Electrothermal simulation and design of integrated circuits

Author

Van Petegem, Wim ; Geeraerts, Ben ; Sansen, Willy ; Graindourze, Benny

Author_Institution

Dept. Elektrotechniek, Katholieke Univ., Leuven, Belgium

Volume

29

Issue

2

fYear

1994

fDate

2/1/1994 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

143

Lastpage

146

Abstract

An accurate prediction of the electrothermal behavior of power integrated devices is required to design circuits in an efficient way. An electrothermal simulator (ETS) is a combination of SPICE with finite element code, in a relaxation procedure. It simulates the full electrothermal behavior of integrated circuits. Static and dynamic simulations of typical examples, reveal the value of ETS for high-power applications. Some specific design rules are derived. They are simple formulas, which estimate the temperature (gradients) on chip. They can be used before any CPU-time consuming simulation takes place which allows a more efficient design and prototype phase

Keywords

SPICE; circuit CAD; digital simulation; finite element analysis; power integrated circuits; relaxation theory; SPICE; electrothermal behavior; electrothermal simulator; finite element code; high-power applications; power integrated devices; relaxation procedure; temperature gradients; Analytical models; Circuit simulation; Coupling circuits; Electrothermal effects; Equations; Finite element methods; Flowcharts; SPICE; Temperature; Transient analysis;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Solid-State Circuits, IEEE Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9200

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/4.272120

Filename

272120