HeatWave

2019.02

User Interface Guide

Notices

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Publication Date: February 13, 2019

Table of Contents

1 HeatWave GUI Overview 1

1.1 Title Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 Main Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.3 Toolbar Buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.4 Canvas or Graphics Region . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.5 Color Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.6 Layer Slider . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.7 Mini-Map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.8 X/Y Plane Sliders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.9 Message Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

2 GUI File Menu 7

2.1 Save . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.2 Write . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.3 Close . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

3 GUI Analyze Menu 9

3.1 Incr. Run . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
3.2 Incr. Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
3.3 Incr. Conductivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

4 GUI Display Menu 10

4.1 Displaying Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
4.2 Display Quantities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
4.3 Display Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
4.3.1 No Field Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
4.3.2 Shaded Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
4.3.3 Contour Curves Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
4.3.4 Iso-Surfaces Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
4.4 Instance Quantity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
4.4.1 Temperature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
4.4.2 Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
4.4.3 Power Density . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
4.4.4 Display Heat Flux/Temp Gradient Vectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
4.5 Key Range . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
4.6 Layer Thickness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

4.7 Power Source Names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

4.8 All Power Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
4.9 Layer Power Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
4.10 Mask Geometry Visibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
4.11 Grid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
4.12 Transient Movie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

5 GUI View Menu 19

5.1 Mini-map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
5.2 XY Axes Slider . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

6 GUI Query Menu 21

6.1 Histogram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
6.2 Power Source Query . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
6.3 Design Browser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

7 GUI Settings Menu 25

8 GUI Window Menu 27

9 GUI 3D view in Main Window 28

10 Surface Plot Window 29

10.1 Surface Plot Display Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
10.2 Surface Plot View Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

11 GUI Keyboard Shortcuts 31

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 HeatWave GUI Overview

1 HeatWave GUI Overview

This manual describes the use of the Graphical User Interface (GUI) to the HeatWave thermal analysis
program. An html version of this manual is provided in your HeatWave software installation hierarchy.
The GUI window is displayed if heatwave is invoked without the -b (batch) option, or with the -g (GUI
only) option, from the command-line. For more information on how to run heatwave, and a description of
its command-line options, please refer to the HeatWave Reference Manual.
There are two major types of windows in the HeatWave GUI. The first type, called a 3D Window, is displayed
when the GUI is invoked. The second type is a Surface Plot Window, described later.
The window opened automatically when the HeatWave GUI starts, is called the Main Window, and is shown
below.

Figure 1: Main GUI Window

1.1 Title Bar

Figure 2: Title bar

The title bar of the main window displays the name of the directory containing the design data. Following
this information in brackets and separated by a colon are the design library followed by the top cell name.

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 HeatWave GUI Overview

1.2 Main Menu

Figure 3: Main Menu

Some menu-items are tasks that may need to be quickly or repeatedly performed. To facilitate this, shortcuts
(also called hot-keys or accelerators) are defined, as listed in the Keyboard Shortcuts section. The main
menus can be accessed either by selecting them with the cursor or by typing the appropriate keyboard
shortcut. A combination of keyboard are cursor is often convenient. For example, zoom-in by typing "Z" and
clicking 2 points to define the zoom-box.
Almost all of the GUI functionality is accessible via the menus, so a good way to learn the analysis features
available in HeatWave is to browse through the menus.
Each of the main menus and the underlying sub-menus and selections are described in detail in later
sections of this document.

1.3 Toolbar Buttons

Figure 4: Buttons in the GUI Toolbar

Toolbar buttons provide quick access for some of the more frequently used features in the GUI. Holding the
cursor over a button or menu item displays a one-line help statement in the message bar at the bottom of the
main window, describing the action taken if that item is selected. The buttons are grouped by functionality
into several toolbars, whose description follows.
No quantity display: No field is displayed in the canvas (graphics region); it is blank.

Shaded display: shows a smoothed plot on the visible surfaces of the 3D domain, using color to
represent the magnitude of the selected display quantity

Plot contour lines for the display quantity on all visible surfaces of the chip, following user-
specifiable contour controls the Settings menu. The contours may be examined in cross-section
within the 3-D design model or superimposed on the top surface of the box that encloses (2D)
surface plots

Plot constant-valued or "iso" surfaces, analogous to contour lines, of the field being displayed,
following user-specifiable iso-surface controls in the Settings menu. The isosurfaces may be
examined in cross-section within the 3-D design model

Plot source-power, typically on instances in a design, i.e. the inputs to HeatWave. The power of
each source is indicated by its color in the canvas .

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 HeatWave GUI Overview

Toggles display of Power-sources across all layers; either sources on all layers, or none, are
displayed on the canvas .

Toggles display of the mask-layers in all thermal-layers. The mask geometry visibility form-
settings determine which layers are visible when the toggle is "on"

Toggles display of all mask-layers and materials within the current thermal-layer (set by the cur-
rent thermal-layer ) in the canvas . The mask geometry visibility form-settings further determine
which of these layers or materials are visible.

