Core capabilities
- Steady-state thermal analysis: Solve chip steady-state temperature field from power distribution and package thermal model; identify hotspots.
- Coupled thermal-power solve: Iterative thermal–power coupling accounting for temperature feedback on leakage power.
- Hotspot identification: Output coordinates and temperatures for regions exceeding thresholds; per-block/tile thermal views.
- Derate recommendations: Temperature-dependent derate factors for timing analysis and more accurate signoff.
- GREENFIELD roadmap: Start from external thermal simulation adapter; build in-house thermal solver over time.
Agent calling patterns
thermal = client.call("iThermal.analyze",
design_ref="snap_7f3a",
power_map=power_result
)
# thermal.temperature_map → dict (coordinate → temperature)
# thermal.hotspots → list[dict] (hotspots: x, y, temp, margin)
# thermal.derate_factors → dict (temperature-dependent derate coefficients)Input / output contract
| Direction | Parameter | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Input | design_ref | str | Design snapshot (layout geometry + material info) |
| Input | power_map | dict | Power distribution from iPA (coordinate → power) |
| Input | package_model | dict (optional) | Package thermal params: R_ja, ambient_temp, cooling_config |
| Output | temperature_map | dict | Temperature map: grid(x,y) → temperature(C) |
| Output | hotspots | list | Hotspot list: coordinates, temperature, margin to threshold |
| Output | derate_factors | dict | Timing derate: clock_period_factor, cell_delay_factor |
Role in the flow
01 Floorplanning
iFP
Macro and IO placement
02 Power analysis
iPA · iIR
Power calculation & IR-drop
03 Thermal analysis
iThermal
Steady-state thermal solve
04 Signoff loop
iSTA · iEM · iPDN
Temperature-aware signoff loop
iThermal can provide early thermal estimates from floorplanning; precise thermal solve follows power analysis. Results feed iSTA (derate), iEM (temperature-accelerated EM), and iPDN (temperature-dependent IR-drop).
Related resources
- iPA — Power analysis: Power distribution is the core thermal input.
- iPDN — Power network planning: Temperature affects power-network IR-drop analysis.
- iEM — Reliability analysis: Temperature is a key EM acceleration factor.
- EDA tools overview: Map of all 22 point tools.