Gradient’s “Firebolt” software and Flomeric’s “Flopack” product will be integrated to produce a chip- and package-level thermal analysis tool that reportedly enables IC designers to predict temperature anywhere within a chip and evaluate how to improve the design with respect to timing, leakages and reliability, as well as characterize the package surrounding the chip and automate model creation through the software’s intelligent geometry macros wizard. The software programs will “talk to each other” to compute a map of temperatures on the chip, package, and variations produced by air flow. “We have to be cognizant of the package because chips are complex enough, with enough hot spots, that there’s a benefit to linking together,” said Edmund Cheng, president and CEO, Gradient Design Automation. The companies say they hope to form, in short, a comprehensive silicon-to-environment thermal analysis tool, enabling temperature-aware silicon design within the context of an environment&#151including package, PCB, and chassis.

by Meredith Courtemanche, assistant editor