PeakView® 3D full-wave electromagnetic solver combines the most rigorous mathematical accuracy, minimal simulation time and enhanced computational capacity with no compromise on silicon correlated accuracy from DC – mmWave – TeraHz frequency range. Our state-of-the-art simulation engine is designed to efficiently analyze the complex structures found in modern semiconductor technology. 3D EM signoff is the only way to assure EM accuracy due to the 3D nature of process/packaging and high-frequency EM behavior, making PeakView® the EM golden data for advanced process nodes.
Reliable EM Models Depend on Three Major Pillars:
- Reliable profile/process data: User’s physical layout input and material information must be reliably mapped into EM engine.
- Proper meshing (3D accuracy): Meshing needs to reach convergence of EM data. Meshing must be 3D for physics mapping. Without proper meshing, user may get EM model, but its quality is unknown.
- EM ground and boundary conditions: Boundary conditions, such as EM ground and pin types must match reality. Forced boundary conditions that are not physical will distort model accuracy.
Achieving the Ultimate EM Simulation Accuracy up to THz Frequencies
2.5D EM assumes that the conductor is infinitely thin, and Planar3D EM addresses thickness without volume meshing. Planar3D is a suitable accuracy for design purposes, but design sign off requires 3D accuracy.
- 3D EM simulates the 3D structure accurately with full 3D meshing. This becomes critical for contemporary high-speed circuits at high frequencies.
- PeakView®’s 3D Mesh
- 3D Volume mesh for charges: 3D mesh captures the capacitive effect on the side walls of thick layers
- 3D Volume mesh for currents: It implements multi-sheet current (MSC) to simulate the horizontal and vertical current distribution, which is a requirement to achieve 3D accuracy.
- Converged results will not change regardless of increasing the density of the mesh for current and charges, which creates golden EM data.
PeakView®, The Leading EM Sign-Off Tool in the Market
3D accuracy and smart meshing strategies are used to optimize computation time and preserve high accuracy taking into account process and design requirements. For example, tall side-walls of advanced process nodes are analyzed with precise sidewall meshing. Skin effects at high frequencies are accounted for with special meshing algorithms that consider current density.
mmWave and TeraHz Accuracy for High-speed Applications
- PeakView®‘s accuracy has been thoroughly studied up to 1 TeraHz to ensure that both theory and implementation are reliable and well-tested.
- TeraHz accuracy resolution is ensured with a fundamental mathematical approach that properly handle discontinuities, glitches and wiggles, inherent in complex functions in fullwave formulation in the TeraHz frequency domain.
- Furthermore, PeakView®’s 3D mesh for currents is critical to capture all EM effects involved in high-frequency simulations: vertical skin depth, vertical inductance, vertical coupling, and conductive losses.
EM Accuracy at Low Frequency for Broadband Designs
- PeakView® maintains perfect low-frequency accuracy for both electromagnetic (EM) and circuit properties, making it an ideal tool for ultra-broadband designs.
- Achieving reliable EM accuracy at low frequencies is a classic challenging EM task due to the ill conditions caused by the charge and current decoupling.
- PeakView® solver technologies delivers reliable and stable results at frequencies as low as 0.001Hz.
- This remarkable capability differentiates PeakView® from other EM solvers, which provide unstable/fluctuating results at low frequencies that may even result in negative resistive and capacitive values.
Flexible Meshing Setup
- Flexible Meshing Setup (FMS) is a very versatile tool that allows a detailed customization of the mesh for the EM simulation of large-scale layouts.
- With this tool, users can specify special mesh sizes or simulation types to specific layout structures (nets, layers, capacitors, floating structures, metalfills, etc).
Metalfill EM Modeling Options
- PeakView® accounts for the EM effects of metalfill, where induced current can lead up to ~13% degradation on device performance.
- PeakView provides a drop-down menu with the available options for modeling metalfills.
- Users can choose to ignore metalfills for EM simulation without needing to update the layout.
- Metalfills can be merged together and treated as an equivalent dielectric, which can capture their capacitive effects.
- The user can also select the brute-force option, which meshes every metalfill individually, accounting for all possible losses.
- Flexible Meshing Setup also allows the combination of all options.
Critical Design Scenarios where 3D EM Accuracy is Imperative
- Reliable modeling of vertical skin effect and skin depth in thick EM devices
- Vertical layer interaction in multi-layer EM devices
- Induced current density on floating structures including metalfills
- High vertical interaction between layers with small dielectric separation
- Accurate simulation of the vertical inductance for bumps, TSVs and long vias
References
- LD22632_Achieving the Ultimate EM Simulation Signoff Accuracy up to TeraHz in the New AI Era
- LD22674_Severe Skin Effects in and Design Guideline for mmWave Designs – A 3D Perspective
- LD10685_PeakView Guideline for 3D Fullwave EM Signoff and Golden Data Accuracy
- LD20728_EM Ground and Boundary Conditions in mmWave IC Designs
- LD20861_PeakviewFlexible Meshing Setup Guide and Applications
- LD20260_Peakview EM Accuracy at Very Low Frequencies
- LD19175_Peakview Brute-force EM Simulation Study on Metalfills
For Application Notes requests, please contact: support@lorentzsolution.com