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Parameteric design software generations
Summary
A short overview of the key differences between the generations of layout software
Keywords: CoventorWare
, DW2000
, mask layout
, MaskEngineer
, Odin
, OlympIOs
, parametric design
, SiGraph
, Thor
Introduction
Parametric design for MEMS and micro optics has seen different design generations during the last
20 years. This faq items shows the key features of these generations with respect to design
issues and shows the capabilities with respect to some important aspects.
Connectivity
Connectivity is the key differentation in between the generations of software. We can easily
differentatiate between the following levels:
No connectivity between design components
This generation uses some language to specify the shape of the components, but uses a single
global coordinate system to specify the location of these components. Changing the shape of
one component (eg. the length of a channel) does not influence the location of any other element.
CleWin 3.2, CoventerWare, DW2000,Intellimask etc are using this approach, but often
"home grown" layout libraries have comparable power.
Forward connectivity
As an extension to the first generation tools the introduction of planes (Thor / Odin),
scotch tape (SiGraph) solved in many cases the problem of having a varying channel size
with multiple components attached to it.
Connected components will stay connected, and the design tool takes care of this rather then
the user. Some "home grown" layout libraries also reach this level of connectivity to
some extent.
Omni-direcitonal connectivity
Switching from "forward connectivity" to omni-directional connectivy solves the problems
related to alignment, position difference / length calculation etc. An easy example of this is the
definition of a MachZehnder component, using 2 Y-junctions connected by straight channels.
Placing the first Y-junction and its attached straight channels is no problem, but adding the final
Y-junction as a mirrored version of the input is less trivial.
Some tools like Thor have the capability of using mirroring or alignment elements to solve this, but
using a omni-directional approach, you will simply use the Y-junctions "output ports" as
input, see also MaskEngineer layout kernel">Architecture of the layout kernel and Create User-Defined in Mask Layout Design Software.
Language
Parametric design requires some kind of programming language to specify the relation between
things. Varying approaches between component definition and optimization strategies exist.
Dedicated component language
The first generation of parametric design tools uses a very specific design language to be able to
define the structures. This focus is primarily due to computer performance and memory issues
at that time.
Having a dedicated language like the DEV which is used by Odin and Thor, gave good
trade-off between computer hardware and design capability.
General procedural languages
Subsequently the introduction of optimization strategies within the design and the inclusion of
full mathematical models required the introduction of more general languages like SPT.
The next generations of layout tools like CoventorWare, CleWin 3.2 but also MaskEngineer use
more standard languages like Xt or C-like languages.
Object oriented languages
As in computer science the shift in design paradigm moves from procedural languages like C or
Pascal towards object oriented design like C++ or Java.
MaskEngineer introduces these concepts into the parametric design field, giving you the full
potential of object oriented layout.
Discretization
Generating the mask data requires to shift from the analytic / parametric model of the geometries
towards a GDSII or CIF based mask, which is subsequently written on maskplates.
Since the micro-electronics industry does not require smooth shapes, the common mask formats
do not allow smooth curve definition, hence the requirement to discretize the geometries.
Geometric definition
The first approach to discretization is to have the designer specify the coordinates of the curves.
This seams to give full control to the designer at the cost of many explicit discretization moments.
Changing the specification towards finer details requires many loops to be inspected and a full
check of the definition code.
Many tools like DW2000, CoventorWare, CleWin etc work at this level.
Component level
Defining the discresation as object property and have the design software handle the polygon
generation is the next step. This frees the designer to take into account the limits of the GDSII
or CIF formats (eg. a max. of 65Kb for a GDSII boundary, ~ 8000 points) and helps the
designer to focus on the task at hand rather then handling the varying formats himself.
Tools like Thor and Odin use this approach.
Curve level
A problem which often occured with discretisation as object property is the inconsistency which
is introduced when different types of object are part of the design. Eg. during AWG design a typical
and easy mistake is define the bends in the array with high accuracy (dAlpha=0.01 degree), but
have the coupler sections defined using a curve with t=[0,1] and a dt=0.01, leading to just 200
points for a key-section of the design.
A second problem is having smooth curves like parabolic bended tapers; using a dAlpha specification
is not suitable.
MaskEngineer solves this by introducing curve discretization algorithms which use the mathematical
definition of the element and discretize this at the layer level. Using constraints for all geometries
within in a cross-section considerably reduces design dependencies and allows to generate
different GDSII/CIF layers with different accuracies, eg. an electrode layer with path accuracy of
50 nm, while the optical path obtains a 0.5 nm accuracy.
See also Specify Cross Section (Layer) Functionality for Mask Layout in Mask Engineer and Why do I need more than 1 nm mask discretisation?.
For any remark/question, please contact: support@phoenixbv.comOther topics
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