Microwave Journal
www.microwavejournal.com/articles/32884-cadence-delivers-first-complete-electrical-thermal-co-simulation-for-system-analysis
cadence 9.18

Cadence Delivers First Complete Electrical-Thermal Co-Simulation for System Analysis

September 18, 2019

Cadence Design Systems Inc. expanded its presence in the system analysis and design market with the introduction of the Cadence Celsius Thermal Solver, the first complete electrical-thermal co-simulation solution for the full hierarchy of electronic systems from ICs to physical enclosures. Following the launch of the Clarity 3D Solver earlier this year, the Celsius Thermal Solver is the second product in Cadence’s new system analysis initiative. Based on a production-proven, massively parallel architecture that delivers up to 10X faster performance than legacy solutions without sacrificing accuracy, the Celsius Thermal Solver integrates with Cadence IC, package and PCB implementation platforms. This enables new system analysis and design insights and empowers electrical design teams to detect and mitigate thermal issues early in the design process—reducing electronic system development iterations. 

By combining finite element analysis (FEA) for solid structures with computational fluid dynamics (CFD) for fluids, the Celsius Thermal Solver enables complete system analysis in a single tool. When using the Celsius Thermal Solver in conjunction with the Clarity 3D Solver, Voltus IC Power Integrity and Sigrity technology for PCB and IC packaging, engineering teams can combine electrical and thermal analysis and simulate the flow of both electricity and heat for a more accurate system-level thermal simulation than legacy tools. In addition, the Celsius Thermal Solver performs both static (steady-state) and dynamic (transient) electrical-thermal co-simulations based on the actual flow of electrical power in advanced 3D structures, providing visibility into real-world system behavior.

By empowering electronics design teams to analyze thermal issues early and share ownership of thermal analysis, the Celsius Thermal Solver reduces design re-spins and enables new analysis and design insights not possible with legacy solutions. In addition, the Celsius Thermal Solver accurately simulates large systems with detailed granularity for any object of interest and is the first solution capable of modeling structures as small as the IC and its power distribution together with structures as large as the chassis.

The Celsius Thermal Solver supports Cadence’s Intelligent System Design strategy, enabling system development. It is built on matrix solver technology that is production proven in the recently announced Clarity 3D Solver and the Voltus IC Power Integrity Solution. Optimized for cloud environments, the Celsius Thermal Solver’s massively parallel architecture delivers up to 10X cycle time improvements compared to legacy solutions with high accuracy and unlimited scalability.