Electromagnetic simulator interfacing to a general CAD framework: automatic, electromagnetic-based mesh generation

An electromagnetic simulator has been interfaced through a custom-meshing program to a general CAD (computer-aided design) framework. Standard information within the CAD framework (netlist information, location in layout, and maximum simulation frequency) is all that is needed to automatically generate a surface mesh (consisting of triangles and rectangles) for the circuit through a systematic multilevel procedure. In addition, the unique physics of particular elements can be easily incorporated into the mesh generation, thus ensuring accurate simulation. Two examples are used to illustrate the integration of an electromagnetic simulation tool with this CAD framework: a lowpass filter and a bandpass filter. For these examples, the time required to obtain an electrical model has been reduced to the electromagnetic simulation time: the learning curve is that of the CAD framework and the meshing time is negligible.<>