New Features

Shared Features

Updated OS support

Support for Windows 10, Mac OS X 10.11 (El Capitan) and RedHat Enterprise Linux 7 has been added in the 2016a release.

Support for Microsoft MPI

On Windows computers, Microsoft MPI is now the default version of MPI used for running simulations. The previous version of MPI (MPICH2) is still available, and recommended for running jobs on remote computers.

Node locked licenses

In addition to the floating license model traditionally provided by Lumerical, node locked licenses are now available. Node locked licenses are recommended for users that only run Lumerical’s software on a single computer. They tend to be easier to install and more robust when running on laptops. Node locked licenses are typically secured with a software lock, but USB hardware key based locks are also available. The traditional floating license is recommended for customers wanting to run Lumerical’s software on many different computers, such as in office or cluster environments.

Unicode characters in file and directory

Unicode characters 1 are now supported in file and directory names.

Plotting in Matlab

A feature to support direct plotting in Matlab by clicking a PLOT IN MATLAB 1 button in Lumerical’s GUI. This feature is currently only available for 1D line plot.

New script commands
besseli 3, besselj 3, besselk, bessely, chebin, chpts, corrcoef, corrtransf, cov, dcht, encryptscript,getfdtdsurfaceconductivity, getsurfaceconductivity, icht, lower, sroughness, toscript, upper

FDTD Solutions 8.15

Broadband Fixed Angle Source Technique (BFAST)

The Broadband Fixed Angle Source Technique 1 is based on the split-field FDTD method. It is a modified FDTD algorithm that makes it possible to inject plane wave sources onto periodic structures with a constant angle, that does not change with frequency, over any bandwidth.

Multifrequency beam calculation

The multifrequency beam calculation makes it possible to correctly inject beams with a constant angle, that does not change with frequency, over any bandwidth. In addition, beams with profiles that change rapidly with frequency, such as diffraction-limited high NA spots, can be correctly injected over any bandwidth. The “multi-frequency beam calculation” can now be enabled on the “Beam options” tab of the Gaussian source settings.

Spatial varying grid attributes

• The permittivity rotation and matrix transform grid attributes now support importing spatially-varying data from the script workspace, or from Matlab files containing the datasets using the addgridattribute or importdataset script commands. Data can also be imported from Matlab files from the GUI using the grid attribute object’s edit window. See Matrix transformation, and Permittivity rotation for examples.

• Spatially-varying Liquid Crystal orientation data can now also be added using the new Import from CSV tool from the Import menu in the main toolbar, or by using the importcsvlc script command. The file format which is imported is typically created with TechWiz LCD from Sanayi System Co., Ltd. (http://sanayisystem.com/). See Import object - Liquid crystal from CSV for details on using this new import option.

New script commands
importcsvlc, simulationdiverged

FDTD Solutions 8.15 and MODE Solutions 7.7

Index perturbation - Temperature

The new Index Perturbation material type allows users to create materials that are sensitive to changes temperature, as well as charge density.The temperature is specified globally for the simulation, and spatially varying temperature profiles can also be imported from the HEAT solver. Spatially varying charge densities can also be imported from the CHARGE solver and optionally combined with thermal effects.

DEVICE Design Environment (DEVICE 5.0)

• The DEVICE design environment has changed to support multiple physical solvers within the same project. Monitors, sources, mesh constraints, and doping objects are now associated directly with the solver in the model tree and will appear under the solver. The associated solver must be present in the design environment before those objects can be added.

• The material database has been extended to include the thermal and conductive properties of materials. A new class of material (thermal fluid) has been introduced for heat transport simulations. The definition of physical behavior at interfaces between two adjacent materials is now accessed through the “Interfaces” button in the menu bar.

• The existing Electrical Contacts table has been renamed “Boundary Conditions.” Existing electrical contacts will appear in the Boundary Conditions table. Boundary conditions can now be associated with the surface of a solid (as in previous versions), a surface of the simulation region, or the intersection of the surface of a simulation region and a solid. The latter two options only apply to heat transport simulations.

• These changes make it possible to perform charge and heat transport simulations from a single design environment.

Charge Transport Solver (DEVICE 5.0)

The charge transport solver in DEVICE is now called CHARGE. The CHARGE solver will contain all monitors, sources (generation rates), doping profiles, and mesh constraints related to the charge transport simulation. Existing electrical contacts will appear in the Boundary Conditions with the type “electrical contact”. Import doping and optical generation rate objects have been updated to support the selection of arbitrary parameterized attributes as sources from rectilinear or unstructured (finite element) datasets.

Script Updates Required

Changes to the design environment have necessitated modifications certain script commands. These are summarized below:

• addcontact, setcontact, getcontact: These commands are deprecated but continue to function as before. Please refer to addbc, setbc, andgetbc as replacements.

• run, mesh: When only one solver is present (e.g. CHARGE), these commands function as before and no action is required. When multiple solvers are present (e.g. CHARGE and HEAT), the solver must be specified with an argument (“CHARGE” or “HEAT”).

• addmesh, adddevice: These commands have been replaced with addheatmesh and addchargemesh (replacing addmesh) and addheatsolver andaddchargesolver (replacing adddevice).

• Setting and getting object properties: all monitors, sources, doping objects, and mesh constraints are now contained within the scope of the associated solver. To select or set/get the properties of a named object, the object’s scope must include the solver, e.g.

