Full-Wave Real-Life 3-D Package Signal Integrity Analysis Using Nonconformal Domain Decomposition Method

Advances in interconnect technologies, such as the increase of the number of metal layers and 3-D stacking technique, have paved the way for higher functionality and superior performance while reducing size, power, and cost in today´s integrated circuit and package products. However, whether or not the package preserves signal integrity (SI) has become a crucial concern for system designers. In this study, a systematic full-wave numerical approach, based on a nonconformal finite-element domain decomposition method (DDM), is proposed for 3-D real-life circuit/package simulations. First, an automatic domain partitioning strategy is utilized to divide the entire model into a number of sub-domains. Each sub-domain is then meshed independently and an h-version of adaptive mesh refinement is employed. Next, a nonoverlapping DDM is adopted to efficiently solve the finite-element matrix equation. Afterwards, a model-order reduction technique is exploited to compute the multiport spectral responses. SI effects such as signal delay, coupling, and reflection are simulated on a product-level package benchmark. Finally, numerical results verify the analysis and demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.