November 7, 2024 10:00–16:15 CET

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COMSOL Day: Electronic Devices

See what is possible with multiphysics modeling

Modeling and simulation has proven to be a powerful asset in the design and manufacturing of electronic devices, allowing engineers and scientists to tackle key questions related to component performance, efficiency, and reliability.

The COMSOL Multiphysics® simulation platform and its add-on products offer extensive capabilities for modeling a wide range of physics phenomena, enabling accurate virtual prototyping to investigate various problems related to component design, packaging, testing, and thermal management. The software’s unique ability to combine in a single simulation all of the couplings involved between low-frequency or high-frequency electromagnetics, the transport of charge carriers, heat transfer, and structural mechanics allows engineers to build high-fidelity models in a time- and cost-effective way.

In addition to its multiphysics modeling and simulation capabilities, COMSOL Multiphysics® includes tools such as the Application Builder and the Model Manager, which enable a broader community of scientists and engineers to leverage the benefits of simulation, fostering a collaborative and innovative approach to R&D.

Join us for this COMSOL Day to see how multiphysics simulation can make design and R&D more efficient in the electronics industry. Scientists and engineers in the industry will present how they have incorporated modeling and simulation into their work. COMSOL engineers will also demonstrate important concepts in the software that are essential for studying the devices and processes used in the industry.

Register for this free, 1-day online event below.

Schedule

10:00

Multiphysics simulation is widely used by scientists and engineers for the design and development of electronic devices, as well as in the manufacturing and testing of these devices. It provides unrivaled capabilities for understanding and optimizing device designs to enhance performance and reliability. Multiphysics simulation is also used to improve the resilience of electronic packaging against unwanted mechanical, thermal, and electromagnetic effects.

The COMSOL Multiphysics® simulation platform and its add-on products provide a unique environment where a wide range of physics phenomena — including low-frequency and high-frequency electromagnetism, charge-carrier transport, heat transfer, and structural mechanics — can not only be modeled but also coupled and combined.

The benefits of using COMSOL Multiphysics® to model electronic devices can be extended to larger groups of colleagues (with or without simulation expertise) by using the software to create and share standalone simulation apps.

In this introductory session, we will discuss the use of multiphysics simulation for the development of electronic devices. We will also provide a brief overview of the topics that will be covered during this COMSOL Day.

10:30
Keynote Speaker
Optimization of PCB Copper Electroplating Processes Aided by Multiphysics and Multiscale Simulations

Baptiste Fedi, Hivelix

The manufacturing of printed circuit boards (PCBs) requires precise control of copper thickness to ensure the performance and reliability of electronic devices. This keynote talk will explore how digital twins of copper electroplating processes help to optimize copper thickness distribution at various scales of manufacturing.

At the scale of a multipanel rack for plating, simulation enables the optimization of process parameters to ensure uniform deposition across all PCBs, enhancing quality and reducing production costs.

In circuit design, a nonuniform thickness distribution of copper can result in manufacturing defects and affect signal integrity. Numerical simulation can help designers analyze and adjust copper distribution in the PCB layout. By simulating the electroplating process, areas of potential imbalance can be predicted and the design modified accordingly. This ensures that copper layers are deposited uniformly, meeting specific manufacturing requirements and improving overall PCB reliability and efficiency. In addition, optimizing copper balance can reduce material usage and processing time, contributing to cost-effective production.

At the local scale, the study of throwing power in vias is crucial to ensure reliable interlayer connectivity within the PCB. Numerical simulation makes it possible to anticipate and address common problems such as underfilling or structural defects by adjusting deposition conditions to improve quality in these critical areas.

This multiphysics and multiscale approach demonstrates that simulation is an essential tool for anticipating challenges and optimizing copper electroplating processes in the PCB industry, resulting in high-quality printed circuit boards.

11:00

In the electronics industry, the use of modeling and simulation has become a valuable asset for design and development, enabling accurate virtual prototyping that provides insight into the processes underlying electronic devices and helps produce increasingly efficient products.