Toggles display of a viewing grid super-imposed on the data in the canvas .

Toggles display of the heat flux vector field, which is a combination of color for magnitude, and
arrows for direction.

Box zoom: after clicking this, specify a rectangle by left-clicking and dragging the cursor to a
second location in the canvas . The viewer will "zoom-in" to display data within the box region
you defined.

Box unzoom switches back to the last box zoom view, if available.

Fixed Zoom in: magnifies the view in the canvas by a fixed amount.

Fixed Zoom out: reduces the view in the canvas by a fixed amount.

Fit Display: displays the complete domain (in some cases, the "full chip") view in the canvas .

Iso View: switch to an isometric view of the 3D design object, in which the at least 3 faces of
the model will intially be visible. This is quite different from a "top view", where a single face is
visible, and the 3D object appears as a 2D plane.

Top View: switch to a top (flat) view of the 3D design object.

Mouse mode - Mouse Quantity Value: switch to mode where left-clicking anywhere on the design
object will show the value of the current display quantity

Mouse mode - Mouse Instance Properties: switch to mode where left-clicking on any instance in
the design object will show the value of the several properties for that instance, such as: name,
position, area, temperature, power, power-density, etc.

Mouse mode - Mouse Rotate Mode: switch to mode where 3d orientation of the design object is
controlled using by clicking and dragging the left-mouse key to rotate the object.

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 HeatWave GUI Overview

New window: brings up a new 3D "child" window of the main (3D) window.

Surface plot: brings up a new 2D "child" window that displays 2D or surface plots of design data
and thermal properties. This provides detailed views of data on a single plane.

1.4 Canvas or Graphics Region

The "canvas" or "graphics region" is the central area in the main window, where plots and figures are
drawn. Initially, it displays, a horizontal slice of the current design, and can be set to show various design
properties and views of the input data or computed results, through the menu options or the toolbar buttons.
Operations permitted in the canvas include:

• spot measurement of the displayed quantity at any point by right-clicking the cursor on the desired
point in the design object. Quantity values as well as 3D co-ordinates of the point are displayed in the
message bar at the bottom of the main window.

• Display a quantity’s differential value between any two points in the canvas, achieved by holding down
the Control key while right-clicking and dragging the cursor between the desired points. The values of
the displayed quantity between the two specified points, the respective 3D co-ordinates, distance and
quantity gradient are all displayed in the message bar at the bottom of the main window.

• Rotation of the design object, achieved by holding down the shift key and left mouse button, then
dragging the cursor across the screen.

• "box-zooming" into a selected region, by ctrl-left-mouse dragging the cursor across the region on the
screen to be zoomed in to.

1.5 Color Key

The color key for the current picture displayed in the canvas is shown in the leftmost pane of the main
window. The range, set via the Display:Key Range menu items, can be set to reflect the values

• across the entire design,

• across only the displayed layer,
• across only the window currently being viewed, or
• within a manually specified range. This allows significant customization of the quantitative display of
the data. See section Key Range for details.

1.6 Layer Slider

To the right of the canvas is a slider that controls the location of the top horizontal die-surface for which
layout, power or computed results are currently being displayed. The layer slider shows the names of the
"thermal layers" defined by your thermal technology file. The names are based on the physical layers or
"stack-up" in your chip, as described in the HeatWave Reference Manual.

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 HeatWave GUI Overview

Layer Slider Results color Key

Figure 5: Layer Slider and Color Key

The vertical distance from the bottom of the design object (typically the die), to the displayed plane, and
the name of the thermal layer that contains this plane are displayed at the top of the layer slider. The
vertical distance is in the user units of your OpenAccess layout database and is usually microns. Dragging
the slider, or equivalently, rolling the mouse scroll wheel, moves the displayed plane vertically through the
design. Entering a value in the channel text box moves the layer slider to the specified vertical distance
from the bottom of the design object. Clicking on the vertical arrows adjacent to the channel text box moves
the layer plane by one step in the specified direction. The length of the step is specified within Layer Slider
Settings, in the Settings menu.
Both the key and slider panes are dockable so that they may be detached from and re-attached to the main
window. This is done by double-clicking on the tear-away bars on the top of each pane.
The layer slider may appear in a scrollbar window if there are too many layers to display than will fit in the
existing height of the window.

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 HeatWave GUI Overview

1.7 Mini-Map

Below the color key is a context window displaying a mini-map (i.e. small window view) of the entire design
that is automatically displayed when a zoom operation is performed. The View Menu Mini-Map section
provides details.

1.8 X/Y Plane Sliders

Immediately below the canvas are the two sliders that control the location of the vertical cutting planes
through the design. By default the sliders are not shown, as the cutting planes are set to the edge of the
design object, allowing the entire object to be seen. These sliders can be toggled on by choosing the
appropriate menu item in the View menu. By moving the sliders through their range, vertical cutting planes
are applied to the model to allow easy inspection of display quantity variation through the thickness of the
design object.

