tonyplot_users1
tonyplot_users1
User’s Manual
Silvaco, Inc.
Web: www.silvaco.com
Introducing TonyPlot
Notice
The information contained in this document is subject to change without notice.
Silvaco, Inc. shall not be held liable for errors contained herein or for incidental or
consequential damages in connection with the furnishing, performance, or use of this
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Table of Contents
1. Introducing TonyPlot .............................................................................................................. 11
2.7.6 Ruler........................................................................................................................ 45
3.1 Overview......................................................................................................................... 67
3.7 3D ................................................................................................................................... 75
4.1 Overview......................................................................................................................... 80
5.1 Overview......................................................................................................................... 88
7.1 Overview......................................................................................................................... 97
15. Appendix C Greek and Math Characters Supported by TonyPlot ..................................... 176
1. Introducing TonyPlot
Users of earlier versions of TonyPlot or TonyPlot3D will find some of the functionality
familiar. This version has new some capabilities and a new user interface. The interfaces are
easier to use and the resulting display has improved. This version provides:
Not only does TonyPlot allows you to display any data file produced by Silvaco tools, it also
provides extensive “tools” for examining these plots and the associated data. For example, you
can take cut-line or cut-plane slices through structures, integrate a curve to calculate an area,
or perform simple electrical simulations on 1D devices.
TonyPlot allows you to rescale, zoom, and pan plots. You can also add grids, customize axes,
and draw arbitrary labels on the data. All titles, marks, labels, ranges and so on are
automatically set to useful defaults but can all be explicitly set whenever necessary. The
appearance of all plots in TonyPlot can be customized. There are many “preferences” that can
be tailored to either suit your needs or the requirements to a particular set of data. See
Preferences for more information.
TonyPlot can also be used to study the output from the Silvaco process and device simulators
Atlas, Athena, Clever, Victory Process, Victory Device, Victory Mesh and Victory Cell.
TonyPlot can display regression models, response surfaces, scatter plots, histograms, SPC
charts, pie charts, and more.
1.4 Terminology
The following terminology is used throughout TonyPlot:
Terms Definition
Structure This is the set of data contained within a structure file (e.g., doping,
geometry, or bias points). One structure usually requires one plot but
sometimes two. The same structure can be reused in many plots.
Plot This is one drawing. A plot can be of one or more structures but cannot exist
without a structure. Several plots can show the same structure, which allows
the data to be simultaneously examined from two different angles. TonyPlot
can display many kinds of plots, each with its own distinct preferences.
Selected Plot Not all plots need be operated on at once. A subset of plots is defined by
selecting required plots. Selected plots are indicated by an orange triangle in
the top right corner of the subwindow.
View This is the collection of plots in the main window. This term refers to all
plots, selected or not.
Subwindow This is the area where a plot is shown. Each plot has a unique subwindow,
and each subwindow can only show one plot. You can modify the
arrangement of subwindows within the view.
Display Each plot has a display setting, which is the set of parameters that defines
how to draw the structures in the plot.
2. Using TonyPlot
% tonyplot
This starts TonyPlot with no data file loaded and with all options set to their default values.
To load files at the same time TonyPlot starts, just specify the filenames on the command line.
TonyPlot figures out the types of files and displays the data accordingly.
-mtitle <maintitle> Overrides the default plot main title and set it to maintitle
instead. Use single quotes around <maintitle> if you
wish to use spaces. All files loaded so far (all that precede
this option on the command line) are affected.
-ttitle <subtitle> Overrides the default plot subtitle and set it to subtitle
instead. Use single quotes around <subtitle> if you
wish to use spaces. All files loaded so far (all that precede
this option on the command line) are affected
-overlay Instructs TonyPlot to overlay all files after the overlay flag.
-set <file> Instructs TonyPlot to load the set filename and restore the
display to the condition that TonyPlot was in when that set
file was created. The set file is applied to all files loaded at
that point. In other words, all files that preceded this option
on the command lines. Files given after this option on the
command line are not affected.
