Chip-level thermal simulator to predict VLSI chip temperature

In this paper, a new thermal simulator is developed to predict the steady-state and transient temperatures inside a VLSI chip subjected to heating by single or multiple heat sources. It uses a mixed 3D finite-difference and 1D analogous thermal circuit method, taking into account any combination of boundary conditions, shape of heat sources, and packaging. An analytical method is also presented and compared to the numerical method. With this tool, the chip temperature can be predicted accurately to provide design guidelines for VLSI module placement and chip packaging.