Bridging the Frontier 
Bob Smith, Executive Director
Bob Smith is Executive Director of the ESD Alliance responsible for its management and operations. Previously, Bob was senior vice president of Marketing and Business Development at Uniquify, responsible for brand development, positioning, strategy and business development activities. Bob began his … More » CEMWorks –– The Right Place at the Right Time Solving Real-World ProblemsJune 9th, 2020 by Bob Smith, Executive Director
 Jon Aronsson, CEMWorks Founder and CEO First, a look at CEMWorks. The nine-year-old company develops and supplies innovative electromagnetic simulation tools. Its fast, accurate and customizable electromagnetic simulation solutions are required to deliver more compact, robust, efficient and cost-effective products and applications. Sure, our industry supports and understands microwave and millimeter wave technologies. As we move into Smart Cities, ADAs (advanced driver assistance systems), 5G and other high-frequency, highly connected applications including wireless communications subsystems, the need for a new generation of electromagnetic simulation tools is acute.  Cielo Gerrie, CEMWorks Vice President of Business Development Back to my talk with Jon and Cielo. In their view, EDA solutions need to face the future as well. Our community of chip designers is moving rapidly from being chip centric to system centric. Yes, chips are being designed as components in a sub-system that may include leading-edge packaging, interconnects and often antennas. CEMWorks intends to provide tools for accurately modeling and predicting the performance of these complex subsystems to ensure they can be manufactured. This is further evidence of the perspective held by the ESD Alliance and SEMI as we work to bring design and manufacturing closer together. According to Jon, accurate modeling is much more than just design rules, a standard product from the EDA playbook, with more algorithms based on physics and a huge scientific project, he admits. That’s why, after 10 years, CEMWorks still considers itself to be a startup. Yes, it can take 10 years to fully develop the technology and CEMWorks now is seeing interesting results to problems other companies can’t solve.
Target applications are big markets with challenging, complicated problems. Algorithms can predict electromagnetic physics, such the relationship between a smart car and a light pole outfitted with sensors and wireless links, for example. Another example is the 5G market. It is exploding, along with its daunting technical challenges. 5G designs include the antenna that needs to be integrated with the package, a huge challenge. CEMWorks applies its technology to solve smart city and 5G communications challenges like these. The difference between current EDA applications and the CEMWorks approach is the difference between smaller, constrained simulations such as a simple antenna array and huge, complex system simulation challenges. Consider trying to accurately simulate electromagnetic effects of multiple chips, interconnect, packaging and embedded antennas and the challenge is much larger. CEMWorks’ electromagnetic simulations are designed for this scale of problem, a fast-growing opportunity since it’s a large problem. The many antennas coming in automotive electronics requires electromagnetic simulation throughout the value chain, from chip providers and component manufacturers to OEMs, or the whole ecosystem, as Cielo notes. CEMWorks tools can be customized for new complex, high-performance technologies including a car’s complex electronic circuity. Its tools can help determine where to place a cable to avoid electromagnetic interference. Small-scale offerings are available from CEMWorks for EDA modeling and packaging since there continues to be a disconnect between chips and how they get packaged. Jon describes antenna in package exacerbates the problem when performance needs to be maximized and electromagnetic interference becomes critical, as electromagnetic energy is right next to the package. CEMWorks is funded by a combination of bootstrapping through consulting projects and funding by the Canadian government with the equivalent of Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grants offered by the U.S. government. Funding enabled CEMWorks to develop the 5G Smart City model that confirms antenna links will behave as designed to improve coverage. Prior to CEMWorks, Jon worked in computation science for a supercomputer center doing large-scale simulation. His PhD degree is in Electrical Engineering with a focus on modeling electronics. Others in the CEMWorks engineering group have backgrounds in computational physics, EDA and the more theoretical side of the business. Cielo comes from the healthcare industry. As we close our conversation, I ask Jon and Cielo about the effects of COVID-19. Like most companies, CEMWorks has a work-from-home policy, they explain, and acknowledge the pandemic’s impact as projects get temporarily scaled back or put on hold. They are nonetheless optimistic. As Cielo remarks, “The work-from-home scenario is accelerating the need for 5G. That means more electronics are needed in 5G to increase faster, more reliable connections. Designers of 5G networks are putting their foot on the gas because they don’t want to be left behind.” “We are focused on science and working to solve real problems,” concludes Jon. Ten years in the making, CEMWorks finds itself in the right place at the right time solving real-world problems. To learn more, visit the CEMWorks website. Please contact me with your comments. I can be reached at bsmith@semi.org. Engage with the ESD Alliance at: Website: www.esd-alliance.org ESD Alliance Bridging the Frontier blog: http://bit.ly/2oJUVzl Twitter: @ESDAlliance |
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