Ansys Icepak in Ansys Electronics Desktop

Getting Started

Module 1 – Lecture 1: Introduction

Release 2023 R1

Please note:
• These training materials were developed and tested in Ansys Release 2023 R1. Although they are
expected to behave similarly in later releases, this has not been tested and is not guaranteed.
• The screen images included with these training materials may vary from the visual appearance of a
local software session.

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 Importance of Electronics Thermal Management

• All electronic devices and circuits generate heat under normal operation.

• Engineering the safe removal of this heat helps reduce/minimize:

― Catastrophic failures
― Operational robustness issues
― Product life uncertainty

• Electronics Thermal Management (ETM): Design and analysis of the structures and
mechanisms that efficiently remove performance degrading, unwanted heat from
the system.

• ETM aids in determination of reliability and robustness of electronic devices.

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 Importance of ETM – Failure Examples
Catastrophic failures

Trace and via burnout from

excess current combined with
poor cooling Component overheating due to flow starvation

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 Importance of ETM – Failure Examples
Operational robustness issues

Datacenter/Cloud Computer: Scale back of

Smartphone receiver frequency shift and compute nodes due to unexpected recirculation
attenuation due to overheating of pre-heated exhaust
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 Importance of ETM – Failure Examples
Product life uncertainty

PCB

IGBT

Actuator

Oil well logging tool electronics – Combination of electronics heating, high

temperature environment plus mechanical vibrations and shocks reduces the
service life of the electronics
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 Importance of ETM – Failure Causes

• Failure in electronics can occur through multiple physical mechanisms.

• Almost all failure mechanisms are enhanced at higher temperatures.
• Failure mechanisms include, but are not limited to:
‐ Oxide breakdown in FETs/MOSFETs
‐ Current leakage (which doubles with every 10 ⁰C in active semiconductor devices)
‐ Degradation in electrical performance due to change in properties (Ex: Resistivity, Loss tangent)
‐ Electromigration
‐ Stresses due to TCE (thermal coefficient of expansion) mismatch
‐ Corrosion

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 Heat Budget – Part 1: Where is the Heat Coming From?

• Heat in Electronics ... With all those tiny components ... Is that possible?
‐ Yes! When we pass electric or electromagnetic signals through a single device, a portion of it is
transmitted as useful signal or data. The rest is lost as heat within the device!
‐ Conservation of energy → Part of the electromagnetic energy is converted into heat

• Heat, that is not removed, will stay in the electronics and de-rate or damage it

Input Signal Output Signal

• Summary: Heat is always generated in any electronic system. Is it always a problem?

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 Heat Budget – Part 2: How Much Heat?
• This is the most important input for ETM! Detailed electromagnetic analysis at system and
package levels is NECESSARY to know the exact heat lost at each device
‐ Passive Devices:
• Resistors, inductors, capacitors, bus bars, traces, vias, TSV etc.
• Simple Joule heating ... Heat rate Q = I2R
• Capacitors: Resistance is a function of frequency in the simplest form

‐ Active Semiconductors:
• Discrete diodes, FETs, IGBTs, BJTs as well as complex IC packages
• Switching losses + Non-linear Resistive losses → More complex

‐ Electromagnetics:
• Low frequency: Power drives, motors, generators, transformers
• High frequency: Radars, RFICs, wireless communication, microwaves, absorbers

• Summary: Electromagnetic calculations tell us how much heat is generated in each device.
How much heat is too much heat...
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 Heat Budget – Part 3: Where does the Heat Go?

• Answered by Electronics Thermal Management

• Heat flows from its source through natural pathways that are in direct or indirect contact
‐ Any solids
‐ Any fluids (liquids or gases)
‐ Vacuum

• Temperature is the measure of Heat content and Heat flow → Analogous to Electric
Potential (Voltage) as a measure of amount of electricity or flow of electrical energy

• Summary:
‐ Heat transfer calculations tell us if, at a given heat rate, the device will operate at safe temperature
or not.
‐ Every device has a maximum operating temperature → If exceeded, even a simple resistor can fail
and break the system.

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 ETM – Design Workflow
Geometry +
Materials +
Thermal/Flow
Environment

Power Map
Electromagnetic
Analysis Thermal Analysis
Temperature
Map

Are Devices at
No Redesign Thermal
Loop until power and Safe
Pathways
temperature maps Temperature?
converge
Yes

Thermally safe design

for current heat load
and environment

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ANSYS Solutions for
Electronics Thermal
Management
 ANSYS Solution for Electronics Thermal Management

