Home
Sonnet EM
Customer Comments
Support
EM Seminars
Sonnet Example Files
Spiral Inductor Assistant
Solution Partners
Contact
Impressum 

Efficient meshing in Sonnet  

Application Note

In EM analysis, meshing (discretization) is the key factor to control accuracy and simulation time. 

In this document, efficient meshing in Sonnet is discussed, based on a wide variety of application examples. It will be shown how manual changes to the mesh can be applied that save memory and analysis time.

Efficient Meshing in Sonnet (PDF, 1MB)

RFIC/MMIC Analysis with  Sonnet 

New Presentation (June 2010) 
"Sonnet EM Analysis of integrated inductors and transformers"
EEEfCOM 2010, Ulm, June 2010

Presentation (PDF, 3.0MB) 

New Application Note (May 2010) : 
Transmission line analysis for single ended and differential lines

Analysis of RFIC Transmission Lines.pdf  (PDF, 409kB)

New Application Note (May 2010) : 
Analysis of patterned ground inductors in Sonnet

Patterned_Ground_Inductor_Sonnet.pdf  (PDF, 849kB)

Application Notes for analysis of RFIC/MMIC components and circuits, 
based on Cadence Virtuoso or simple GDSII layout cells. 

Getting started with Sonnet RFIC inductor analysis (PDF, 300kB)

Using Sonnet in a Cadence RFIC Design Flow (PDF, 1.5MB)

Using GDSII layout data in Sonnet for RFIC analysis (PDF, 350kB)
Example file for this application note (zip, 600kB)

EM Analysis for High Frequency PCB

One day seminar "EM Analysis for High Frequency PCB" 
Berlin, October 2008

Training documents:
Seminar presentation (PDF, 3MB)
Seminar example files (ZIP, 4.3MB)

Using Sonnet to analyze PCB loop antennas

This application note demonstrates the electromagnetic analysis of a planar antenna for the ISM frequency band 868 MHz - 870 MHz with Sonnet Professional. It is shown how SMD components can be embedded and tuned very efficiently .

Download the application note ... (477kB, PDF) 

Equations in the Sonnet Response Viewer

Application Note

In Sonnet, you can define a curve in the response viewer as a function of an equation. Equations are available through the equation menu in the response viewer. Sonnet supplies a basic set of equations including inductance, capacitance, Q factor, phase difference, dB difference, and group delay as well as allowing the users to define their own equations. This application note gives an overview on how the equations in the response viewer are used.

Application Note - Equations in the Sonnet V9 Response Viewer.pdf (206kB, PDF)

Use Sonnet to design LTCC integrated inductors and capacitors 

This application note shows how Sonnet can be used to lay out capacitors and inductors in LTCC technology with Sonnet . Different methods, including Sonnet generated design curves and optimization, are  presented to achieve the desired component values. 

Design of LTCC capacitors and inductors (244kB, PDF)

Create Equivalent Circuit SPICE Models from S-Parameter Files

Besides just plotting S-parameter data, the Sonnet Response Viewer can also be used to create the equivalent Pi model and RLCG transmission line model. This capability is not limited to Sonnet generated data – data from any source, including measured values, can be converted to the equivalent  Pi circuit this way. This very useful to get equivalent lumped element values for electrically small circuits, or extract parasitic element values. For distributed circuits where the Pi model does not apply, a distributed SPICE RLCG model can be created. An unlimited number of circuit ports is supported.

The document Use Sonnet results with Spice.pdf (802kB, PDF) describes how to do this in Sonnet Lite or Sonnet Professional.

Calculate transmission line impedance curves in Sonnet

Often, the design engineer is interested in the characteristic impedance of a transmission line configuration, as a function of frequency or as a function of geometry. This data can be found in text books for typical configurations, but results for complex layer stackup and complex conductor configurations are usually not available.

The document  "Calculate transmission line impedance diagrams in Sonnet 7.0" (175kB, PDF) describes an easy method to generate such design curves with Sonnet Professional and Sonnet Lite, Version 7 or newer.

Since Sonnet 12, you can also define material properties as variables, and plot curves as a function of material properties.