New thermal analysis function added to simulator

ROHM has recently added a new thermal analysis function to its ROHM Solution Simulator. The new feature provides electronic circuits and systems designers in the automotive and industrial markets to collectively verify power devices and driver ICs thermal issues on various solution circuits.

The simulator, which runs on the company's website, makes it feasible to carry out various simulations for free – from component selection to specific device and even system-level verification. This facilitates easy and accurate verification of its products such as SiC devices in power semiconductors, driver/power supply ICs, and passive components in solution circuits under close to actual application conditions.

The newly added thermal analysis function may be implemented in solution circuits for devices and applications where heat is likely to become a problem in electronic circuit design. Examples are PTC heaters equipped with IGBTs, shunt resistors, DC-DC converter ICs and LED drivers to satisfy the growing demand to simulate temperature through circuit operation. This is claimed to be the only simulator in the industry that allows web-based electrically and thermally coupled analysis of not just of the semiconductor chip (junction) temperature during operation but also pin temperatures and thermal interference of board components on solutions circuits that include power semiconductors and ICs together with passive components. Therefore, thermal analysis that used to take a day can now be achieved in about ten minutes (100x faster than conventional methods). This enables users to quickly and simply check the temperature of various parts of the device prior to prototyping, decreasing the need for rework. At the same time, the number of development resources needed for applications where heat is an issue decreases.

The solution can be employed free of charge by registering on the company's website. together with the simulator, the dedicated web page offers access to videos and documents required for use.