1.9 Message Bar

At the lower edge of the main window is a horizontal region which is used to display help messages, as well
as measurements and attributes of the displayed data. The descriptions of several features will include any
relevant information displayed in the message bar.

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 GUI File Menu

2 GUI File Menu

This section describes the functionality within the File menu in the menu bar of the HeatWave GUI window.

Figure 6: File Menu Options

2.1 Save

This selection allows the the current heatwave session to be saved in a binary archive file with a gda
extension. Making this selection will pop up a file browser window that allows the specification of the
name and location of the archive file. This allows the restoration of the session at a future time by starting
heatwave with the -r command line option, followed by the name of the archive file. This is especially
useful in saving and restoring the results from detailed analyses of large designs that might require large
computation times.

2.2 Write

The Write selection allows thermal analysis results to be saved in user-specified files. Currently, the
following choices are available:

• geometry temperature: this writes the temperature of each layout shape in the design to the specified
file. This file can also be generated by using the -p command line option.
• source temperature: this writes the temperature of all the power sources in the design to the specified
file, in the working directory.

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 GUI File Menu

2.3 Close

This selection, if made from the primary window, closes all child windows and terminates the program. If
chosen from within any child window, it will close only that child window and return focus to the main window.

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 GUI Analyze Menu

3 GUI Analyze Menu

This menu offers several commands which invoke components of the thermal analysis flow, as described
below.

Figure 7: Analyze Menu Options

The following menu choices are only applicable to steady-state thermal simulation . If invoked on a database
from a transient simulation (see HeatWave Reference Manual), they will attempt to (re)-run a steady-state
simulation.

3.1 Incr. Run

This option discards all current results, loads the simulation model, and performs a new thermal analysis.

3.2 Incr. Power

Selecting this option will cause HeatWave to incrementally update power source values based on the current
temperature field, and if significant changes are observed, perform a thermal analysis to compute new
temperatures. More details on the thermal analysis and power update flows are available in the HeatWave
Reference Manual.

3.3 Incr. Conductivity

Selecting this option will cause HeatWave to incrementally update the thermal conductivity values of the
layers based on the current temperature field, and perform a thermal analysis to compute new temperatures.
Details on thermal conductivity variation are in the HeatWave Reference Manual.

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 GUI Display Menu

4 GUI Display Menu

4.1 Displaying Results

This section describes the extensive results displays and controls that are available in the HeatWave GUI,
for visualizing and examining both input design data as well as the thermal analysis results generated by
HeatWave, in the central graphics window.
Keep in mind that there are numerous types of results that vary continuously across the design object and
which may be displayed in HeatWave. These include Temperature, Temperature Gradient, and Heat Flux,
and are referred to in the text below and the HeatWave menus by the generic term "Display Quantity".
Since Heat Flux and Temperature Gradient are actually vectors, each cartesian component (X,Y,or Z) and
the vector magnitude are all available as display quantities. These results types are defined throughout the
entire design object and are visibile on all layers. Numerous display types are available for viewing these
kinds of results, including shaded displays and contour curves.
Conversely, the types of results which are associated only with discrete locations or shapes on the design
object, and are not defined outside those shapes, are referred to as "Instance Quantities", in both this
manual and the menu selections. Since these shapes might only extend through one layer, the results will
not be defined on other layers. If Instance Quantity results are being viewed on a layer through which the
instance doesn’t extend then nothing will be shown in that location. Only shaded displays are available for
instance quantity results.

Figure 8: Display menu options

4.2 Display Quantities

Several quantities, including views of the scalar and vector fields which constitute the inputs or outputs to
HeatWave, may be selected for display in the Display:Quantity menu of the main window. These include

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 GUI Display Menu

• Temperature
• X, Y or Z plane views of Heat Flux
• the Heat Flux magnitude or Z-plane Heat Flux magnitude
• X, Y or Z plane views of the Temperature Gradient

• magnitude of the Temperature Gradient.

A plane is defined by the direction of its normal vector, so a Z-plane has a constant Z, with X,Y varying.
Any display-type described below may be selected to display the display quantity in the main window.

4.3 Display Types

4.3.1 No Field Display

This option clears the graphics window of any display quantity. If mask geometry has been displayed that
will not be cleared from the graphics window.

4.3.2 Shaded Display

This is the default display in the graphics window when the GUI is first displayed. The display quantity is
color-coded, with the highest value regions shown in red, and the lowest value regions shown in blue. The
color key on the left hand side of the window shows the numerical value assigned to each color.

4.3.3 Contour Curves Display

This option provides an alternative to showing shaded quantity plots by overlaying curves of constant value
on the design, as in the figure "Contour plot". The color of each curve corresponds to the value of the
display quantity, as shown in the key. The number of contour lines can be set in the Settings menu button
described in more detail in the Settings section of this document.