Dominant Modes of Heat Transfer

Conduction, Convection and Radiation Conduction and/or Radiation

General Purpose CFD Solution General Purpose FEA Solution

• ANSYS Fluent, CFX, AIM • ANSYS Mechanical

ANSYS Icepak
• Customized solution for Electronics Cooling
• Uses ANSYS Fluent as the solver
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 ANSYS Icepak Versions
Interface
AEDT Icepak
Fluid Flow (Laminar, Turbulent)
Heat Transfer – Conduction, Convection and Radiation
• Steady state and transient analysis
• Comprehensive MCAD, ECAD support
Highlights
• Native ACIS MCAD Modeler
• Modern UI, Ease-of-Use
• Integrated Electrical, Mechanical and Thermal
Material Properties
• Fully integrated Electro-Thermal Workflow
• Parametric analysis
• Scripting with recording → IronPython and VBS
• Reduced Order Modeling, solar load modeling,
single or multiple fluids, tzr import
Users
• Mechanical / Thermal / Electrical engineers
• HFSS, Maxwell, Q3D users
13
Icepak license unlocks all versions
Icepak in SIwave Classic Icepak
Unstructured, body-fitted meshing
Best-in-class CFD solver technology
• Steady state analysis • Steady state and transient analysis
• Coupled DC IR simulation • Comprehensive MCAD, ECAD support
• Joule Heating • Automated Package characterization
• Completely automated, two-way electro- • Single or multiple fluids
thermal analysis • Advanced Modeling – Trace Mapping, Joule Heating,
Solar Load Modeling, MRF modeling, TEC modeling
• Parametrics and Optimization
• Multiphysics couplings for Electro-Thermal and
Thermo-Mechanical analysis for Chip, Package, Board
and System level setups
• Reduced Order Modeling
• Electrical engineers
• Mechanical / Thermal / Electrical engineers
• SIwave users
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 ANSYS Electronics Desktop (AEDT)

• Unified platform for Electromagnetic, Thermal, Circuit and System simulation

‐ Single framework for comprehensive design and optimization of electronic components, devices
and systems

• Gold-standard tools like ANSYS HFSS, Maxwell, Q3D, Icepak, Mechanical, and Twin Builder
are built natively in the AEDT environment and tightly integrated.

HFSS Icepak Maxwell Q3D

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 AEDT Icepak
Standalone Thermal Analysis
• Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) based thermal simulation
tool that is fully integrated into the AEDT environment.

• Uses ANSYS Fluent as the solver

• Built-in integration for electromagnetic-thermal analysis with

two-way coupling with EM tools (HFSS, HFSS 3D Layout,
Maxwell, Q3D) and Icepak within the same GUI.
HFSS – Icepak Maxwell – Icepak Q3D – Icepak

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 AEDT Icepak CFD Process
1. Geometry
• MCAD import in AEDT
• ECAD import in HFSS 3D
Layout
• Simplify Geometry
• Domain shape and size
• Geometry parameters
4. Solution
• Convergence criteria
• Maximum iterations
• Solution monitors
• Numerical schemes
• Under-relaxation factors
• Single or multiple cores
• Parametric / Optimization
16
2. Physics 3. Physics
• Steady-state and Transient • Slider Bar Meshing
analysis • Mesh Regions
• Physical models (radiation • Advanced Multi-level
and natural convection) mesh controls
• Material properties
• Inspect mesh quality
• Boundary conditions
5. Post-processing 6. Reports
• Summary report
• Plane cuts
• Field report
• Contours
• Monitor report
• Vectors
• Network temperatures
• Animations
• Fan operating points
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 AEDT Icepak Model Building

• Import existing classic Icepak model

• Ability to import/edit both MCAD
and ECAD from an array of formats
• Link to ANSYS SpaceClaim for
advanced defeaturing and geometry
healing Coarse : 50 Medium: 200 Fine : 800
Thermal conductivity

Top Bottom

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 AEDT Icepak- TZR Import from Classic Icepak
Classic Icepak Model
• Classic Icepak models can be imported into AEDT Icepak
• File → Open → Files of type → Icepak Classic Project (*.tzr)

AEDT Icepak Model

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 AEDT Icepak MCAD Import Supported MCAD File Formats

• Import MCAD files directly into AEDT or through SpaceClaim

• Supports variety of MCAD file formats

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 AEDT Icepak Geometry Simplification

• SpaceClaim-like CAD simplification capabilities

• Tool can be used to simplify complex CAD bodies to simple
objects using different levels of simplification (Bounding box,
Primitive fit, Polygonal fit)

Bounding Box Primitive Fit Polygonal Fit

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 AEDT Icepak Geometry Simplification

• Remove Faces operation is very similar to the Fill Tool in SpaceClaim

• Tool can be accessed using Modeler > Model Preparation > Remove Faces

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 AEDT Icepak IDF Import
• IDF files can be imported directly into an Icepak design
• IDF 2.0 and IDF 3.0 versions are supported

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 AEDT Icepak PCB Layout Import

• ECAD files can be imported through HFSS 3D Layout Design

• Icepak will compute very accurate thermal conductivity maps for each layer
Very Coarse Medium Very Fine
71 X 50 284 X 200 1136 X 800

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 AEDT Icepak- 3D Components
• 3D Components are created using easy-to-
follow panels, facilitating model building
• Custom fans, heatsinks, PCBs,
and CTMs (chip power maps) can be created
• Built-in vendor component
libraries available
Component Library

CTM Heatsink 3D Fan with Fan Curve

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 AEDT Icepak Meshing Cut-Plane Mesh

