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Acceleware Corp. and Synopsys, Inc. announced a new hardware solution that, according to the companies, enables up to 20-times faster electromagnetic simulation of optoelectronic devices such as CMOS image sensors. The solution links Synopsys' technology-leading TCAD SentaurusTM Device simulation software and Acceleware's ClusterInABox Quad Q30 workstation.
In the rapidly growing optoelectronics market, manufacturers are under
constant pressure to produce higher performance devices in a shorter time.
For example, CMOS image sensors, which are used widely in camera phones,
webcams, digital cameras, and camcorders, have to pack more pixels into each
device generation, as well as be cost-effective to produce. TCAD tools are
well-suited for optoelectronics manufacturers designing more sophisticated
devices and performing complete characterization of their device structures
over a wide range of light incidence angles, lens shapes, pixel sizes, and
other factors prior to manufacturing. This high-performance, cost-effective
solution also allows the statistical analysis of the impact of manufacturing
variations, such as lens misalignment, through multiple simulations.
Due to the complex nature of optoelectronic devices, finite-difference time-domain FDTD simulations typically require tens of hours to fully characterize a CMOS image sensor design in 3D. The new hardware acceleration solution reduces the FDTD
simulation time by up to 20 times, allowing engineers to carry out more
extensive simulation studies, reducing development costs and time. TCAD
Sentaurus Device simulation software utilizes the ClusterInABox Quad Q30's
built-in NVIDIA graphics processing units (GPUs), which deliver up to two
Teraflops of computational power, to significantly accelerate FDTD
simulations of optoelectronic devices.
The performance increase allows engineers to leverage the rigor and accuracy of the FDTD method in designing and optimizing optoelectronic devices while shortening the product
development cycle. The Synopsys interface, TCAD Sentaurus Device EMW-X, is now available through TCAD Sentaurus Device EMW. The ClusterInABox Quad Q30 workstation is available for purchase directly from Acceleware.
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