PDN Analyzer - Powered by CST®

Dave CousineauSenior Field Applications Engineer

• What is PDN Analysis? • Today’s Design Challenges• How Can PDN Analysis Help?• PDN Analyzer Powered by CST®• Who is CST?• Learn More

AGENDA

What is PDN Analysis?

• PDN = Power Distribution Network‒ Supply clean and stable voltage to devices‒ DC analysis of the PDN a.k.a. “IR Drop”, ”DC Power Integrity”, “PI-DC”

• Do I have the necessary amount of metal between sources and loads‒ Are there enough power and ground shapes?‒ Are there enough vias and are they large enough?‒ …without overdesigning

• What part of my design is most likely to heat (burn) up?• Can I cleverly optimize my PDN shapes?

Previously…• ICs usually had 1 supply voltage

• Dedicated layer of unbroken copper for each supply and/or larger PCBs allowed for more copper area• Higher voltage supplies had higher

tolerance• Lower pin-count devices and/or fewer

high pin-count devices

Today…• Modern devices have multiple supply

voltages• Power layers are shared by multiple

voltages, plus smaller form factors causing split areas and complex shapes• Low voltage supplies can tolerate less

voltage drop• Multiple BGAs and other high pin-count

devices requiring a lot of vias can cause “pinch points”

Today’s Design Challenges

The result? Voltage (IR) drops and high current densities

Today’s Design Challenges

• Voltage Drops‒ May cause an IC’s supply-rail levels to sink below the recommended

minimum voltage‒ Then the IC is running out-of-spec and its performance is no longer

guaranteed

• High Current Densities‒ Excessive heat generation causing delamination

or even fusing!‒ The use of only IPC-2152 (“Standard for Determining

Current Carrying Capacity in PCBs”) to address currentdensity can lead to overly conservative designing

Today’s Design Challenges

What PDN Symptoms Occur in your Assemblies?

How Can PDN Analysis Help?

• Shows the voltage drop from the source to the loads due to the resistivity of the power net• Pinpoints high current density areas due to pinch points• Allows a designer to properly size their power delivery shapes• Gives valuable insight into how many vias are needed, and how large,

for power distribution• Uncovers unconnected or poorly-connected copper areas

‒ Peninsulas and Islands act as “resonant structures” that can cause seemingly random failures at certain frequencies

• Ultimately leads to fewer design spins

PDN Analyzer Powered by CST®

• Extension built directly in to Altium Designer• Uses your design’s source PCB as input

‒ No manual exports required

• Voltage and Current Density results viewed as anoverlay on your PCB

‒ Colored “heat map”‒ Viewable in 2D and 3D modes

• Designed to be easy to use by ANY engineer or PCB designer

Who is CST?

• Computer Simulation Technology‒ Founded in 1992‒ 300 Employees‒ World Headquarters in Germany‒ US Headquarters in Massachusetts

• A recognized world leader in 3D electromagnetics simulation software• Altium PDN Analyzer extension based on the “IR Drop Analysis”

portion of CST PCB Studio®

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