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Crosslight Software Tutorial on Optoelectronic Device Simulation

Crosslight is pleased to offer a free half-day short course on optoelectronic device simulation on Wednesday, April 14 in Berlin, Germany. Details are available from this link.

GPU-accelerated FDTD libraries available for APSYS (Jan 19,2010)

Crosslight is pleased to announce that an interface to Acceleware's GPU-accelerated FDTD libraries has been created for APSYS. More details can be found in our joint press release .

Crosslight Short Course at Photonic West 2010 (Dec 7,09)

Crosslight is pleased to offer a free half-day short course on optoelectronic device simulation on Thursday, Jan 28 at Photonic West 2010. Details are available from this link.

What's New - LASTIP 2009 and PICS3D 2009 (Dec 7,09)

Crosslight is pleased to formally release LASTIP and PICS3D 2009 version with the followng improvements or new features.

Features common to LASTIP and PICS3D:

  • 6x6 k.p model for arbitrary crystal orientation for GaN-based MQW. Important special cases are the m-plane and a-plane orientations used in non-polar and semi-polar device designs.
  • Stronger symbolic math operation is implemented into the input deck and material macro system.
  • Improvement of thermal simulation by a new data structure for temperature-dependent macro variables.
  • Improvements in carrier transport models for MQW systems. Two new kinds of carrier transport models are added to model carrier capture/escape processes. These processes are key when modeling devices with very narrow and deep quantum wells (e.g. GaN-based materials) where the classical drift-diffusion model encounters difficulties.

Features for PICS3D:

  • Expanded the wavelength range for amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) and achieved greater accuracy in Superluminous Light Emitting Diode (SLED).
  • Improved longitudinal mode solver for better stability and accuracy.

What's New - APSYS 2009 (Sep 8,09)

Major improvements in the 2009 version of APSYS version:

  • Improvements in carrier transport models for MQW systems. Two new kinds of carrier transport models are added to model carrier capture/escape processes. These processes are key when modeling devices with very narrow and deep quantum wells (e.g. GaN-based materials) where the classical drift-diffusion model encounters difficulties.
  • 6x6 k.p model for arbitrary crystal orientation for GaN-based MQW. Important special cases are the m-plane and a-plane orientations used in non-polar and semi-polar device designs.
  • APSYS supports the STL mesh format: new interface for CSuprem interface for compound materials.
  • Support for muliple light sources and new command to modify input light spectrum. This makes quantum efficiency analysis of multiple junction solar cells more convenient.
  • Improvement of the material macro system to include amorphous trap states and internal functions for complicated mathematical expressions.
  • Improvement of FDTD interface: farfield calculations and light illumination through a thick layer (useful thinfilm solar cell application).

Crosslight Tutorial at NUSOD 2009 (Sep 7,09)

Crosslight is pleased to offer a free half-day short course on optoelectronic device simulation on Friday, Sep. 18 at NUSOD 2009. Details are available from this link.

What's New - LASTIP 2008 & PICS3D 2008 (Nov 6,08)

Crosslight is proud to release the 2008 version of LASTIP and PICS3D.

New features of both LASTIP and PICS3D:

  • Based on fit to k.p theory, crystal orientation effects in wurtzite bulk and quantum well have been taken into account. Device modeling of m-plane InGaN/GaN MQW has been demonstrated.
  • Gain import/export feature enhanced so that tabulated field-dependent optical gain and spontaneous emission data can be imported into the main solver to enhance simulation accuracy and speed. This feature enables the use of manybody gain and k.p valence mixing models in a full 2D/3D simulation of GaN-based devices at high speed and with good convergence.
  • Spontaneous and stimulated emission models have been developed for optical transitions between trap states and conduction/valence bands. As a result, optically-induced mid-gap trap emission can be simulated.
  • VCSEL lateral mode model improved so that more realistic multiple mode behavior is obtained.
  • Quantum Dot-like density of states available for the modeling of InGaN quantum wells. This may be regarded as a mechanism to enhance the standard optical quantum well optical gain model based on free-carrier and manybody gain models.
  • Physically based non-local transport model for tunneling junction implemented for both forward and reverse bias. This feature is useful for tandem/multiple junction devices.
  • The external circuit model has been improved to include multiple circuit branches and variable resistors.
  • Optical models for multiple layer optics and optical diffraction improved. These will be helpful for optically pumped devices.
  • Material macro system enhanced. A new type of active macro (generic-complex) has been defined which includes energy-dependent effective mass and optical transitions between different band valleys. The new macro has been used to model lead-salt based material systems (II-VI) as well as InN which is known to have highly non-parabolic conduction band.
  • Interface polarization charges automatically generated based on material composition for GaN-based materials. Global screening coefficient can be set by the user.
  • Mini-band quantum tunneling added to the quantum transport option.
  • Substantial improvements in various parts of the GUI.

