MESH

MESHING
RESEARCH
CORNER

MESH/GRID
GENERATION
SOFTWARE
SURVEY

Contact: ISE support

Email: support@ise.ch

Web Site: http://www.synopsys.com/products/tcad/mesh_ds.html

Availability: Commercial Code, Stand-alone Mesh/Grid Generator

Customer Support: Yes

Approximate Number of Users: confid.

Pricing: not disclosed

Platform: Windows, UNIX (DEC, SUN, HP, SGI, IBM)

Input: Native

DF-ISE format

Engineering Discipline:

Semiconductor Device and Process Simulation

Elements: Triangle, Tetrahedra, Pyramid, Wedge (Prism)

Surface Meshing: No

Tri/Tet Method: Octree

In all dimensions a modified octree (where the elements are not split in the middle) + conformal delaunization approach are used.
In 2D, two alternative strategies are followed:
- an advancing front method
- a quasi-conformal transformation onto a rectangle (library omesh from ISE) both are used in combination with the delaunization approach. In a near future, both strategies should be available in Mdraw (the 2D device editor and graphical interface of Mesh in 2D)
A 3D advancing front is still in early development.

Element Sizing Method:

There are two methods available:
- The user specifies element sizes in given rectangular areas.
- The user specifies some automatic adaptation criteria
based on the data stored in the mesh.
- Automatic control of mesh size in the vicinity of
interfaces and mesh size balancing.
For the moment, it is under test in 3D but it is meant also for 2D.

Other Features: Boundary Layers, Adaptivity, Anisotropy, Refinement

The input geometry is given as a set of solid regions and surface regions (for contacts).
The regions are:
1D: segments + points(contacts)
2D: polygons + segments(contacts)
3D: polyhedra + polygonal surfaces (contacts)

Comments:

The tool is referred to as a mixed-element generator.
The following element shapes are supported:

1D meshes: segments + contacts (points).
2D meshes: triangles and rectangles + contacts (segments).
3D meshes: tetrahedra, triangular prisms (wedges), pyramids,
and bricks + contacts (triangles and rectangles).

An option to generate only simplices (triangles in 2D and tetrahedra in 3D)
is available.