The Polar Si9000 (specifically Si9000e) is a boundary element method (BEM) field solver from Polar Instruments, designed for fast, accurate frequency-dependent modeling of PCB transmission lines. It excels in calculating controlled impedance, insertion loss, RLGC parameters, and S-parameters for high-speed designs, supporting over 100 structures including microstrips, striplines, coplanar waveguides, and differential pairs. Si9000e is essential for signal integrity analysis in multilayer PCBs, helping engineers predict and mitigate issues like signal attenuation and reflections in applications such as 5G, RF, and high-frequency digital circuits.

It integrates seamlessly with Polar’s ecosystem, including Speedstack Si for stackup design and CGen for impedance coupon generation, allowing data import/export for end-to-end workflows. The tool runs on Windows, offers graphing for impedance magnitude, losses, inductance, capacitance, and skin depth over frequency ranges, and supports solder mask effects and extended substrate data for refined calculations.

Si9000 v25.01 Specifics

Released in early 2025 as part of Polar’s v25 suite (aligning with Speedstack v25.01 from January 2025), Si9000 v25.01 focuses on enhanced precision and usability for lossy transmission line modeling. This update builds on v22.03 (2022) and v24 features like improved L/C per unit length reporting. Key enhancements include:

  • Advanced Roughness and Loss Modeling: Gradient methods for copper surface roughness, enabling more accurate insertion loss predictions at high frequencies (e.g., up to 100 GHz). This includes refined Cannonball-Huray models for conductor loss.
  • Frequency-Dependent Refinements: Expanded support for mixed dielectric layers with frequency-variable permittivity (Dk/Df), improving RLGC extraction and S-parameter accuracy for complex builds like rigid-flex PCBs.
  • Integration and Workflow Improvements: Deeper linkage with Speedstack v25 for direct project import/export, including Delta-L 4.0 coupon structures for insertion loss testing. Added Excel interface options for lossless mode data export.
  • Usability Upgrades: User-selectable graphing parameters, batch processing for multiple structures, and enhanced goal-seeking for target impedance optimization. Supports hatch fill configurations (e.g., pitch and width) for power planes.
  • Standards Compliance: Better alignment with IPC-2141 and high-speed laminate libraries from Polar’s Material Partners.