-noexit Causes TonyPlot to not exit after use of the -jpg or -png
flags.
-resolution_level <level> Plot the Cartesian mesh inside the mesh boxes.
-plane [XY|XZ|YZ] Set the cutplane to specified coordinate plane (3D only).
To load a structure file called meshX.str and set its display to a previous set up stored in
mx.setx and then load a file containing IV data in user data format, enter:
Note: TonyPlot version 5 and later uses the newer .setx XML file format, but is still able to
read the older, legacy .set files. See section 13.2 Set Files for more information.
the top of the Base Window is the main menu bar that has the basic control menus for
TonyPlot, and the toolbar that displays icons for commonly used actions. Each of these menus
are further explained in the following sections.
Item Description
Open…
Overlay…
This allows you to create data files from plots. TonyPlot supports saving from
Cross Section plots, XY GRAPH plots, and 3D Mesh plots.
Save As…
Loads a Set File from disk. The Set File specifies user applied attributes, such as
contour drawing for a given plot.
Load Set File…
Saves a Set File to disk. The Set File specifies user applied attributes, such as
contour drawing for a given plot.
Save Set File…
The Export Image dialog is used to save plots to the system clipboard, or to image
files on disk.
Export Image…
This allows you to print the currently selected plots, one per page. You can print
on a large variety of paper sizes at full printer resolution.
Item Description
Print…
This displays information about the current plot, such as bias info and region info.
If no plot is currently displayed, TonyPlot will display information about the
OpenGL display context provided by the graphics card driver.
Info
Recent Files This displays a list of recently opened files. Select a file from the list to load it.
This removes all plots, structures and subwindows, and quits TonyPlot.
Exit
Item Description
This will undo the last action taken, reverting the plot to its previous state.
Undo
Redo
Item Description
This will undo all previous actions, leaving the plot the same as when it was
first loaded.
Undo All
This will redo all edits that had previously been undone.
Redo All
This will overlay all currently selected plots. Note that the plots must be of the
same type to overlay, such as all Mesh 2D, or all XY Graph.
Make Overlay
This will split the currently selected overlay plots back into their original base
plots.
Split Overlay
This requires you to have at least two compatible plots selected. When chosen,
this option will create a new plot of the differences in the selected plots.
Plot Difference
This can be used to delete certain selected objects from the scene, such as
Rulers or Isosurfaces. Applies to 3D Mesh plots only.
Delete
Sets the visibility of the selected region to hidden. Applies to 3D Mesh plots
only.
Hide
Sets the visibility of the selected region to shown. Applies to 3D Mesh plots
only.
Show
Sets the opacity of the selected region to opaque. Applies to 3D Mesh plots
only.
Opaque
Sets the opacity of the selected region to transparent. Applies to 3D Mesh plots
only.
Transparent
Item Description
Functions allow you to further customize the output that can be produced and
to extend the amount of data that can be plotted without needing further
simulation runs and large data files. TonyPlot allows you to create functions
Functions… for use with XY Graph or 2D Mesh plots. See Section 2.8 Functions for more
information.
This function gives you the ability to shift one or more curves in an XY Graph
plot. You can shift the curve on both the X and Y axes.
Shift Coordinates…
Item Description
Selecting this action returns the structure to its initial location and size.
Zoom Full
Item Description
Zoom In
Zoom Out
Selecting this action performs anisotropic scaling of the axes such that the axis
aligned bounding box of the structure becomes a unit cube.
Normalize
This allows you to specify plot parameters that are independent on the data and
which do not fall into the category of display settings. For example, titles and axis
ranges.
Annotation…
This allows you to change the names assigned to overlay plots. See Overlays for
details about overlays.
Level Names…
The Show From option has six sub-options: Top, Bottom, Front, Back, Left, and
Right. Each of these sub-options moves the view point to display the structure
Show From from the selected position.
Solid
Meshed
Edges
Item Description
Point Cloud
Materials
Regions
Contours
Shows surfaces that represent points of a constant value within the data.
