SI Wave: Everything You Need to Know About the ZNOT Scan Solver
SI Wave is a powerful tool for power integrity and signal integrity analysis. One of its most important features is the ZNOT Scan, which is essential for scanning large PCB boards with hundreds or thousands of lines. This tool extracts the impedance of these lines and quickly identifies any violations.
Setting Up ZNOT Scan
The setup of the ZNOT Scan tool is straightforward. While SI Wave can be used to build PCBs, it is not the most effective use of the tool. Instead, SI Wave excels at importing various file types, such as:
- EDB
- IPC258
- ODB++
- DXF
- GDSII
Upon uploading a file, SI Wave extracts detailed information from the CAD file, including the stackup, material, thickness, components, and all the nets within the PCB.
Using ZNOT Scan
Our focus today is on the ZNOT Scan. To begin, navigate to the simulation section and select the ZNOT Scan icon. The process in SI Wave, whether for CPI, signal integrity, or radiation, starts by selecting a solver. Once a solver is selected, SI Wave generates a dialog box that resembles a form. Users must review and complete any missing information.
SI Wave populates the dialog box with all existing structures in the model. Users can choose to solve specific lines or all lines using advanced techniques for rapid processing. Note that SI Wave only selects traces and excludes power planes from the table.
Trace Categories
- Single-ended
- Differential
- Extended
Ensure all categories are selected. The nominal z-naught column displays expected impedance values, such as 50 ohms for single-ended and 100 ohms for differential lines. These values can be modified as needed.
Warning and Violation Thresholds
In addition to the nominal column, there is a warning threshold column where users can enter a percentage. If the impedance differs by more than this percentage, a warning is issued. The violation column indicates when a violation message should be triggered.
Users can also specify a minimum trace length for calculations to avoid solving all traces, which can complicate identifying problematic sections.
Running ZNOT Scan
Once ready, launch the scan. After obtaining the solution, display the results to view trace impedance. Users can zoom in to examine individual trace values and select specific layers for detailed inspection.
Modifying Traces
If necessary, users can modify trace properties, such as width and layout. Multiple lines can be selected and modified simultaneously.
Displaying Results
To efficiently identify problematic traces, use the display warning and violations feature. This generates a plot indicating:
- Green: Within threshold
- Orange: Exceeds warning threshold
- Red: Exceeds violation threshold
Users can also view this information in a table format and generate detailed reports.
Additional Features
SI Wave provides a profile feature to track time and memory usage, which is useful for comparing results. Users can also review simulation properties to ensure consistent setup across analyses.
For accuracy, users can adjust solver options to prioritize optimum accuracy when dealing with smaller PCBs.
Thank you for exploring the capabilities of the ZNOT Scan with SI Wave.
SI Wave is a power integrity and signal integrity tool. The ZoScan solver is one of its most important tools. ZoScan is used to scan large PCB boards with hundreds and thousands of lines, extract the impedance of these lines, and quickly identify any violations.
The setup of the ZoScan tool is straightforward. While SI Wave can be used to build PCBs, it's not the best way to utilize the tool. SI Wave can import various file types, including EDB, IPC258, ODB++, DXF, and GDSII.
When SI Wave uploads a file, it extracts information from the CAD file, such as the stackup, which includes the material, thickness, components, and nets inside the PCB. Today's focus is on the ZoScan solver. To start a simulation, click on the ZoScan icon.
Any process in SI Wave, such as CPI, signal integrity, or radiation, starts by selecting a solver. Once a solver has been selected, SI Wave generates a dialog box with existing structures in the model. Users can select some or all of the lines to solve.
SI Wave uses a lot of information and can also use advanced techniques to solve all the lines quickly. In the table, users will see all the trace categories, such as single-ended, differential, and extended. Make sure to select all of them.
In the nominal z-naught column, users will find the number that SI Wave expects to calculate. Users can change this number if needed. The warning threshold column allows users to enter a number in percentage.
If the impedance is different by more than the entered percentage, SI Wave will give a warning. The violation column will give a violation message if the impedance exceeds the entered percentage. Users can decide not to calculate the trace if it's shorter than a certain length.
Now, users are ready to solve. After solving, users can display the trace impedance and see the impedance of each trace in color. Users can also zoom in and look at the impedance of each trace. Checking the traces of each line is time-consuming.
To find traces with violations, users can select display warning and violations. Users will see anything within the threshold in green, anything that exceeds the warning in orange, and anything that exceeds 20% in red. Users can zoom in on the bad sections and fix them.
Users can also have this information in a table and generate a report with all the necessary information. If users are not happy with the impedance of a trace, they can modify the width or the center line of the trace. Users can also modify more than one line at once.
The ZoScan solver allows users to check the impedance, zoom in on bad sections, modify them, and save the report. In addition to the ZoScan solver, SI Wave allows users to see the profile and simulation properties. The profile shows how much time was spent and how much memory was used.
The simulation properties remind users of the setup used to solve the problem. Users can specify the accuracy of the ZoScan solver using the other solver options. Thank you.
