Coupled Analysis of Quasi-static and Full-Wave Solution towards IC, Package and Board Co-design

In this paper, cascade-related approach and global one-single model methodology are investigated and compared in reference to real-world System-in-Package (SiP) product, which is designed using Cadence-SiP, and analyzed using Optimal SiP-enabled tool suite. A complete multi-level path, which consists of three portions-integrated circuit (IC), package and printed-circuit-board (PCB) -is selected as a test vehicle to investigate the limit of cascade-based approach. The results from quasi-static and full-wave simulation are compared, and the advantage of full-wave as well as limitation of quasi-static model are discussed. An innovative concept, referenced as "residual S-parameter", is proposed to characterize the coupling at the interface of IC, package and PCB, which plays an important role in the cascading of individual modules. Impact of the proposed concept on power integrity (PI) and signal integrity (SI) analysis is emphasized. Comparisons between full-wave, quasi-static and measurement results for representative component elements (interconnect, coupled bond wires) are discussed.