CAD package handles IC, package, and PCB design

A new software package enables what is called the co-design of ICs, packages, and the printed circuit boards on which they reside. Called the Xpedition Package Integrator, the software is said to facilitate the planning, assembly and optimization of today’s complex multi-die packages. It incorporates a special virtual die model concept for optimizing IC-to-package connections. The overall aim is to let designers plan, assemble and optimize complex systems with minimal source data. The new Package Integrator flow is said to let
design teams realize faster and more efficient physical path-finding and seamless tool
integration for rapid prototyping.

ICs, packages and PCBs are optimized with each other to reduce package substrate and PCB costs by efficient layer reduction, optimized interconnect paths, and streamlined/automated control of the design process. The Xpedition Package Integrator product also is said to provide the industry’s first formal flow for ball grid array (BGA) ball-map planning and optimization based on an “intelligent pin” concept, defined by user rules. In addition, a multi-mode connectivity management system (incorporating hardware description language (HDL), spreadsheet and graphical schematic) provides cross-domain pin-mapping and system level cross-domain logical verification.

The software also provides a cross-domain interconnect visualization in a single view and includes multi-mode physical layout tools with routing for designs of PCBs, MCMs, SiPs, RF, hybrid, and BGA devices. The package works with CFD tools and with software that checks substrate fabrication and signal integrity. Another package enables the simulation of electromagnetic fields for chip-package-board combinations.

The Xpedition Package Integrator comes from Mentor Graphics Corp., Wilsonville, Ore., www.mentor.com/pcb/package-integrator.