Thermal simulation device and method for integrated circuits

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016203246-A1
Application number	US-201614991227-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jan 8, 2016
Priority date	Jan 9, 2015
Publication date	Jul 14, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A thermal simulation device for an integrated circuit according to the disclosure comprises a thermal analysis unit and a mesh size analysis unit. The thermal analysis unit performs a thermal analysis of the integrated circuit to obtain temperatures of the center point and boundary of each function block. The mesh size analysis unit determines the cell number in the mesh of each function block. The thermal analysis unit computes a temperature of the center point and boundary of each cell in every function block according to the temperatures of the boundary of each function block.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A thermal simulation device for an integrated circuit, comprising:
a thermal analysis unit performing a thermal analysis of the integrated circuit to obtain temperatures of the center point and boundary of each function block in the integrated circuit; and a mesh size analysis unit determining the cell number in the mesh of each function block, the thermal analysis unit computes temperatures of the center point and boundary of each cell in every function block according to the temperatures of the boundary of each function block.

2 . The thermal simulation device as recited in claim 1 , wherein the function blocks correspond to circuit modules of the integrated circuit.

3 . The thermal simulation device as recited in claim 1 , wherein the thermal analysis unit uses a thermal model in function block mode to perform the thermal analysis, computes the temperature of the center point of each function block and obtains the temperatures of the boundary of each function block according to the temperature of the center point of each function block.

4 . The thermal simulation device as recited in claim 3 , wherein the temperature of the center point of each function block in the integrated circuit is obtained according to the thermal model of the integrated circuit, the power consumption of each function block, and the ambient temperature.

5 . The thermal simulation device as recited in claim 1 , wherein the temperatures of the boundary of each function block include the surface temperature of each function block contacting the ambiance, the surface temperature of each function block contacting the adjacent function block, the corner temperature of each function block contacting the ambiance, and the corner temperature of each function block contacting the adjacent function block.

6 . The thermal simulation device as recited in claim 1 , wherein the mesh size analysis unit determines the cell number in the mesh of each function block according to the temperatures of the boundary of each function block and a temperature resolution set by a user.

7 . The thermal simulation device as recited in claim 1 , wherein the thermal analysis unit obtains the temperatures of the boundary of each cell in each function block by an interpolation method.

8 . The thermal simulation device as recited in claim 1 , wherein the temperature of the center point of each cell in the mesh of each function block is calculated by the average in the all temperatures of the boundary of the cell.

9 . A thermal simulation method for integrated circuits cooperating with a thermal simulation device including a thermal analysis unit and a mesh size analysis unit, the thermal simulation method comprising steps as follows:
performing a thermal analysis of the integrated circuit by the thermal analysis unit to compute a temperature of the center point of each function block in the integrated circuit; computing temperatures of the boundary of each function block by the thermal analysis unit according to the temperature of the center point of each function block in the integrated circuit; determining the cell number in the mesh of each function block by the mesh size analysis unit; computing temperatures of the boundary of each cell in the mesh of each function block by the mesh size analysis unit according to the temperatures of the boundary of each function block; and computing a temperature of the center point of each cell in the mesh of each function block by the thermal analysis unit according to the temperatures of the boundary of each cell in the mesh of each function block.

10 . The thermal simulation method as recited in claim 9 , wherein in the step of computing the temperature of the center point of each function block, a thermal model in function block mode is used to perform the thermal analysis of integrated circuits.

11 . The thermal simulation method as recited in claim 10 , wherein the temperature of the center point of each function block is obtained according to the thermal model of integrated circuits, the power consumption of each function block, and the ambient temperature.

12 . The thermal simulation method as recited in claim 9 , wherein the temperatures of the boundary of each function block include the surface temperature of each function block contacting the ambiance, the surface temperature of each function block contacting the adjacent function block, the corner temperature of each function block contacting the ambiance and the corner temperature of each function block contacting the adjacent function block.

13 . The thermal simulation method as recited in claim 9 , wherein in the step of determining the cell number in the mesh of each function block, the cell number in the mesh of each function block is determined according to the temperatures of the boundary of each function blocks and a temperature resolution set by users.

14 . The thermal simulation method as recited in claim 9 , wherein in the step of computing the temperatures of the boundary of each cell in each function block, the temperatures of the boundary are obtained by an interpolation method.

15 . The thermal simulation method as recited in claim 9 , wherein the temperature of the center point of each cell in the mesh of each function block is calculated by the average in the all temperatures of the boundary of the cell.

Assignees

• Univ Nat Cheng Kung

Inventors

• Chiou Lih-Yih
• Lu Liang-Ying

Classifications

• G06F2119/08

  Thermal analysis or thermal optimisation · CPC title

• G06F30/398 Primary

  Design verification or optimisation, e.g. using design rule check [DRC], layout versus schematics [LVS] or finite element methods [FEM] (optical proximity correction [OPC] design processes G03F1/36) · CPC title

• G06F30/20 Primary

  Design optimisation, verification or simulation (optimisation, verification or simulation of circuit designs G06F30/30) · CPC title

• G06F17/5009 Primary

  Physics · mapped topic