The Computational Electromagnetics Simulation Challenge Of 3D-IC


By Kelly Damalou and Matt Commens Innovation in semiconductor design today is energized primarily by AI/ML, data centers, autonomous and electric vehicles, 5G/6G, and IoT. Recently developed 2.5 and 3D-IC silicon-based packaging technologies have advanced the state of the art beyond SoC technologies which first united digital, analog, and memory functions on a single chip in the '90s. These ... » read more

A Look Inside RF Design


RF EDA continues pushing the boundaries for today’s complex system designs. Connected workflows are creating shift left opportunities for engineering in virtual space. RF and microwave architects and designers can accelerate design and verification with powerful electromagnetic (EM) modeling and simulation technology. In the webinar for the 2023 launch of PathWave Advanced Design System (ADS)... » read more

Electromagnetic Simulation And 3D-IC Interposers


By Matt Commens, Juliano Mologni, and Pete Gasperini Today’s 3D integrated circuit (3D-IC) technology is the culmination of 40 years of research in universities and laboratories scattered across the globe. Beginning with dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) deployments that appeared on the market a decade ago, 3D-IC has since expanded its reach. It is now decisively beginning to achieve the... » read more

The Foundations Of Computational Electromagnetics


Maxwell’s Equations can be expressed in multiple variants – there are integral and differential versions in both frequency and time domains, along with quasi-static and full-wave forms. Their elegance is evident upon sight yet for only the simplest systems are there known solutions. Thus, without assumptions to simplify the math and/or system under study, it is frequently impossible to full... » read more

The Physics Of Ports And Associated Ground For EM Simulators Serving RF Designs


The use of ports in electromagnetic (EM) simulators has evolved and matured over the years to make real-world design simulations practical. Having a foundational understanding of ports provides an intuitive skill in their proper selection and use in conjunction with circuit simulation. In this white paper, we examine ports common to EM simulators, which are the most common simulators for microw... » read more

The Impact Of Multiphysics On Production Electronic Design


For many electronic design professionals, it has become clear that the industry is transitioning through an inflection point that is shifting some of the ground rules of design. The increase in the speed and integration density in today’s systems are blurring the lines between chip design and traditional board or system design. This finds its fullest expression in multi-die, 3D integrated ... » read more

Innovations In High-Frequency Electromagnetic Simulation


High-frequency electromagnetic simulation has evolved from “wow, now I can see how electromagnetic fields behave” to needing to know how various EM fields interact in large, complex systems. During that time, I have been an R&D engineer and I have managed a team implementing various solver technologies. We’ve been presented with plenty of challenges as electronics have continued to pr... » read more

10X Faster Electromagnetic 3D Simulation


Virtual prototypes are essential to optimize the signal integrity performance of their high-performance electronics products. Today, engineering teams are pushing to get fast electromagnetic (EM) simulations of printed circuit boards (PCB) and 3D chip packages in just a few hours with the highest level of accuracy. The state of the art in EM simulation has come a long way: Back in 2000 it wa... » read more

Simulating The Hyperloop


When SpaceX held the first Hyperloop Design Weekend Competition in Texas in January 2016, a team of five students from the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV) in Spain, calling themselves Hyperloop UPV, won awards for Best Overall Concept Design and Best Propulsion System. The overall concept was to use magnetic levitation to give their Hyperloop vehicle a frictionless ride through t... » read more

ANSYS HFSS and SGI UV 2000 Takes Electromagnetic Simulation To New Heights


This white paper discusses how the latest version of ANSYS HFSS (Release 16) takes full advantage of the SGI UV2000 advanced symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) system to achieve these objectives. Utilizing SGI’s sixth generation technology, engineers and scientists can leverage hundreds of processing cores and terabytes of coherent shared memory to solve very large EM field simulations, as well ... » read more