Isosurfaces
Rays
Vectors
Opens the Display dialog for 1D/2D Plots or 3D Mesh Plots. See 2D Mesh Plot
Display or 3D Mesh Plot Display for more information.
Display…
Next Page
Previous Page
Item Description
The Cut Line tool is used to create 1D cross section plots from arbitrary positions
within a 2D structure.
Cut Line…
The Cut Plane tool is used to create 2D slices through a 3D structure. The
resulting slices can be viewed as 2D mesh plots (see 2D Mesh Plot Display), or
used as inputs to a 2D device simulator such as Atlas.
Cut Plane…
The Object Browser provides a quick way of setting many different properties
that define how a plot is drawn. Selecting this item will toggle the Object
Browser state between shown and hidden.
Object Browser…
The Markers tool is used to create labels or markers on a 3D mesh plot. A marker
consists of a small dot at a specified (X, Y, Z) coordinate, a line, and a text label.
Markers…
The Probe tool can be used to examine the geometry and impurity data of a 2D
or 3D Mesh.
Probe…
The Ruler tool can be used on any type of plot. It provides coordinate geometry
information of any line drawn over a structure.
Ruler…
Labels are used to add arbitrary notes and informative text to any plot. These
labels can be drawn with leader arrows or can be free standing.
Labels…
Item Description
The Movie tool allows you to combine a group of plots into an animated
sequence, which can be viewed in playback like a slideshow.
Movie…
The HP4145 Emulator is available for any Graph plot. Only one plot, however,
can be used with the emulator at any one time.
HP-4145…
The Integrate tool is used to measure the area under a single plot curve or the
area between two curves.
Integrate…
The Poisson Solver performs an electrical simulation with the 1D structure, and
calculates profiles for a set of electrical quantities.
Poisson Solver…
Tracers are used to illustrate the path of vector fields within 2D Mesh structures.
They are drawn as small markers, which can be positioned anywhere inside a
vector field, and are then animated by TonyPlot to show field strength and
Tracers…
direction.
Item Description
Interactive… This allows interactive user control over regression model parameters to
study the effects on the response surface.
Item Description
Failure Analysis… Failure Analysis predicts the most likely cause of failure in a production
situation, given the characteristics of the input parameters and the failed
condition.
Calibration… The Calibration tool is used to calibrate model parameters. This tool will
vary model parameters to best fit a set of measured data points.
Synthesis… After a set of outputs required from a production environment is given, this
feature calculates the best set of inputs that should be used to achieve that
goal.
Yield Analysis… Yield Analysis is used to predict the characteristics of output yield from a
production situation from known experimental data.
Input Parameter Ranges… As RSM data is loaded into TonyPlot, a record is kept of the greatest range
of each input parameter.The range and nominal value of any input can be
changed by using the Input Parameter Ranges dialog.
Input Distributions… As RSMs are loaded into TonyPlot, a default distribution is assigned to
each one. Using this data, TonyPlot can simulate real-life input values by
sampling data with the given distribution parameters. To alter the
distributions for any input, use the Input Distribution dialog.
SPC Limits… Each output parameter used in Production mode has a set of Statistical
Process Control (SPC) parameters, which can be used to monitor the value
of some measured value. The SPC Limits dialog can be used to add or
modify SPC Limit values for any output.
Experimental Results… Each output parameter modeled by an RSM has an associated experimental
value that was measured when the process input parameters were set to
their nominal values. Experimental Results is used if no experimental
value is given for an output, or if one needs to be changed.
Optimizer Setup… The Synthesis mode of the Production dialog provides two synthesis
methods. One method is the Levenberg-Marquardt optimizer. The
parameters for the Levenberg-Marquardt optimizer can be changed in the
Optimizer Setup dialog.
ASA Setup… The parameters for Adaptive Simulated Annealing (ASA) can be changed
in the ASA Setup dialog.
Item Description
Duplicate
Closes the selected plots and discards the data from memory.
Close
Select All
Stack Stack the plot subwindows to maximize the viewing area for the first plot.
Thumb Stack Stack the plot subwindows and display thumbnail images for navigation between
plots.
