Ansoft Releases New Full-Wave Electromagnetic Field Simulator

Ansoft Corp. released the SIwave™ v3.5, a full-wave electromagnetic field simulator optimized for signal-integrity, power-integrity, and electromagnetic interference (EMI) analysis of high-speed printed circuit boards (PCBs) and complex integrated circuit (IC) packages.

The new release features what is said to be a fast and efficient finite-element-based dc solver optimized for extraction of power rail geometry in complex low-voltage/high-current PCB and package designs. Engineers can view voltage and current distributions in all relevant geometry including vias and bond wires. In addition, users have access to voltage drop and current flow information through all layout elements (vias, bond wires, sources, resistors, inductors, etc.) in tabular format, allowing engineers to quickly identify design rule violations. SIwave v3.5, leveraging Ansoft’s adaptive mesh refinement technology, allows users to find layout problems quickly and warns of possible bond wire and via electromigration damage prior to the fabrication of a prototype.

"SIwave is a key technology for enabling the new era of mixed-signal electronics design driven by form-factor, functionality and integration," said Dr. Zoltan Cendes, Chairman and CTO of Ansoft. "Extreme integration in wireless handheld devices, for example, creates new challenges for RF performance, system signal integrity, system-level EMI, low power and communications reliability. SIwave, combined with HFSS™, Nexxim® and DesignerSI™, form a system design platform capable of addressing these challenges."

SIwave accurately simulates the electromagnetic behavior of complex PCBs and IC packages, including multiple, arbitrarily shaped power and ground layers and any number of vias and signal traces. The resulting full-wave S-,Y- or Z-parameters or GHz-bandwidth circuit model is used in concert with time- and frequency-domain analyses within Nexxim and DesignerSI or third-party SPICE-compatible circuit tools. Engineers use SIwave to extract a model for the complex interactions among traces on the board, the coupled impedances within the IC package and between package pins and the PCB. That model can then be used in a top-level circuit simulation to characterize the nonlinear behavior of an IC, including the package and board parasitics. This chip-package-board co-simulation is critical for reliable integrated electronics system performance.

SIwave v3.5 is available on the following operating systems: Microsoft Windows® XP Professional; Windows XP Professional x64 Edition; Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition; Windows Server 2003 Standard x64 Edition; and Red Hat Enterprise Linux® 3 and 4.