4.3.4 Iso-Surfaces Display

This selection enables the viewing of isosurfaces in 3D within the design object, as in the figure "3D window
with Isosurfaces displayed". This view of the design is invaluable in the easy detection of hotspots at any
location within the design object volume, using an "onion-layer" approach.
The number of iso-surfaces can be controlled by entering a value in the "Num Iso-Surfaces" box in the
docked control window that is displayed by default at the bottom of the window. Sliders are also present in
this docked window to control the values represented by the min and max iso-surfaces.

4.4 Instance Quantity

The following instance quantities are available for display.

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 GUI Display Menu

Figure 9: Contour plot

4.4.1 Temperature

This option colors each power source on the current plane based on its temperature as computed by Heat-
Wave in the course of the thermal analysis flow.

4.4.2 Power

This option colors each power source on the current plane based on the power consumption as specified
in the input pval file, or as computed by HeatWave in the course of the thermal analysis flow.

4.4.3 Power Density

This option colors each power source on the current plane based on its power density, calculated as the
power consumption per unit area of the source. The figure "Power Density Display" shows an example
display of the power density for a design.

4.4.4 Display Heat Flux/Temp Gradient Vectors

Using "vector display", scaled arrows can be shown on an array of points on each cutting plane throughout
the design object, to indicate magnitude and direction of the Heat Flux or Temperature Gradient vectors.
Sliding the cutting planes (using the X and Y Plane sliders at the bottom of the main window) through the
design object shows how the vectors change with location of each cutting plane as in the figure "3D Vector
Display".
A vector display can be "overlaid" on top of the shaded or contour curve display of any other display quan-
tity. For example, 3D heat flux vectors can be displayed on cutting planes which are colored according to

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 GUI Display Menu

Figure 10: 3D window with Isosurfaces displayed

temperature, allowing the correlation between heat flux and temperature to be seen in large regions of the
object simultaneously. Selecting "Display Heat Flux Vectors" from the display menu, or choosing the corre-
sponding icon in the tool bar will cause the cuting planes to become visible with an array of vector arrows
drawn on each cutting plane. Similarly, the arrows representing Temperature Gradient can be displayed by
selecting "Display Temp Gradient Vectors" from the Display menu.
Vectors can be displayed on one or two orthogonal planes, with customizable spacing between arrows and
a variety of scaling options, explained in the Settings Menu.
Note that vector display is not enabled when iso-surfaces are the chosen display type.

4.5 Key Range

This set of options select the range used to determine the colors of the display in the graphics window, as
described below:

• Key Range: All will select the maximum and minimum values of the displayed quantity over the
entire design object as the values to use for the red and violet colors, respectively. This enables
visualization of results in the display plane in the context of the entire design object. This is the default
Key Range selection.
• Key Range: Slice will select the maximum and minimum values of the displayed quantity in the
plane currently being displayed in the graphics window. This enables visualization of the results in the
current plane relative to the min and max in that plane.
• Key Range: Window will select the maximum and minimum values of the displayed quantity in the
area currently displayed in the graphics window. This is useful in emphasizing very local variations in
displayed results.

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 GUI Display Menu

Figure 11: Power Density Display

• Key Range: Manual will allow manual specification of the maximum and minimum values corre-
sponding to red and violet coloring. Once this option is selected, the min and max values are entered
in a form which pops up. Choosing "Set Manual Key Range" from the display menu allows the min
and max values to be changed if the Range setting is already set to Manual.

4.6 Layer Thickness

• True Layer Thickness: this shows the design object with true layer thicknesses as specified in the
gdatech.ini file. The thickness of the design object is still scaled, but the relative locations and
heights of the various layers through the thickness is accurate.
• Layers Equal in Z: this shows the design object with the vertical height equally distributed among all
thermal layers. This exaggerates the height of relatively thin layers in the design, and allows for better
examination of the data on those layers. True Layer Thickness and Layers equal in Z are mutually
exclusive selections.

4.7 Power Source Names

This option toggles on and off the display of the name of each power source displayed in the graphics
window. To maintain legibility, names of sources are displayed only if they are large enough with respect to
the current zoom factor of the graphics window to minimize overlaps of letters.

4.8 All Power Sources

This option toggles the display of all power sources, on all layers, in the design. Each power source is
displayed as a rectangle that extends over the bounding box of the source, as specified in the input ptab
file.

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 GUI Display Menu

Figure 12: 3D Vector Display

4.9 Layer Power Sources

This option toggles the display of power sources that exist on the current layer being displayed in the
graphics window. This display is updated as the layer slider is moved to different layers in the design.