New features of PICS3D:

  • AC analysis developed based on the new coupled-RTG method. This allows small-signal high frequency response analysis for LD/VCSEL to include both parasitic and optical cavity effects. Large-signal effects can also be obtained through transient modeling.
  • Spiral laser and ring laser models developed and demonstrated.
  • Multi-cavity model developed for PICS3D. This will be especially helpful for users wishing to model VCSEL/LD arrays with thermal interactions.
  • Amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) has been included in the new coupled-RTG model of PICS3D so that devices like super-luminous diodes (SLD) and semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOA) can be simulated accurately with good convergence.
  • The new coupled-RTG method in PICS3D has been improved to couple both the real and imaginary parts of the RTG. This allows a more accurate representation of wavelength chirp under modulation.

Crosslight Short Course at Photonic West 09 (Oct 6,08)

Crosslight is pleased to offer a free half-day short course on optoelectronic device simulation on Thursday, Jan 29 at Photonic West 2009. Details are available from this link.

What's new in APSYS-2008

Crosslight is pleased to announce the formal release of APSYS version 2008:

  • New option for optical field computation. Finite difference time domain (FDTD) can now be used through an interface between APSYS and MEEP. This option can be used in surface texture simulation for solar cells and LEDs.
  • Quantum Dot-like density of states included in modeling InGaN quantum wells. This is used to explain the high initial IQE observed in many InGaN quantum well LEDs.
  • Physically based non-local transport model for tunneling junction implemented for both forward and reverse bias directions. This feature is useful for multiple junction or tandem solar cells.
  • The external circuit model improved to include multiple circuit branches and variable resistors. As a result, complicated DC and transient scan such as in ESD simulation can be performed with ease.
  • Optical models for multiple layer optics and optical diffraction improved for solar cell and other types of photosenstive devices.
  • Material macro system enhanced. The generic-complex type of active macro includes energy depdent effective mass and optical transitions between different band valleys. The new macro has been used for modeling lead-salt based material systems for IR related applications.
  • The organic material device model has been enhanced to include optical pumping of excitons so that optically pumped OLED can be simulated.
  • Interface polarization charges automatically generated based on material composition for GaN-based materials. This is also done for 3D structure where quantum wells are on x-y planes.
  • Mini-band quantum tunneling added to the quantum transport option.
  • Vertical field dependent mobility model enhanced to include stronger mobility reduction at high field. This is useful for modeling quasi-saturation drain current in high voltage MOSFETs. This improves on previous vertical field models such as Lombadi and Intel formulas.
  • Substantial improvements in various parts of the GUI.

 

Crosslight Workshop at NUSOD'08 Conference

A free workshop on Crosslight Software will be given on Sep. 5th 2008 as part of the NUSOD'08 conference (University of Nottingham, UK). Further details and pre-registration information can be found here .

 

Recent Advances in CSUPREM (May 21 2008)

We are glad to report the following advance in CSuprem (v. 2008)

  • Graphic user interface developed for converting GDSII device mask layout to CSuprem 3D input decks.
  • Substantial improvement of the mesh quality and stability in 3D etching and deposition.
  • Mesh regrid feature made available.
  • Mechanical stress model enhanced from 2D to 3D.
  • New feature of structural merge developed to merge two or more IC layers (multi-tiered system) into the same simulation. This is useful for simulating 3D-interconnect designs.
  • User interface to a Monte-Carlo simulation program (UT-MARLOWE).
  • User interface to a physically based model for electrochemical plating (ECP) and chemical-mechanical polishing (CMP) (Fudan physical CMP).