Item Description
TonyPlot Help
Release Notes
This shows a dialog notice displaying the version number of the program and its
component libraries.
About TonyPlot
• Plot Selection
• Pointer Zooming
• Key Commands
• Command Stream
• Plot Menu
When multiple plots are selected, the plots that are currently selected are indicated with an
orange triangular earmark in the top right corner of the plot. The first selected plot, or focus
plot, is indicated by a thin blue border around the plot.
When you release the mouse button, the plot will be redrawn so that the area within the box
fills the whole subwindow.
Note: All selected plots of the same type are zoomed in by the same relative coordinate of the
zoom rectangle.
To rotate an RSM or VWF 3D plot, hold down the left mouse button and drag the pointer left
and right over the plot. A wire-frame bounding cube will be drawn around the plot and rotates
as the mouse is moved. Position this cube to the desired viewing angle, and release the mouse
button. The plot is redrawn from the new view point.
To scale an RSM or VWF 3D plot, hold down the Shift key and the left mouse button. Then,
drag the pointer up and down over the plot. A wire-frame bounding cube is drawn around the
plot and grows or shrinks as the mouse is moved. Scale this cube to the desired size, and
release the mouse button. The plot is redrawn at the new size.
2.4 Legends
Data is of little use without a legend to explain its meaning. TonyPlot uses legends in a variety
of situations to explain how the information in a plot is being represented. Each legend is
drawn in a default position in a plot that does not overlap with any other legend. You can
change these default positions, if necessary. You can also drag legends to any location in the
window. In an overlay plot, a legend applies to all levels, since the data displayed on each
level is the same. An overlay plot also has its own “level” legend to indicate the different
levels in the plot.
The default locations are set up in such a way that there are no overlapping legends. When
choosing new default locations, be aware of the possibility of overlapping legend boxes. The
settings can be saved as the default settings to be used between sessions.
The second method is to position legend boxes manually. To do this, point to a legend box on
a selected plot. Then, drag the mouse while holding down the middle button. This allows you
• Legend type: This can be transparent or opaque. Transparent legends allow you to see the
plot underneath. Opaque legends overwrite the plot underneath them.
• Function label: When a function is plotted, it can be indicated on the appropriate legend
with either its name or its definition. For example, if Function 1 has been set up as
log(current/10) and you choose Name, the legend will display “Function 1”. If you
choose Definition, the legend will display “log(current/10)”.
2.5 Annotation
The Annotation dialog (Figure 2-2) allows you to specify plot parameters that are independent
on the data, which do not fall into the category of display settings. These are features such as
titles and axis ranges. The titles, axis labels and footers can use Greek characters and math
symbols via special tags. See Appendix C Greek and Math Characters for more information.
The features of a plot that are independent from the type of plot are called annotation features.
To access this dialog, select View→Annotation....
2.5.1 Titles
Each 1D or 2D plot has two titles. TonyPlot assigns these titles by default. You can change
them if required. The current main title and current subtitle are displayed in their respective
text fields on the dialog. You can change the titles without having to redraw the plot(s)
completely by changing the title and pressing the Apply button. This leaves all other items as
is and only the titles are redrawn on the selected set of plots.
Note: If you select Specify, you can change the titles. If Auto is selected, titles cannot be
changed. This allows you to change more than one plot with the Annotation dialog without the
titles on all plots ending up the same.
2.5.2 Show
This item controls features that appear around the edge of the plot. The icons represent, from
left to right, X axis ticks and numbers, Y axis ticks and numbers, grid, X axis label, Y axis
label, and zero lines. The large buttons can be used to invert the plot. For example, reverse the
positive and negative directions of the X or Y axis.
2.5.3 Range
The default ranges on the X and Y axes are calculated to ensure that all of the data from all
structures in the plot can be seen. You can change these values. Selecting Specify rather than
Auto enables the axis control items, allowing you to enter the minimum and maximum values,
as well as the division and number of ticks per division.
