After a comparison of major strategies of electro-thermal simulation (the relaxation method and the method of simultaneous iteration) a detailed description of the fundamentals and realization issues of the simultaneous iteration method is given. The paper introduces the SISSSI electro-thermal simulation package which is a recent realization of the latter method, fully integrated into the Cadence Opus design framework. The use of the package as an analogue circuit layout design verification tool is demonstrated through a detailed case study.

In this paper a comparison of a thermal investigation of typical IC structures and a microstructure sample using different methods will be presented. Different simulation methods and, for the IC structure, liquid crystal measurements are compared. The results show that for the investigated structures there are possibilities other than using robust and resource consuming FEM tools.

Due to severe thermal problems of today's VLSI integrated circuits the need for reliable and quick thermal, electro-thermal and logi-thermal simulation tools is increasing, In this paper, we discuss the latest advances in the SISSI package (simulator for integrated structures by simultaneous iteration) which is a tool developed originally for analog VLSI design. The improvements include electro-thermal ac and transient simulation and the consideration of the thermal voltage of Si-Al contacts. Furthermore, we introduce a new module of SISSI, LOGITHERM, which is aimed at the self-consistent logic and thermal simulation of large digital VLSI designs. The features of our simulator package are highlighted by simulation examples that are compared in most cases with measurement results.

Good resolution thermal mapping can be achieved by using liquid crystals. The article presents a new, high resolution automated measuring equipment, which executes the measurement and the evaluation process under computer control. The equipment was developed especially for micro-thermography of integrated circuits. The paper presents the practical aspects of the liquid crystal measuring method. Resolution and accuracy features of the method are also discussed.

Integrated microsystems raise new problems in thermal simulation. The frequently used structures such as cantilevers and membranes have different heat transfer properties than the simple silicon cubes of conventional integrated circuits (ICs). To take advantage of this, numerous functions are realized on these structures based on the thermal principle. Quick and correct thermal simulation of these structures is needed during the design process. The paper presents the μS-THERMANAL thermal simulation tool which is capable of simulating, beyond the IC chips and three-dimensional multi-chip module packaging structures, the cantilever, the bridge and the membrane structures as well, both in steady-state and in the frequency-domain case. The algorithms of the program, based on the Fourier method, are detailed in the paper and numerous examples illustrate the capabilities of the tool.