 

Rotating Disk Model for PROCOM (Apr. 3 2008)

We are pleased to announce a new option in PROCOM to model rotating substrates for MOCVD growth. This feature is common in commercial vertical reactor designs and has become a powerful tool in optimizing film quality and growth rates.

The addition of this model to PROCOM allows the user to clearly see the benefits of substrate rotation and to optimize the rotation speed to his particular reactor design and growth process. Please see our updated presentation for more information.

Current users of PROCOM and interested demo users are encouraged to try out this useful new option.

 

Crosslight Short Course at Photonic West 08 (Oct 4,07)

Crosslight is pleased to offer a free half-day short course on optoelectronic device simulation on Thursday, Jan 24 at Photonic West 2008.  Details are available from this link.

 

What's New in LASTIP/PICS3D 2007.8  (Sep3,2007)

The following is an outline of key improvement or enhancement of  LASTIP/PICS3D 2007.8 version. Users may contact Crosslight for more details.

PICS3D

Major technical breakthrough with the new coupled round-trip-gain method. Suitable for dynamic simulation of complicated waveguided devices, such as multimode EAM+DFB, EAM+DBR and VECSEL.

A couple of convenient features have been created for VCSEL/VECSEL setup: arbitrary grading (such as linear) of refractive index profile for DBR mirror layers; construction of all layers using reference wavelength as unit instead of the usual micron meters.

LASTIP/PICS3D

For wurtzite material system, interface polarization charges may now be automatically generated based on layer material composition. This feature is especially convenient for setting up blue/white light LED/LD simulation.

Improved macro related models: more options for definition of band offset in the case of strained MQW. Treating wavelength as reserved variable so that wavelength variation during simulation can be taken into account more accurately.

Mini-band tunneling implemented into quantum tunneling model which should be helpful in designing superlattice as part of a device. 

External circuit model improved. Multiple circuit branches parallel/in-series for each contact may be defined.

More flexible numerical methods available for the main drift-diffusion solver so that at any stage of simulation, spatial distribution of one of the less important carriers can be freezed to help convergence and numerical stability. 

Trapping model enhanced so that many kinds of energy distribution may be included.

Field dependence in exciton model implemented for more accurate EAM simulation.

Improved management of temperature dependent macro parameters so that all temperature dependent parameters (such as lifetime) may be self-consistently updated during self-heating simulation.

Manybody optical gain/absorption spectrum model has been improved and verified with various experimental data (for both QW and bulk). The model is configured such that user may continuously adjust between free-carrier and manybody theory via the scaling of the carrier screening length. This option is highly recommended to all who wish to have an accurate model for gain/absorption spectrum model for the active regions of LD/VCSEL. 

Radiative boundary included with modified black body radiation model. 

Parameter extraction capability substantially enhanced.

Convenient features such as defining alias, input deck looping control, scan conditional switch control and general purpose command to shift/scale any macro parameters.

GUI: numerous bug fixes and improvements, including convenient feature to allow plotting of extracted parameters versus series control variables in a series project.

 

Breakthrough for PICS3D Simulator (Aug29,2007)

Crosslight is proud to announce a major technical breakthrough for the PICS3D software (PICS3D 2007.8):  the creation of a new coupled round-trip-gain (RTG) solution method. The new RTG method makes it possible to obtain accurate dynamic solution of a laser diode (DFB/DBR) or a VCSEL with multiple modal behavior.

Conventional PICS3D simulation decouples the 2/3D electrical simulation from the longitudinal optical mode calculation using specialized data exchange method (photon-scan) between different solvers.  The main advantage of the conventional method is that it allows sequential electrical simulation for limited 2D planes during the photon-scan procedure so that  CPU time can be cut down substantially. Such an approach works well for steady state simulations and predicts the longitudinal behavior accurately.

However there are drawbacks. Sequential treatment of different planes makes it difficult to simulate dynamic properties since dynamic simulation requires simultaneous coupling of all planes. Decoupling 2/3D electrical simulation from longitudinal solver makes the simulation dependent on the data sample/exchange (or photon-scan) procedure which requires substantial user experience. Improper setting of
photon-scan parameters is often the cause of non-convergence and instability.

