Instructions for turning on the Anisotropic Dielectric  Beta test

Tips and App Notes

Anisotropic dielectric layers make it possible for you to work with uniaxial anisotropic materials and specify separate values for the Z-component material properties that may differ from the lateral (X-Y) properties. Typically, it is the Relative Permittivity Z-component value (erz), which is of greatest interest, but you may also specify Dielectric Loss Tangent, Dielectric Conductivity, Relative Permeability, and Magnetic Loss Tangent values for the dielectric separately in the Z direction. This feature, allows you to work with unique (often crystalline) materials and gives you the ability to accurately capture their behavior. For example, one of the more common anisotropic materials is sapphire. The erx and ery (lateral) values are typically listed as approximately 11.5, while the erz is approximately 10.0. Instead of making approximations in the material properties, you can now directly enter these values and get accurate results – without the guesswork.

In Sonnet versions 11.54 and 11.56, the anisotropic dielectric layer feature is at beta stage and not enabled by default. The analysis engine fully handles the EM theory involved with these materials and internal testing has been performed. If you are interested in modeling anisotropic materials and wish to use the beta of the new Anisotropic Dielectric Layers, follow the instructions below to enable this feature:

1. Select Admin => Diagnostics => Edit sonnet.ini file from the main menu of the Sonnet task bar.
   
   This opens the sonnet.ini file in your default text editor.

2. In the [Xgeom] section of the sonnet.ini file add the following line:
   
   AnisotropicLayers=on

3. Save the file and exit.

4. Close all Sonnet programs including the Sonnet task bar, then restart Sonnet.
   
   This will read the sonnet.ini file and apply the change you just made. If you open the project editor and look at the Dielectric Editor dialog box, it will now appear as shown below.