The COMSOL Multiphysics® software is widely used in the design and integration of passive devices and sensors, contributing to the improvement of their robustness and performance. For use in this area, the AC/DC Module, an add-on product, offers extensive functionality for modeling electrical circuits and lumped systems, as well as three-dimensional electromagnetic fields. The software's unique capabilities also extend to combining a broad range of physics phenomena and their interactions in a single simulation, enabling the modeling of complex electromechanical components.

In this session, we will demonstrate the capabilities of COMSOL Multiphysics® for modeling capacitive, inductive, and resistive devices. We will also highlight some built-in multiphysics couplings through different examples, such as capacitive pressure sensors and accelerometers.

11:45

Modeling and simulation has been used for understanding, designing, and refining optoelectronic and semiconductor devices, allowing systems governed by drift-diffusion and quantum confinement phenomena to be studied in detail.

The Semiconductor Module, an add-on to the COMSOL Multiphysics® software, is used to model systems such as metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs), solar cells, photodiodes, and LEDs and offers functionality for modeling the interplay between drift-diffusion, electromagnetic wave propagation, and thermal effects in semiconductors. This unique multiphysics capability enables self-consistent simulation of optoelectronic devices. In addition, by being customizable, it enables the analysis of novel semiconductor designs, including organic semiconductor devices.

This session will provide you with an overview of the semiconductor physics and multiphysics modeling capabilities of COMSOL Multiphysics® and will demonstrate the software's modeling workflow to study optoelectronic and semiconductor devices.

12:30

Learn the fundamental workflow of COMSOL Multiphysics®. This introductory demonstration will show you all of the key modeling steps, including geometry creation, setting up physics, meshing, solving, and evaluating and visualizing results.

13:00
Keynote Speaker
Warpage Assessment in IC Packaging

Samuele Zalaffi, STMicroelectronics

This talk will discuss the results of warpage investigated on different types of manufacts: a simple dual-beam sample composed of copper and molding compound, a single package device, and a full strip made from an assembly of multiple package devices. A common FEA approach is developed to describe warpage for all structures analyzed. Based on findings, warpage and shape variation as a function of temperature of the single package device, as well as bilaminar sample, are well predicted by the model. This is confirmed by a comparison with experimental findings. However, when it comes to large, thin structures, like strips or even panel-level systems, the model provides a poor warpage shape prediction, probably due to nonlinear effects. Improvement of the model in terms of nonlinearities and material constitutive laws needs to be assessed to obtain accurate predictions of package warpage behavior after the IC manufacturing process.

13:30

The use of modeling and simulation in the electronics industry is highly effective for designing efficient thermal management solutions, allowing users to virtually test different operating conditions and gain valuable insights that would otherwise be too difficult, expensive, and time-consuming to achieve with physical experiments and prototypes.

The COMSOL Multiphysics® software and its add-on modules offer a wide range of features to model heat transfer by conduction, convection and radiation, as well as electromagnetic modeling functionalities. The software's built-in multiphysics capabilities allow engineers to create high-fidelity simulation models that account for electromagnetic and thermal interactions to test the efficiency of different component designs and cooling technologies.

In this session, we will demonstrate how to build models and simulation applications using COMSOL Multiphysics® and highlight some heat transfer modeling features using examples relevant to the thermal management of electronic components. We will also provide an overview of the platform’s capabilities for multiphysics modeling, with a focus on couplings involving heat transfer phenomena.

14:15

As electronic components become increasingly complex and miniaturized, the use of modeling and simulation has become invaluable for designing, testing, and optimizing electronics packaging to withstand mechanical, thermal, and electromagnetic failures. Using simulation, engineers can accelerate the development process, reduce costs, and improve the overall performance of the end product.

The COMSOL Multiphysics® software and its add-on products provide a wide range of functionalities to model the real-world behavior of electronic devices and virtually test their integrity under various operating conditions. The platform's unique multiphysics capabilities enable users to investigate thermal stresses, fatigue, nonlinear behavior, electromagnetic interference, and electrostatic discharges, all within a single modeling environment.