4.10 Mask Geometry Visibility

Displaying layout objects in the design is in most cases computationally expensive due to the large amount
of data present. For better visualization, the HeatWave GUI provides options to control the visibility of
objects on each thermal layer, as well as the display of all visibility-enabled objects.
Selecting All Mask Geometry will pop up the Mask Visibility dialog that displays all layers in the design, as
specified in the input gdatech.ini file, and associated checkboxes to switch on or off the visibility of objects
on that layer.The masks will be shown on the top cutting plane no matter where the layer slider is placed.
Selecting Layer Mask Geometry will pop up the Mask Visibility dialog that displays layer masks or mate-
rials present on the current thermal layer. If Layer Mask Geometry is selected, the Mask Visibility dialog
has two modes

• Layer Mask display Mode

• Materials display Mode

In the Layer mask display mode, each layer mask has an associated checkbox to toggle the visibility of
objects on that layer. Similarly, in the Materials display mode, each material has an associated checkbox to
toggle the visibility of objects made of the material on the given thermal layer.
In both modes, there is a "Select All" checkbox to select all layer masks/materials. The display of Layer

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 GUI Display Menu

Masks and Materials can be switched using Radio buttons provided on the dialog. Layer Masks or materials
are shown on the 3D design object when the layer slider is placed in a layer on which they are defined. The
figure "Temperature results with Layer’s Mask Geometry displayed" shows an example model with Layer’s
Material Geometry turned on.

Figure 13: Temperature results with Layer’s Mask Geometry displayed

Since display of many layers of geometry for which there might be millions of shapes can be computationally
intensive, it is recommended that layer geometry be gradually turned on (as opposed to using the "Select
All" button or selecting the "Display/All Mask Geometry" menu item) in order to determine the amount of
time necessary per layer.
If layers display promptly then it is probably safe to display all layers at once. Zooming in on a smaller
region of the model before enabling visibility of Mask Layer Geometry also reduces the image display
computational load, and is highly recommended for large models.
The figure "Temperature results with All Mask Geometry displayed" shows an example model with All Mask
Geometry turned on.

4.11 Grid

This option toggles the display of the grid in the graphics window. It dynamically adds grid points as the
model is zoomed in, to avoid cluttering up the display.

4.12 Transient Movie

If the transient solver is enabled, and the results of a transient thermal simulation are loaded, selecting
"Transient movie" within the "Display" pulldown displays a dynamic plot of the temperature in 2D (if in a
surface plot window) or 3D (if in a 3D window) as a movie.
The figure "Transient Movie Player" shows the detailed user-interface for the movie player.

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 GUI Display Menu

Figure 14: Temperature results with All Mask Geometry displayed

The player toolbar (highlighted in blue), is automatically made visible when the transient movie is first played.
Alternately, it can also be enabled from the toolbar context menu.
To the left on the toolbar is a composite play/pause button which controls the playback. To its right is
the slider-time entry box, which displays as well allows you to modify the current slider-time. Also, when
the player is paused, you can modify the current slider-time either from the time-entry box or by manually
changing the slider position forward/backward. Playback will resume from the current slider position. The
time-entry box and the slider are always synced with each other.
Note: Since updating the movie player frame content is computationally intensive, the frame is not updated
as you move the slider. You can update the frame for the current slider-time using the update snapshot
button, located between the time-entry box and the slider.
Hovering over the toolbar items will also give you quick tool-tips on using the toolbar. Also review the
different configuration options for the transient movie player.

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 GUI Display Menu

Figure 15: Transient Movie Player

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 GUI View Menu

5 GUI View Menu

This menu offers several common options for manipulating the current view in the graphics window. Some
of the options are also provided as toolbar buttons under the menu bar. Options (shown in the screen shot
below) include:

Figure 16: View menu options

• "Select Mode" controls - specify what you may do (or get) after you select a design object in the main
window. Choices are "Quantity value", "Instance Properties", and "Rotate Model".
• Zoom controls - to zoom in or out on certain areas of the design object being viewed. Box zoom allows
the zoom amount to be determined by selecting a rectangle in the graphics area. Box unzoom reverts
back to the view immediately prior to using box zoom.

• Standard views - reorient the design object in the graphics window to provide top, bottom, left, right,
back, front, or isometric view.
• Pan controls - to translate the object right, left, up, or down in the graphics window.
• Rotate controls - to rotate the object in the graphics window.

• Layer Slider Controls - to move the layer slider up or down either by small increments or a layer at a
time.
• Clipping Plane Controls - allow clipping planes to be slid through the model by discrete steps in order
to provide a view of the interior of the design object. The X/Y Plane sliders at the bottom of the main
window also allow dragging of the cutting planes through the design object, in the X and Y directions,
respectively.