When the axis ranges are specifically set and applied to multiple selected plots, all plots are
scaled the same. This allows easy plot comparison of similar data.
When you select a statistics plot and summon the Annotation plot, the range controls include
a choice to allow you to select Auto bins (automatically determined by TonyPlot according to
the data range) or to specify the bin values. When you choose Specify, use the min and max
text fields to enter the minimum and maximum bin values. Then, enter the Number of bins to
be used between these limits. TonyPlot adds each bin value to the scrolling list when you press
the Apply button.
Note: Cross Section plots generated by the Cutline tool will display an automatic x axis label
if none is entered manually. This automatic title is provided by TonyPlot according to the type
of cutline x axis desired (see Preferences).
2.5.6 Footers
Any 1D or 2D plot can have footer subtitles in the left or right or both corners. No footers are
drawn by default. You can add them with these text fields in this dialog.
2.7 Tools
As well as displaying information contained in structures, TonyPlot can examine that
information in a variety of ways. Each method of examining the data is called a Tool.
The Object Browser displays the configurable objects of a plot as a hierarchical tree. When
an object is selected, that object’s properties are displayed as Property, Value pairs in the
table below. Each Value can be edited, and any changes are immediately updated in the plot
drawing.
The Cut Line tool dialog (Figure 2-5) consists of the following items:
Create: The top section provides different choices for creating cut lines. These choices are
free, vertical, horizontal, chained, interface, and keyboard. Each of these is described below.
• Select: The center portion allows you to choose any cut plane created for manipulation.
This includes shifting and movie making of the cutline.
• Movie: The movie section (displayed when the Make movie button is clicked on) is used
to make a movie from a cut line by repeatedly moving its position.
Shift Position: You can move a cut plane once created by using these controls, which are
displayed when you click on this button.
Note: While dragging, holding down the Shift key causes the start point to move as well as
the end point.
• Free: To define a free cut line, drag the mouse over the source plot to define a line through
the mesh. Releasing the mouse button creates the cross section.
• Vertical: Same as free but dragging is restricted to a vertical direction. Release the mouse
button to create the cross section.
• Horizontal: Same as free but dragging is restricted to a horizontal direction. Release the
mouse button to create the cross section.
• Chained: To create a chained cut line, click on the mouse left button in various places to
create a polygon of chain line segments. To erase to last point placed, use Shift + Left
Click. Press the Return key to create the cross section.
• Interface: To create this type of cut line, click on the mouse left button to place two points
on any interface (region boundary). Use Shift + Left Click to erase to last point placed.
Press Return to see the portion of the interface along which the cross section is calculated.
If the portion is wrong, press to try other routes. When ready to create to cross section,
press the Return key once more.
• Keyboard: To create a new cut line with exact start and end coordinates, enter the start
and end points into the text fields supplied and click on Create. This creates the new cross
section from the line so defined.
Default titles show the mesh data file from which the cut was made, and show the start and
end positions of the line.
Interface cut lines create an overlay plot from a single mesh plot. Each level in the overlay
represents profiles from one of the materials present at the interface. For example, an interface
cut line taken along an oxide/silicon interface creates an overlay cross section with one level
showing profiles in oxide and the other level showing profiles in silicon.
Any other type of cut line produces an overlay cross section if the source plot was an overlay
plot. In this case, the new cross section contains one level for each level in the mesh plot. For
example, if two meshes alpha and beta are overlaid and a cut line taken, the new cross section
plot contains two levels. The first level contains profiles from alpha. The second level shows
profiles from beta.
2.7.2.4 Deleting
To delete a cut line, delete the cross-section plot. This removes the cutline from the mesh from
which it was created if still present in the view.
2.7.2.5 Shifting
To shift any created cut line (except interface cut lines), click on the Shift Position button. By
using the directional arrows on the Cut Line tool dialog, the cut line position is moved up,
down, left or right.
The amount moved is shown in the Delta text fields, which can be modified. To use the shift
feature, select the mesh plot that contains the cut line.