  • setnamed(“CHARGE::monitor”,”x”,1e-6);
    replaces
    setnamed(“monitor”,”x”,1e-6);

Heat Transport solver (DEVICE 5.0)

DEVICE now includes a new Heat Transport Solver called HEAT.
Features of HEAT include:

• Thermally and electrically driven heat transport in solid-state systems (heat transport, coupled conductive (Ohmic) electrical current and heat transport)

• 2D and 3D finite element simulation

• Steady state and transient simulation

• Material definitions for over 40 common solid-state materials (metals, insulators and semiconductors, including alloys with spatially-varying material composition, temperature-dependent coefficient models, support for user-defined materials)

• Thermal inputs (single value, range or value sweeps, and time-varying waveforms)

• Thermal Boundary Conditions (uniform temperature and power, heat flux, convection, grey-body radiation)

• Distributed heat sources (uniform heat, imported spatially varying heat)

• Integration with photonic simulation tools (import heat from optical absorption, export temperature profile for temperature-dependent optical index perturbation, compact model extraction/development using temperature input in INTERCONNECT models)

• Common Lumerical design environment (HEAT shares the design environment with CHARGE, including the same parameter sweep and optimization framework, concurrent computing on multiple computers, broad operating system support, and more)

New script commands
addbc, addchargemesh, addchargesolver, addheatfluxmonitor, addheatmesh, addheatsolver, addimportheat,addtemperaturemonitor, adduniformheat, deleteallbc, deletebc, getbc, setbc

INTERCONNECT 5.5

Integration with Cadence® Virtuoso® Analog Design Environment

INTERCONNECT supports schematic driven layout (SDL) photonic integrated circuit design flows in combination with Cadence® Virtuoso® Analog Design Environment (ADE). ADE is the advanced design and simulation environment for the Cadence Virtuoso platform. The close integration with Virtuoso Schematic Editor offers interactive analysis, easy design and parameterization for fast photonic integrated circuit exploration.

Parametric Analysis with Mentor Graphics Pyxis®

In addition to users being able to create an INTERCONNECT circuit schematic and run the simulations directly from Mentor Graphics Pyxis Schematic®, INTERCONNECT now supports parametric analysis also driven from Mentor Graphics Pyxis Schematic®.

For more information on integration of INTERCONNECT with Mentor Graphics Pyxis, please see the following page: Unified Design Flow for Silicon Photonics 1

Optical SPICE netlist export and import

INTERCONNECT was extended to allow for native exporting and importing of optical SPICE netlists, enabling schematic driven layout (SDL) and layout driven schematic (LDS) within traditional EDA design flows. Additional supported SPICE commands include LIB, MODEL, PARAM, INCLUDE and STEP.

For the detailed working principle of SPICE netlist export and import, please see the following page:
Import SPICE netlist 1

Improved Simulation and Design Environment

• New simulation deadlock resolution algorithms allow for ignoring, identifying or resolving simulation deadlocks, preventing the introduction of unnecessary single-time-step numerical delays.

• New library and model properties provide compact model developers the ability to categorize models and libraries.

  • Please see the Knowledge Base section Compact Model Libraries (CMLs) for the detailed information.

• Lookup tables now support direct mapping and interpolation between arbitrary number of design and extracted parameters. They also include reading of interpolated optical n-port s-parameters and frequency or time dependent tables.

• X and Y physical layout coordinates properties are now supported by each element, providing support for layout and geometric dependent effects such as temperature and process variations.

• User defined connection routing now supports Manhattan or Direct connection routing.

• The schematic editor now support zoom in and out by pressing and holding the control key while rotating the wheel button, and support for creating zooming areas with the right mouse button.

Extended Element Library

• New Piecewise Linear Export and Import elements allows for respectively exporting and importing a piecewise linear time depended electrical waveform, enabling file transfer and co-design with third-party EDA tools.

  • Please see the Piecewise Linear Export and Piecewise Linear Import pages for more information.

Enhanced Element Library

• The Data Delay element was extended to support bidirectional behavior. This specialized element allows for user defined control of simulation deadlocks, preventing introductions of unnecessary single-time-step numerical delays.

  • Please see the Data Delay element page for more information.

• The Scripted element now supports cell data types to manipulate digital, electrical and optical signals, reducing the number of required functions and greatly simplifying the process of writing time-domain scripted elements.

  • Please see the Scripted Element page for the implementation details of this property.

• Waveguide elements models were extended to include effective index and excess loss temperature sensitivity properties per waveguide transverse mode, enabling the incorporation of thermal effects into the waveguide propagation transfer function. Similar functionality was also added to various coupler and resonator elements.

  • Please see the Waveguides Element Library section for more information.

New elements
Piecewise Linear Export, Piecewise Linear Import

New and Enhanced Script Commands
besseli 3, besselj 3, besselk, bessely, corrcoef, corrtransf, cov, erf, erfc 1, exporthtml, exportnetlist, findproperty, findpropertyvalue, getmonitorframe, getmonitorwaveform, getportframeheader, help, logmessage, lookupreadnportsparameter, lookupreadtable, lookupreadvalue, lower, operatingsystem, popportframe, popportframedata, pushportframe, pushportframedata, refresh, replacelibrary, setconnectionrouting, setportframeheader, setvalue 1, sroughness, toscript, upper