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 GUI View Menu

5.1 Mini-map

This option toggles the display of the mini-map on the left of the Main Window, to show the approximate
position and size of the current viewport in the context of the entire design (in X-Y). This window is active
when the Top View of the design is used in the Main Window. Typing the keyboard shortcut M (without
Shift) or box-zooming into a region in the Main Window will automatically display the mini-map window,
unless it has been manually turned off from the View pulldown menu.
The highlighted purple rectangle may be dragged around using the left mouse-key, or moved using the
arrow keys on the keyboard, to change the zoomed-in location in the Main Window. The purple rectangle in
the mini-map is an approximate indicator of the region displayed in the Main Window, but moving the purple
rectangle accurately modifies the view within the Main Window.
The Fixed Zoom-in button (shortcut Ctrl+Z) or Fixed Zoom-out button (shortcut Shift+Z) in this window may
be used to control the zoom factor in the Main Window (such zoom control from the mini-map window is
disabled if the Transient Movie Slider is visible).
If the mini-map is turned off using the View menu, it will not reappear unless it is re-enabled in the View
menu, even if a box-zoom is performed.

5.2 XY Axes Slider

This option toggles the display of the X/Y Plane Slider at the bottom of the Main Window. The slider value
display box shows the current slider position. Entering value in the display box moves the corresponding
clipping plane to the specified position-value. The display box value and the slider position are always
mutually consistent. Clicking on the vertical arrows adjacent to the box displaying an X or Y slider value
moves the associated clipping plane by one step, to larger or smaller position. The length of the step is
specified within "Axes Slider Settings", in the Settings menu.

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 GUI Query Menu

6 GUI Query Menu

This section describes the functionality contained under the Query menu in the main menu bar of the
heatwave GUI window.

Figure 17: Query menu options

6.1 Histogram

This option allows the plotting of the histogram of a number of design quantities, if available, including:

• temperature (of all instances in the design object)

• power
• power density

The histogram is shown in a separate child window that is opened when any of these menu selections is
chosen. Right-mouse selecting on the histogram window will show a pop-up "settings" item, which causes
a Histogram settings dataform to be shown. Settings available for modification include:

• Number of bins
• Number of colors
• number of x and y axis tickmarks

• Lower and Upper limits

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 GUI Query Menu

Figure 18: Histogram display

6.2 Power Source Query

This option allows fast search and filtering of power sources based on their properties. Selecting this menu
item will open a query window, as shown below, that allows the selection of filter criteria, name filters, the
number of sources to display, etc. Setting the correct fields and hitting Ok or Apply will display a list of
power sources satisfying the specified criteria.
The "Power Source Query Results" window allows selection of any listed sources and subsequent display
highlighting in the main window. Other basic operations such as zoom, clear, save, and print are also
provided. Items in the list can be sorted by clicking on the column header of the desired sort field.
To highlight multiple power sources in the main window, simply select them in the query results list, then
click the flashlight icon in the upper left corner of the query results window. To select multiple items, use
the ctrl or shift keys for multi-select. A similar process can be followed to zoom into the area containing
a power source, or multiple power sources, except in this case choose the "zoom in" button on the query
results form. The view in the main window will be zoomed to include all selected items in the list, which will
also appear highlighted. To clear highlighting of all highlighted power sources, click the eraser button on the
results tool bar.

6.3 Design Browser

This feature allows browsing of the design. When Query->Design Browser is selected a hierarchical design
browsing window will appear, allowing selection of design objects, such as nets and power sources. If an
object is expanded, the properties and results from the thermal analysis are shown, including area, power,
and temperature, among others. Zooming in on and highlighting of objects in the list is available, in a similar
manner to power source queries explained previously.

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 GUI Query Menu

Figure 19: Power Source Query

Figure 20: Power Source Query results

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 GUI Query Menu

Figure 21: Design Query Window

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 GUI Settings Menu

7 GUI Settings Menu

This menu contains options to customize the look and feel of the heatwave GUI. Customizations are
provided for:

Figure 22: Settings menu options

• Vector settings: Selecting "Vector Settings" from the Settings menu allows the vector display to be
customized. The number of intervals for vector display in the X, Y, and Z directions can be entered in
the correspoinding fields of the Vector Settings form. Selection of the cutting planes on which vectors
should be displayed is also made on this form. In addition, the method used to scale the arrows can
be set.
– "Constant" scaling means all arrows will be the same length on screen.
– "Linear" scaling means all arrows are proportionally sized, according to the relative values of the
display quantity at the origin of the arrow. The maximum arrow length is chosen such that arrow
overlap does not occur if the head of one arrow is pointing at the tail of an immediately adjacent
arrow.
– If "Logarithmic" scaling is chosen, the proportional scaling is reduced to emphasize the vectors
which might appear very small in linear scaling.

• Contour settings, including number of contour lines when displaying contour plots.

• Movie Player Settings: Four settings are available for Movie Player (applied globally to all open Heat-
Wave views).
– "Slider-steps count" allows you to set the count of slider-steps.
– "Slider-time increment (%)" allows you to specify slider-time increment in percentage of the total
slider-time.

