All Systems Go! Find and Fix Thermal PCB Problems Sooner Than Later

By Dr. Melika Roshandell

Electrothermal co-simulation—understanding the implications (intended or otherwise) of thermal interactions on electrical performance for high-speed (or high-frequency) PCB designs—is now essential for successful end-product development.

Over on the In-Design Analysis SI/PI channel, Brad Griffin posted "All Systems Go! Bridging the Gap Between Design and Analysis with In-Design Analysis" and discusses how the “shift left” that’s happening with electronic design means it is no longer sufficient for signal integrity (SI) and power integrity (PI) analysis to be performed in isolation. Designing, analyzing, and verifying the design in its entirety is key. Another facet of this shift left is the need to address thermal integrity (TI) sooner rather than later. In other words, finding and fixing thermal PCB design issues early in the design process is necessary to save costs, reduce design spins, and maintain your own sanity.

Let’s start by looking at things from the highest level, which is that we want to design a PCB. At some stage, this PCB (possibly accompanied by one or more additional PCBs) will be mounted in an enclosure. Eventually, this system will be deployed into the field. The designers of the PCB(s) and the system as a whole want to know how well the system will perform and how long it will survive.

A key factor that dramatically affects the life of electronic components and systems is temperature. Every aspect of a PCB generates some amount of heat. In addition to the components themselves, the combination of the currents flowing through the tracks and vias and the resistance of those tracks and vias results in voltage drops—what we call IR drops—and heat being generated.

Want to continue to learn more about thermal integrity issues associated with high-performance boards? Click here to read the full blog post that's on I-Connect007.