Brick dielectrics

A dielectric brick is a solid volume of dielectric material embedded within a circuit layer. Dielectric bricks can be used to simulate structures such as an embedded capacitor in an “air” circuit layer, or a small “air hole” in a dielectric substrate circuit layer. Dielectric bricks are best used for small volumes of dielectrics, such as MIM capacitors. While a large volume of dielectric can be implemented, it is extremely difficult to correctly model. Dielectric Bricks chapter in the Sonnet User's Guide before attempting to use dielectric bricks.

This page of the Circuit Settings dialog box is opened when you select Circuit - Settings from the project editor main menu, then click on Materials in the left hand pane of the dialog box and select the "Brick dielectrics" tab. This section allows you to define the characteristics of brick materials for use in your circuit. The default brick material is Air; this is defined for all projects. All brick materials may be used on all levels and with different polygons on the same level. A brick material specifies the dielectric constant, loss tangent and bulk conductivity used by em, and whether the dielectric is isotropic or anisotropic. Since the dielectric parameters are unrelated to the level on which a polygon is located, changing the brick material of a polygon does not change the physical location of the polygon. It changes only the dielectric parameters. You may use variables to define characteristics of your dielectric material.

A list of presently defined dielectrics for this project appears in this tab. All geometry files initially contain the default brick material, Air. This brick material is isotropic with an Erel value of 1.0, a dielectric loss tangent of zero, and dielectric conductivity of zero. You may not edit this dielectric. Air is also the default dielectric used for all new bricks when a project is created. If you wish to use another dielectric as the default dielectric for new bricks, select another dielectric from the Default for Add Bricks drop list. Click on a dielectric in the list to select it.

Default material for new bricks: Select the dielectric you wish to use for all new bricks in your circuit. This does not change the dielectric used for any existing polygons, but any dielectric bricks added to your circuit after this will use the selected dielectric. The default dielectric used for new projects is Air.

Add Brick: Click on the button to open the Brick Editor dialog box which allows you to define a new dielectric brick material.

Duplicate: Click on this button if you wish to create a brick material based on an existing brick material. When you click on Duplicate, the Brick Editor dialog box is opened and displays the parameters of the presently selected brick material.

Edit: Click on this button to edit the selected dielectric material in the dielectric list to the left. The Brick Editor dialog box is opened displaying the present parameters of the dielectric. You may edit the name and attributes of the dielectric in this dialog box.

Move Up: Click on this button to change the position of the presently selected brick material in the list. The brick material is moved up one position each time you select the button.

Move Down: Click on this button to change the position of the presently selected brick material in the list. The brick material is moved down one position each time you select the button.

NOTE: The Up and Down buttons are only enabled if it is possible to move the presently selected planar metal type in that direction in the list.

Delete: Click on this button to remove the selected brick dielectric in the dielectric list from your project.