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 GUI Settings Menu

– "Slider-time increment (s)" allows you to specify slider-time increment in absolute seconds unit.
– "Display only simulated time-points" (default) displays snapshots from transient simulation only.
The other three options are different from the default. They display an interpolated snapshot at
the user-specified/calculated slider-time.

• Layer scroll wheel percentage: this determines how many steps of the mouse roller are required to
traverse the height of a thermal layer.

• Font size and family of all text in the GUI.

• Power Display Threshold: only power values above htis threshold will be displayed

• Name Display Threshold: a power source name is displayed only if the source’s size (as a fraction of
the display window size) exceeds the specified threshold

• Axes Slider Settings: Four settings are available for Axes Slider (applied globally to all open HeatWave
views).
– "Slider-steps count" allows you to set the count of slider-steps.
– "Slider increment (%)" allows you to specify slider increment in percentage of the total slider
length.
– "Slider increment (um)" allows you to specify slider increment in absolute micrometer unit.
– "Use default slider steps" (default) keeps the default slider step count as 100.

• Layer scroll wheel percentage: this determines how many steps of the mouse roller are required to
traverse the height of a thermal layer.

• Font size and family of all text in the GUI.

• Power Display Threshold: only power values above htis threshold will be displayed

• Name Display Threshold: a power source name is displayed only if the source’s size (as a fraction of
the display window size) exceeds the specified threshold

• Layer Slider Settings: Three settings are available for the Layer Slider. They are applied globally to all
open Heat-Wave windows.

– "Slider-steps count" sets the slider step-count from the bottom to the top of the design object.
– "Slider increment (%)" sets the slider increment as a percentage of the full slider length. This is
the default option with a value of 1 (percent).
– "Slider increment (um)" sets the slider increment in OpenAccess user units (usually microns).

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 GUI Window Menu

8 GUI Window Menu

This menu can be used to open additional display windows and also surface plots of data on the plane
displayed in the canvas.

• Selecting the "New Window" menu item will cause a new 3D display window to appear. This window
operates entirely the same as the main window, but can display different quantities with different
viewpoints, scaling, etc. The layer slider in each "child" window can be tied to the parent window from
which it was spawned by using the "tie sliders" check box at the bottom of the layer slider in the child
window.

• Selecting the "Suface Plot" menu item will cause a new, 3D surface plot display window to appear,
with temperature set as the default display quantity. Additional information on using the controls and
menus in the Surface plot windows is provided in a subsequent chapter on Surface Plot Window.

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 GUI 3D view in Main Window

9 GUI 3D view in Main Window

When the heatwave GUI is invoked, a window capable of displaying 3-D views of the design data and
computed results is created and displayed. The display is initialized to provide a top view, of the die-plane
exposed by the layer slider. While this view appears flat,it is actually one surface of the die.
A more three dimensional perspective is obtained by using the Isometric View, as in the figure below.

Figure 23: 3D Window

The entire 3D design object is displayed in the canvas section of the window, colored by display quantity
across all surfaces. The default display quantity is temperature, but other display quantities may also be
selected once the window is open, using the Display menu.
Left-clicking while the shift key is held down and dragging the cursor in the canvas rotates the object to
allow a view from other angles. If "Layers Equal in Z" is set in the "Display" pulldown, each layer has equal
apparent height, to better see visualize thin layers. You may also choose the "True Layer Thickness" in
"Display".
Cross-sections of the 3D object are viewed by moving the layer slider on the right, and the X-Plane and
Y-plane sliders at the bottom of the window. The layer slider may be synchronized with the slider in the 2D
window by clicking on the tie sliders option.

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 Surface Plot Window

10 Surface Plot Window

The Surface Plot window displays the variation of a display quantity, across the current xy plane slice, as a
surface plot. The height and color of the surface indicate the magnitude of the quantity in the xy plane. The

Figure 24: Surface Plot Window

window has similar menus and controls to those present in the Main Window.
The Surface Plot window of the HeatWave GUI is shown above. The window may be opened by either
selecting the Surface Plot icon from the HeatWave main window icon bar, or by selecting "Surface Plot"
from the Window menu in the main HeatWave window.
Adjusting the layer slider in the Surface Plot window plots the displayed quantity (temperature, power or
heat-flux) in a plane at the height and layer indicated by the slider. The plot is scaled so the maximum value
is inside the displayed bounding box. A surface plot may be further examined with the use of X and Y plane
sliders
The bottom plane of the bounding box is always shown shaded in the same manner as is shown in the main
window’s Shaded Display.
Controls available in the Display and View menus are described in subsequent sections.

10.1 Surface Plot Display Menu

The Surface Plot window Display menu has substantially the same options as those available in the main
window display menu.

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 Surface Plot Window

If an instance quantity is selected for display, the value of the quantity for each instance is shown by both
the color and height of the "tower" above each instance in the graphics window. Note that the layer slider
must be placed in a layer containing instances for the surface plot to have any variation.