• Highly automated, shape-conforming mesher

with intuitive user controls
• Independent mesh regions enable efficient
meshing of large assemblies

Surface Mesh

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 AEDT Icepak Slider Bar Meshing

• Easy way to mesh simple geometry

• Five built-in settings, but may need to iterate to find the sweet spot
Medium Fine Very Fine
138k Cells 316k Cells 615k Cells

Sufficient mesh resolution Excessively fine mesh

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 AEDT Icepak Mesh Regions

• Applies different mesh controls inside a box region

• Helps reduce mesh count while maintaining accuracy

No Mesh Region Mesh Region around Heatsink

1.5M Cells 127k Cells

Heatsink and Package Coarse outer mesh Fine mesh around heatsink

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 AEDT Icepak Mesh Visualization
• Mesh Viewer can be used to inspect the mesh visually
• Mesh can be displayed on the surface, volume of objects or on a cut-plane

CAD Cut-plane Mesh

Surface Mesh Volume Mesh

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 AEDT Icepak Mesh Quality

• Mesh quality is one of the most critical aspects of a CFD model

• Quality of the mesh can be checked using Face alignment, Volume and Skewness measures
Default Color by object - ON

Click on bar to display those cells For any Icepak model, ensure that:
• Face alignment > 0.05
Histogram limits are adjustable to
find low quality cells • Skewness > 0.02
• Volume > 0
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 AEDT Icepak Solver
ANSYS Fluent

• Solver is based on ANSYS Fluent

‐ Well-validated physical modeling capabilities deliver fast,
accurate results across the widest range of CFD
applications
‐ Robust and rapid numerical convergence
‐ Proven parallel scalability with ANSYS HPC
AEDT Icepak
Solution Residuals

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 AEDT Icepak Solver - HPC

• Custom HPC configuration for each solver in AEDT

Local and Remote Job Distribution for Optimetrics
HPC Options by Design Type

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 AEDT Icepak Post-Processing
• High-quality graphics and easy-to-use post-processing objects

Temperature Contours

Velocity Vectors

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 AEDT Icepak Post-Processing
• Streamlined creation of animations
• Multiple legends are supported

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 AEDT Icepak Optimetrics

• Integrated Optimetrics toolset enables Parametrics, Optimization,

Design of Experiments etc.

Optimize Fan Position Response Surface

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 AEDT Icepak Optimetrics

Via Drill Size Variations Via Pad Size Variations Input Current Variations

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 AEDT Icepak Scripting
• Advanced customization is possible through user User Recorded Script
created scripts
• Record Script option creates a Python file with all
user operations. This includes geometry creation,
material assignments, boundary conditions, etc.

• It is then straightforward to modify the script with

variables, and loop over multiple design parameters

IronPython Command Window

Record and Run Scripts Manage ACT Extensions

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 AEDT Icepak – Electro-Thermal Workflow

• Integration of Icepak in AEDT enables seamless coupling

between Icepak and the Electromagnetic (EM) tools ANSYS
ANSYS ANSYS ANSYS
HFSS 3D
HFSS Maxwell Q3D
Layout
• One-way and Two-way coupling between the tools are
supported
ANSYS Icepak
• Coupling can be performed in an automated way using
ANSYS Electronics Desktop
Electro-Thermal ACT (Application Customization Toolkit)
HFSS Design of a High-Power Waveguide Load Maxwell Design of a Planar Transformer

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 AEDT Icepak – Electro-Thermal Workflow
• Accurate and detailed heat losses determined by EM calculations are
easily included in the thermal analysis
• Automatic identification and mapping of Volume and Surface EM losses

Q3D EM Volume Loss Icepak Thermal Field

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 HFSS 3D Layout → Icepak Workflow Power Density

• DCIR Solver is available in AEDT

• The layer-by-layer Joule heating power maps are
transferred to Icepak
Voltage
• Delivers automation capabilities to DCIR workflow

Temperature

Workflow Wizard
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 AEDT Icepak – Features Summary

• Model Building
‐ Import MCAD and ECAD from vast array of formats
‐ Import existing Classic Icepak model
‐ Link to ANSYS SpaceClaim for advanced defeaturing and geometry healing
• Meshing
‐ Highly automated, shape-conforming mesher with intuitive user controls
‐ Independent mesh regions to enable meshing of large assemblies
• Solver
‐ Uses ANSYS Fluent as solver
‐ Steady-state and transient analysis
‐ Robust and rapid numerical convergence
‐ Proven parallel scalability with ANSYS HPC

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 AEDT Icepak – Features Summary

• Post-processing
‐ High quality graphics and easy to use post-processing
objects
‐ Animations, fields calculator, and multiple export options
• Optimetrics
‐ Integrated Optimetrics toolset enables parametric
analysis, optimization, design of experiments, etc.
• Scripting
‐ Advanced customization through user-created scripts
‐ IronPython/VBA scripting language used for scripting
• Electro-Thermal Workflow
‐ One-way and two-way coupling between EM tools (HFSS,
Maxwell, Q3D, HFSS 3D-Layout)
‐ Automated workflow using Electro-Thermal ACT

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End of presentation