Patent ID: 7793236
Filing Date: 2010-09-07
Classification: G06F,H05K

Abstract:
1. A system for enabling design or simulation of at least a portion of a substrate device, the system comprising: a data store that maintains data that references a first entry representing a first type of voltage switchable dielectric (VSD) material with one or more properties of the first VSD material, the one or more properties of the first VSD material including a value representing a characteristic voltage per designated length, the characteristic voltage per designated length corresponding to a known or designated voltage level value that, when applied across a designated length of the first VSD material, causes the first VSD material to switch from a dielectric state into a conductive state; a configuration module that determines, from one or more interactions with a designer of the system, (i) one or more dimensional parameters that are based on one or more spatial constraints of the portion or of the substrate, and (ii) a voltage level that is tolerable by one or more electrical components that are to be protected in the portion of the substrate device; wherein the configuration module determines a gap separation that (i) is to be provided by a layer of the first VSD material on at least the portion of the substrate, and (ii) is to separate at least one electrical component from a protective electrical path on the substrate for transient events, wherein the configuration module determines the gap separation based at least in part on determining (i) a threshold voltage level that will likely cause the first VSD material to switch into the conductive state (ii) based on the characteristic voltage per designated length and a size of the gap separation, wherein the threshold voltage level is less than the tolerable voltage level of the one or more electrical components; and an optimization component that optimizes a configuration, dimension, or type of the first VSD material based on one or more optimization criteria.