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System Analysis Knowledge Bytes: Using PowerDC for Multi-Board IR Drop Analysis

• 3 minute read

The System Analysis Knowledge Bytes blog series explores the capabilities and potential of the System Analysis tools offered by Cadence®. In addition to providing insight into the useful features and enhancements in this area, this series aims to broadcast the views of different bloggers and experts who share their knowledge and experience on all things related to System Analysis.

When it comes to performing IR drop analysis of multiple boards/packages, merging the physical layout together can sometimes be difficult and impractical. 

PowerDC provides the Multi-Board/Package IR Drop Analysis workflow, which simplifies the setup of complex systems where you may have multiple packages and boards. The Multi-Board/Package IR Drop Analysis workflow in PowerDC can be used to perform static power delivery on a complex system.  

Layout Structure: Introduction

The PCB structures used in this article are:

  • Six-layered motherboard PCB consisting of:
    • Four power nets and one ground net
    • A device CPU and six DIMM slots located on power net V_MEM_CPU

  • DIMM PCB consists of: One power net and one ground net Connection J1 and SDRAMs located on power net VCC. PowerDC analyzes static power delivery system on ‘PCB from VRMs’ to ‘CPU on motherboard’ to ‘SDRAMs on DIMM’.

The steps to perform IR Drop analysis on a multi-board setup using PowerDC are discussed in detail in the RAK - Multi-Board IR Drop Analysis using PowerDC (cadence.com).

 A typical procedure includes:

  • Add blocks in the workspace corresponding to the number of boards you are combining
  • Load each layout into the respective block
  • Set up VRM, SINK, and discretes
  • Interconnect all blocks
  • Run the simulation

The steps mentioned above will help you to set up the simulation combining all your boards and packages. The user-friendly graphical user interface (GUI) provides an intuitive view of the simulation results, which can be 2D or 3D, and contains a function to generate HTML reports.

In this RAK you will learn how PowerDC analyzes static power delivery system on ‘PCB from VRMs’ to ‘CPU on motherboard’ to ‘SDRAMs on DIMM’.

For more details, you can refer to the RAK Multi-Board IR Drop Analysis using PowerDC (cadence.com), available on Cadence Online Support.

RAK Authors: Javier de Jesus Alvarado and Sumith S Pillai, Cadence Application Engineers

Learn More

To learn the complete flow in detail, download the Multi-Board IR Drop Analysis using PowerDC (cadence.com) Rapid Adoption kit (RAK), which is accessible to all customers with a Cadence Online Support (COS) account. You can also check out our Cadence Training Bytes channel, which is updated regularly with new training videos.

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Stay with us as we continue to explore what’s new in the world of Cadence Sigrity and Systems Analysis. For information about the most recent enhancements, check the Sigrity and Systems Analysis 2023.1 What's New. Happy reading!

For more information on Cadence Sigrity and Systems Analysis products and services, visit www.cadence.com.

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For any questions, feedback, or new content development ideas, write to system_analysis_blogs@cadence.com.