What is a project?

The Sonnet Project

Each circuit, whether a netlist or a circuit geometry, is contained in a project. This project contains the specification of the circuit geometry or netlist, the analysis controls including the frequency sweep controls and analysis run options, and the analysis output data in the form of S-, Y-, and Z-parameters, current density data, and SPICE models. Which types of analysis data contained in the project depends on the types of analyses run on the project.

Each program in the Sonnet suite uses the same project, this means that the same project is used in all the Sonnet applications making it easy to keep track of all your input and data output. You may create a new project with the project editor. The project editor supplies a graphical interface to define a circuit geometry or a netlist editor to input a netlist which is able to reference other projects.

If you have purchased a license for one of the Sonnet translators, DXF or GDSII, you may input these files into the project editor and save the translated file as a Sonnet project. See the DXF Translator or the GDSII Translator for details.

Once circuit entry is complete, you enter the analysis controls in the project editor. This includes defining the type of sweep, such as frequency sweep, parameter sweep or optimization as well as specifying the analysis frequencies and analysis run options. Then, the electromagnetic simulation is performed on your circuit using those analysis controls. The results of the analysis is stored in the project. You may also request an optional output file of your analysis data. This data may contain the results from multiple analysis runs, as long as the geometry is not changed in a way which affects the analysis results.

If the circuit is changed in the project editor, you are prompted to either delete the response data before saving or perform a Save As to another project name. In this way, the response data in a project is kept consistent with the geometry or netlist.