Direct coupling of longitudinal wave equations, i.e., the round-trip-gain unity equations with the 2/3D electrical equations resolves the above problems. The method is referred to as the coupled round-trip-gain (RTG) method, or RTG-method.

The RTG-method completely eliminates the photon-scan procedures and results in more stable and convergent solutions. It  performs simultaneous solution and demands somewhat more CPU time for the 2/3D electrical simulation. However, elimination of the photon-scan steps and more convergent results should compensate for the longer CPU time spent on the electrical simulation.

We expect the RTG-method to be the future of PICS3D and are taking steps to phase out the conventional approaches. Immediate applications are multiple mode dynamic simulation of EAM-DFB, EAM-DBR and VECSEL/VCSEL. We invite existing or new users of
PICS3D to contact Crosslight to try out the new RTG module.

 

Feature article on Crosslight device model(Aug12,2007)

We are pleased to offer the following feature article published in well-known trade journal Compound Semiconductor.

 

Crosslight Short Course on Aug. 7-9 in Troy, NY (Jun28,07)

Crosslight is pleased to sponsor a 3-day short course on optoelectronic device simulation from 7-9 Aug. 2007 at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), Troy, NY.  The course is chaired by Dr. Fred Schubert of RPI and instructed  by Dr. Joachim Piprek of the NUSOD institute.  Details and registration here are  available from this link.

 

Crosslight Workshop on Sept. 28 at NUSOD07 (Jun8,07)

Crosslight invites everyone to a free training workshop on 28 Sept. 2007 in Univ. of Delaware, Newark, Singapore, in affiliation with the NUSOD07 conference.  Dr. Joachim Piprek,   one of the most successful users of Crosslight's simulators, has been invited to lecture
on how to create realistic device simulations at this hands-on tutorial workshop. All registered participants are eligible to receive a free training license of Crosslight's simulation software. For more details, please visit the workshop website.

 

Simulators ported to 64-bit computers (Apr. 27,07)

Crosslight is pleased to announce that all simulator packages have been ported to the LINUX (64-bit) and Windows Vista (64-bit) platforms. The core simulator engines have been compiled as native 64 bit binaries to take full advantage of the large memory
capability of the 64-bit systems. Floating network license and multiple CPU parallel processing capabilities are also successfully ported
to the 64-bit platforms. For the LINUX system, a Windows emulator is used for the graphic users interface (GUI) developed on the Windows so that the same user-friendly  GUI can be used on LINUX.

 

Major upgrades in APSYS  2007.3 (Mar.22,07)

We will start shipping the APSYS 2007.3 which contains the following major upgrades.  These features are also available in beta versions of LASTIP and PICS3D.

  • Photonic crystal LED option (PhCLED) is now available. This model may be used to optimize power coupling between the
    spontaneous emission and the photonic crystal air holes via the guided multimodes.

  • The previous discrete deep trap model (trap dynamic) has been extended to continuously (gaussian and exponential) 
    distributed trap models. This makes it more convenient to simulate amorphous silicon solar cells and TFT.

  • Manybody optical gain/absorption spectrum model has been improved and verified with various experimental data 
    (for both QW and bulk). The model is configured such that user may continuously adjust between free-carrier and manybody
    theory via the scaling of the carrier screening length. This option is highly recommended to all who wish to have an accurate model
    for gain/absorption spectrum model for the active regions.

  • Organic semiconductor material model has been upgraded to include triplet diffusion and emission. This makes it useful for modeling highly efficient electrophosphorescent OLED. 

  • 3D raytracing module has been improved to handle both 2 and 3 dimensional electrical simulations of solar-cell/PD as well as for LED/OLED.

  • Radiative boundary included with modified black body radiation model.

  • The command system has been improved to include symbolic functions and loops. For example, a familar of I-V curves
    may be generated or plotted with a single looped command.

  • Various convenient interfaces with other software packages: CSuprem-3D (also from Crosslight), AUTOCAD(TM) and TECPLOT(TM).


Older News

Representatives from Crosslight will be glad to meet you at the following conference presentations and/or exhibitions