconnect topologies and electrical constraints through simulation. It lets users create full or partial IC package simulation models to optimize interconnect performance.

PakSi-E claims to accurately model and analyze complex power/ground structures with multiple ports, non-uniform dielectric layers and features such as vias, solder bumps and bonding wires. The technology stems from research developed under a U.S. Air Force contract.

The first release of APE-3D offers the ability to extract signal interconnect for simulation, or characterize the entire IC package as a simulation model. Coupled or single-line package models can be output as a Cadence SpecctraQuest DML model, a Spice RLGC matrix or an Ibis package model for use by IC or PCB designers. The tool claims to be the first to offer true "package-board codesign."

APE-3D will be available in the fourth quarter from Cadence on Windows and Solaris platforms, with Linux to follow in a subsequent release. A one-year license starts at $63,000.