TURNING DOWN THE HEAT

The multicore circuits used to power latest-generation computers and tablets are so powerful that they generate dozens of watts of thermal energy. In other words, they get pretty hot!

Docea Power has developed a unique software application capable of evaluating— very early on in the design phase—the thermal behavior of a future circuit. The goal is to help circuit designers turn down the heat while keeping circuit performance high.

Technology

The new software will round out Docea Power’s existing Aceplorer energy-consumption-modelling and AceThermalModeler heat-flow-modelling software packages.

Leti and List interfaced these software applications with a virtual multicore circuit platform to create a unique simulation environment that creates a detailed picture of the entire circuit’s thermal behavior. Designers can leverage these valuable insights to compare different use strategies and to develop and test thermal compensation algorithms, for instance.

Perhaps the most crucial point in the development process was to be able to guarantee the validity of the new models and tools. To do this, Leti came up with a thermal model of a 3D processormemory circuit. When compared to silicon-based measurements, the margin of error for the model was less than 5%. This early-design-stage approach offers performance far surpassing that of the after-the-fact design adjustments that are currently the norm.