Zuken and CSA Catapult Present Results of an R&D Collaboration for the Optimization of Tools for the Design of Power Modules

Bristol, UK, and Munich, Germany, December 5, 2022 – Zuken, a global leader in the area of software and solutions for electronic and electrical engineering, and Compound Semiconductor Applications (CSA) Catapult are announcing an important milestone in their R&D collaboration aimed at building a development environment for state-of-the-art compound semiconductor products.

CSA Catapult is a UK government funded non-profit organization headquartered in South Wales that was founded to help the UK become a global leader in compound semiconductors. Working with both large companies and start-ups CSA Catapult develops and commercializes new semiconductor technology applications.

Collaborating with Zuken on a project to bring a power module layout from a graphical concept to a 3D model, CSA Catapult has identified several requirements and optimizations to Zuken’s CR-8000 Design Force chip, package and PCB co-design software that will provide designers of power electronic products with the ability to co-develop mechanical and electrical design in unison. The integration with industry simulation tools enables the efficient design iteration needed to effectively explore the design envelope for new compound semiconductor products.

As a result of the collaboration, an intuitive function was created that is used to generate interconnections between chips and copper layers in a substrate or a printed circuit board, as well as a function to export a CAD model in a format compatible with FEM software. These advanced features will help designers to significantly decrease the time required to generate a 3D model of the power module substrate, chip layout, and chip-to-chip as well as chip-to-copper interconnections.

Regarding the progress of the R&D collaboration Dr Alejandro Villarruel Parra, Senior Power Electronics Engineer at CSA Catapult, said: “The creation of a 3D model of the substrate, chip layout and chip interconnections is an important part of the early-stage power module design process. Zuken’s advanced design solutions have helped to provide a preview of the module performance, which in turn makes our decision-making process faster when several concepts are being compared or helps to steer the refinement of the module geometry if a concept has already been selected.”

The new capability is included in the 2022 release of CR-8000 Design Force.

About CSA Catapult

Compound Semiconductor Applications (CSA) Catapult (https://csa.catapult.org.uk/) is focused on bringing compound semiconductor applications to life in three key areas: the road to Net Zero, future telecoms, and intelligent sensing. CSA Catapult is a not-for-profit organisation headquartered in South Wales. It is focused on three technology areas: Power Electronics, RF & Microwave, and Photonics. As well as the three technology areas, CSA Catapult is also working in Advanced Packaging for these high-power innovations.

The next wave of emerging applications will have an enormous impact on our lives. Compound semiconductors will enable a host of new and exciting applications in the electrification of transport, clean energy, defence and security, and digital communications markets. CSA Catapult exists to help the UK compound semiconductor industry grow and collaborates across the UK and internationally.