Figure 25: Surface Plot Window showing instance power density.

Using the "Contour Top Plane" and "Shade Top Plane" toggles in the Display menu, the top plane of the
bounding box of the surface plot can be displayed either as:

• transparent (if no toggles are selected).

• contoured, like the Contour Curves Display in the main window.
• shaded like the bottom of the bounding box, but translucent instead of opaque.

Display Menu selections for controlling the color key range and the power source display are the same as
in the main window.

10.2 Surface Plot View Menu

The Surface Plot window View Menu offers similar controls to those available in the main window. The X
and Y plane sliders at the bottom of the window may be adjusted to "cut through" the plot, removing some
portions from view. This can reveal views of the Surface Plot which would otherwise be obscured.

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 GUI Keyboard Shortcuts

11 GUI Keyboard Shortcuts

The following keyboard shortcuts are for the Main or 3D Window.

Key Up Pan the display up.
Key Up Pan the display up.
Key Down Pan the display down.
Key Left Pan the display to the left.
Key Right Pan the display to the right.
Ctrl+Z Zoom in.
Shift+Z Zoom out.
CTRL+Key Up Move layer slider up.
CTRL+Key Down Move layer slider down.
F Fit the display.
P Toggle color coded display of power at the current thermal layer.
Alt+P Toggle color display of power density at the current thermal layer.
Shift+P Toggle display of power sources.
Ctrl+Shift+P Toggle display of current thermal layer’s power sources.
Ctrl+N Display a new 3D window, only to view data.
Ctrl+Q Close the 3D window
Shift+M Display temperatures from saved archives.
Shift+I Change display to isometric view.
Shift+T Change display to top view.
Shift+B Change display to bottom view.
Shift+L Change display to left view.
Shift+R Change display to right view.
Shift+F Change display to front view.
Shift+K Change display to back view.
C Draw contour lines on the top plane of the plot.
Shift+A Key based on all the values in the design.
A Key based on all the values in the slice plane.
Ctrl+A Key based on manual setting of min and max.
Ctrl+Shift+A Set the key range for the current quantity type.
Shift+M Display temperatures from saved archives.
SHIFT+Key Right Rotate the display to the right.
SHIFT+Key Left Rotate the display to the left.
SHIFT+Key Up Rotate the display up.
SHIFT+Key Down Rotate the display down.
CTRL+SHIFT+Key Up Move layer slider to the next layer up.
CTRL+SHIFT+Key Down Move layer slider to the next layer down.
ALT+Key Up Move the Y clipping plane in.
ALT+Key Down Move the XZ clipping plane out.
ALT+Key Left Move the YZ clipping plane in.
ALT+Key Right Move the YZ clipping plane out.

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 GUI Keyboard Shortcuts

The following keyboard shortcuts are for the Surface Plot Window.
Key Down Pan the display down.
Key Left Pan the display to the left.
Key Right Pan the display to the right.
Z Zoom into a selected rectangle (or CTRL+Left Mouse).
Alt+Z Restore view prior to previous box zoom.
Ctrl+Z Zoom in a fixed amount.
Shift+Z Zoom out a fixed amount.
CTRL+Key Up Move layer slider up.
CTRL+Key Down Move layer slider down.
F Fit the display.
N Turn off any display of any quantity.
T Toggle coarse shaded display of current quantity.
S Toggle display of shading of current quantity.
C Toggle display of contours of current quantity.
G Toggle display of mask geometry on all thermal layers.
Shift+G Toggle display of current thermal layer’s mask geometry.
P Toggle color coded display of power at the current thermal layer.
Shift+N Toggle display of powersource names.
Alt+P Toggle color display of power density at the current thermal layer.
Shift+P Toggle display of power sources.
Ctrl+Shift+P Toggle display of current thermal layer’s power sources.
Ctrl+G Toggle display of the grid.
M Create a mini map of the design window.
Ctrl+Shift+R Refine mesh and solve
Ctrl+Shift+I Update power and solve on the same mesh
Shift+A Key based on all the values in the design.
A Key based on all the values in the slice plane.
Alt+A Key based on just the values seen in the window.
Ctrl+A Key based on manual setting of min and max.
Ctrl+Shift+A Set the key range for the current quantity type.
3 Full 3D display of design.
2 Plot of a quantity with height as a function of the value.
Q Create a list of power sources by querying power source attributes.
B Browse the power sources and nets of the design.
CTRL+T View and edit tech description.
Ctrl+N Display a new window. This window only provides view options.
Ctrl+S Save the design (into a .gda file).
Ctrl+P Print the graphics window.
Ctrl+Q Close the window
Ctrl+L Load a different existing design.
Ctrl+- Decrease font size
Ctrl++ Increase font size
CTRL+SHIFT+Key Up Move layer slider to the next layer up.
CTRL+SHIFT+Key Down Move layer slider to the next layer down.

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