In this session, we will demonstrate how to build physics-based models using COMSOL Multiphysics®. We will highlight important modeling features and multiphysics capabilities through examples related to the packaging and testing of electronic devices.

15:00
Keynote Speaker
Extraction of Electrical Interface Resistivity on Auto SmartSiC™ Substrates

Jean-Marc Bethoux, SOITEC SA

Evaluating metal to semiconductor contact resistivity requires test devices whose dimensions vary, as well as a model that takes into account current crowding below the contact area. Analytical models can be effective when semiconductor thickness and conductivity are relatively small. For highly conductive thick substrates, FEM modeling becomes essential. In this keynote talk, Jean-Marc Bethoux will present a methodology to extract contact resistivity on highly conductive SiC substrates. It has been adapted to evaluate interface resistivity on Auto SmartSiC™ substrates and predict RonA substrate resistance. COMSOL applications have been deployed to accelerate technology developments.

15:30
Panel Discussion
Modeling and Simulation in the Electronics Industry: Benefits and Challenges

Modeling and simulation has been widely used for designing, manufacturing, and testing electronic devices, helping engineers and scientists to improve both product performance and process efficiency. By providing helpful insights into the behavior of a device or process, such as the thermal stress in power electronic components or the warpage of printed circuit boards, multiphysics simulation can play a key role in addressing the next challenges in the industry arising from, for instance, the continuing miniaturization of components.

In this context, simulation applications that can be used without modeling expertise could prove even more valuable in the design and development process by strengthening collaboration and spreading the benefits of simulation throughout an organization.

Join us for this panel discussion to hear how modeling and simulation experts in the electronics industry are using COMSOL Multiphysics® today and learn what they see as important developments for the future.

Panelists:

  • Samuele Zalaffi, STMicroelectronics
  • Marc Matosevic, Vishay
  • Ruud Börger, COMSOL
16:15
Closing Remarks

Register for COMSOL Day: Electronic Devices

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COMSOL Day Details

Local Start Time:
November 7, 2024 | 10:00 CET (UTC+01:00)
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Invited Speakers

Baptiste Fedi, PhD Hivelix

Baptiste Fedi, founder of Hivelix, is a researcher specializing in multiphysics modeling of chemical and electrochemical phenomena, working on applications in various industries. After obtaining a PhD in electrochemistry in 2016, he worked as a research engineer at Safran Tech, the Safran Group's Research & Technology Center, for five years.

Baptiste has been at Hivelix, a COMSOL Certified Consultant, since 2022, where he has been developing hybrid approaches combining multiphysics simulation and artificial intelligence to improve model prediction and reduce computation times for a wide range of applications.

Samuele Zalaffi STMicroelectronics

Samuele Zalaffi is a modeling and characterization engineer in the Back-End Manufacturing and Technology R&D group at STMicroelectronics, where he specializes in material characterization techniques and structural mechanics finite element modeling for the electronic package. He previously worked at the university Politecnico di Milano as a researcher in the field of material testing and development of finite element models using complex constitutive material laws. Zalaffi obtained a master’s degree in materials engineering and nanotechnology in 2021 from Politecnico di Milano.

Jean-Marc Bethoux SOITEC SA

Jean-Marc Bethoux holds an MSc degree in materials science from INSA Lyon and a PhD in physics from Université Nice-Sophia-Antipolis. He has more than 20 years of experience in electronic materials. Combining experiments and modeling, he has designed original workflows for several electronic devices such as III-V LEDs, carbon nanotube FETs, and µdisplays. Within the SOITEC innovation department, he promotes data science and supports advanced substrate development by providing physical model-based expertise.

Marc Matosevic Vishay

Marc Matosevic has been an R&D engineer at Vishay SA for four years, where he works on electrical and thermal simulation on resistor chips with COMSOL Multiphysics®. He also helps develop new products using experimental methods and simulations to achieve results. Matosevic graduated in 2020 with a master’s degree in materials physics from the University of Nice-Sophia-Antipolis.