Release Highlights: Passive and Active Photonic Component Design
DEVICE 3.0 introduces true 3D electrical simulation and visualization with an advanced finite element drift-diffusion solver. Enhancements to performance, including support for multi-core CPUs, now allow engineers to rapidly create, simulate, and analyze virtual prototypes of active optoelectronic devices. MODE Solutions 6.5 introduces nonlinear and active material modeling to waveguide based components. These developments will benefit a wide range of designers, for example:

- CMOS image sensor pixel designers will benefit from complete 3D component simulation, and can accurately calculate performance metrics including dark current, quantum efficiency, spectral cross-talk as well as the transient response under switched illumination.
- High-speed modulator designers can now model the charge injected into complex geometries, and import those results into MODE Solutions 6.5 as a function of applied voltage to calculate insertion loss, modulation depth and 3dB modulation bandwidth.
- Waveguide component designers interested in waveguide nonlinearities, amplification and the response of such systems to applied transients can now use the Flexible Material Plugins previously released in FDTD Solutions within MODE Solutions 6.5.

Release Highlights: Photonic Integrated Circuit Design
“Over the past year, I’ve been having in depth conversations with many groups who are actively designing photonic integrated circuits for operation within high speed electronic systems,” says Dr. Jackson Klein, Senior Product Manager for INTERCONNECT. “We have consistently been hearing that current EDA design capabilities lack a sophisticated treatment of photonic circuits, like that provided by INTERCONNECT. We’re collaborating with Mentor Graphics, Agilent Technologies, OpSIS and other parties to ensure that INTERCONNECT includes a number of features that are essential for next generation photonic integrated circuit design.”

INTERCONNECT 3.0 includes:
- The ability to import an optical SPICE netlist and create a corresponding PIC schematic, facilitating the analysis of optical circuit representations within third-party EDA tools including Mentor Graphics’ Pyxis.
- File transfer that supports Agilent Advanced Design System and Mentor Graphics Eldo time domain waveform formats.
- Enhanced support for the development of process design kits (PDKs) with the inclusion of an extensive library of customizable compact models and lookup tables containing design intent parameters.
- An expanded element library, including a ring modulator element for the fast and accurate simulation of cascaded rings and elements to better simulate the electrical portion of mixed-signal circuits.