What's New in Sonnet Lite & LitePlus
Sonnet User’s Manuals are only updated with each full release. However, our online help is also available at our web site and starting with Release 10 will periodically be updated with new material. To access this help, go to www.sonnetsoftware.com/support and click on the “Knowledge Base” link for the most recent updates.
New Features
Below is a summation of the major new features in release 10 of Sonnet Lite and Sonnet LitePlus. See below for more details. For changes from release 9, refer to the changes section later in this topic.
3D Viewer: This release introduces the new 3D viewer available in the project editor and the current density viewer. The viewer provides a three-dimensional view of your circuit. The view may be rotated in any direction so that the circuit may be observed at any angle. The 3D viewer is invoked by selecting View => View 3D from the main menu of the project editor or the current density viewer. You may animate the 3D view in the current density viewer.
Graph Archives: This new feature allows you to create a graph archive file which includes all the source projects for the data used in the graph allowing you to re-create that graph on any computer by moving the graph archive file and unpacking it.
Sending Projects to Support: There is a new command available in the project editor, File => Send to Sonnet, that provides an easy-to-use interface that allows you to send your projects to Sonnet quickly and easily.
Changes
Below is a summation of the major changes in release 10 of Sonnet Lite & LitePlus software.
Merge Polygons: You may now use the Edit => Merge Polygons command in Sonnet Lite and LitePlus. In previous Sonnet releases, this command was only available for Sonnet Professional.
SPICE generation: Changes have been made in the way you generate Spice models and in the formats produced. You may now choose between N-Coupled Line Models, and PI Models. Sonnet’s Spice generation capability now also supports the Spectre format. You may create these files during the em analysis by specifying the file in the project editor or produce them post-analysis, using the new Output menu in the response viewer. .
Q-Factor Accuracy: A new advanced run option has been added to the Advanced Options dialog box in the project editor (Select Analysis => Setup, then click on the Advanced button in the Analysis Setup dialog box). Selecting this option forces a higher accuracy for ABS convergence by including the Q-factor of your analysis as a criterion for convergence.
Binary Boxes/Composite Boxes: In previous releases, using a binary box, where one or both dimensions of the substrate are 2N cells, provided a faster FFT (used during the matrix fill portion of the analysis) and thereby reduced the amount of time it took to analyze a circuit. In this release, the FFT has been improved for composite box sizes. A composite number is not a prime number, nor does it contain any large prime factors. For example, 1000 is a composite number because its largest prime factor is 5. But 998 is not a composite number because its largest prime factor is 499. So a 998 by 998 box might take 2 to 3 times longer in the FFT calculation portion of the analysis than a 1000 by 1000 box. The FFT portion of the analysis is usually a small percentage of the total analysis time, unless you have a lot of layers or an especially large box. If either of these conditions are true, then it might be worthwhile to use a composite number in your box size.
New Output Menu in the Response Viewer: Instead of using an export command in the response viewer, you may now use the new Output menu to specify output files. You may create output files of your S, Y, and Z-parameters, generate SPICE models and output data formatted for a spreadsheet.
Change in Project Editor Menu: The command Analysis => Optional Files command in the project editor is now Analysis => Output Files. You may specify output files of your S, Y, and Z-parameters, SPICE models and output data formatted for a spreadsheet. The specified output files will be generated as part of your em analysis.
