WESTFORD, MASS. – Zuken USA added a “packaging re-use” capability to its Packaging Predictor set of analysis tools. This function lets engineers evaluate whether using an existing package is feasible for a new IC design.
The software will suggest I/O placement on the chip, ensuring that the IC will work in an existing package. This can eliminate the need for creating a custom package, which adds expense and leadtime to the packaging portion of the product development cycle.
This represents another step towards chip/packaged co-design, where some features of the chip design are affected by the package design to optimize the overall system cost and performance.