2.7.2.6 Movies
You can create a cut line movie automatically from the Cut Line Tool dialog. It is created
simply by moving the cut line position many times and sequencing the resulting cross sections.
To create a movie, define the step size and number of steps, and define whether to move the
cross section horizontally or vertically. Note that this does not move the actual position of the
cut line on the plot as shifting does. To use the movie feature, select the mesh plot that contains
the cut line.
• Coordinate Planes: Allows slicing in the XY, XZ and YZ planes. The position line-edit
and slider controls specify the absolute position along the axis normal to the chosen plane.
• Pan/Pitch/Elevation: The pan and pitch angles are used to orient a normal to the plane,
and the elevation specifies a relative distance along the normal.
• 3-Points: Three points can be used to specify the slicing plane. The entered coordinates
must be unique and must not be collinear.
While positioning the cutplane, you can monitor the positioning continuously as it changes or
update it after it has been moved. To do this, toggle the Interactive Drag. When Interactive
Drag is checked, the cutplane preview will update continuously when the slider controls are
adjusted.
Note: When a structure has many mesh vertices, selecting Interactive Drag can cause the
controls to lag and become unresponsive while TonyPlot repeatedly re-computes the 2D slice.
2.7.3.2 Options
TonyPlot allows you to control how 3D vector quantities are sliced onto the 2D cutplane.
When Project Vector Quantities is checked, vector quantities are mapped onto the XY plane.
The top half of the dialog shows the various settings to adjust the cutplane, while the bottom
half shows a preview of the extracted cutplane.
The controls in the Slice Settings area optionally allow multiple, uniformly spaced, cutplane
slices to be created in a single action. The resulting slices will all be parallel to the slice defined
in the Cutplane Dialog.
2.7.4 Markers
The Markers tool is used to create labels or markers on a 3D mesh plot. A marker consists of
a small dot at a specified (X, Y, Z) coordinate, a line, and a text label. The positions of the line
end point and the label are determined automatically by projecting a ray from the center of the
structure, through the marker coordinate.
2.7.5 Probe
The Probe tool allows you to probe information about any point within a 2D or 3D Mesh.
2.7.5.1 2D Mesh
The Probe tool for 2D Meshes provides both geometry and impurity data and can be used to
find specified structural features. This can be useful for debugging simulator output as well as
for general use. To use the Probe, select one or more 2D Mesh plots and choose
Tools→Probe…. Click anywhere within a structure to activate the probe. A crosshair marker
indicated the last position clicked. Measurements are then displayed in the Probe dialog box
as shown in Figure 2-9.
• Probe Coordinates: The panel at the top of the tool dialog box shows the position where
the probe was last placed.
• Geometry Info: The second panel shows information about the triangle in which the
probe was positioned. The internal index is given for the triangle itself and for each of its
three vertices. The actual coordinates of the corners are also displayed.
2.7.5.2 3D Mesh
The Probe tool for 3D Meshes provides both geometry and impurity data. To probe a point,
click on the Probe button in the Toolbar, or select Tools→Probe..., then click on the point
you wish to examine. When you click on the structure, a probe marker sphere appears at the
selected location on the structure. The Probe View (Figure 2-10) is then updated with the
relevant information. If Snap is checked, the probe position is snapped to that of the mesh
vertex nearest to the point that was clicked.
The Probe View will display the probe marker sphere and the picked element (tetrahedron,
prism, triangle or quad), with node identifiers drawn at each of the vertices. For each node,
quantity values are displayed. The exact position of the probe is also shown with its material
and region identification. The ellipsis button on the Position line allows a probe position to be
manually entered, for precise positioning at a point of interest.
2.7.6 Ruler
The Ruler tool can be used on any type of plot. It provides coordinate geometry information
of any line drawn over a structure.
2.7.6.1 1D and 2D
To use the Ruler (Figure 2-11), select the plots in which measurements are to be taken and
choose Tools→Ruler.... This item is only active when at least one plot is selected.
The ruler position is defined by dragging the pointer across the plot to define a box and line.
Holding the Shift key down while dragging the pointer moves the start and the end points of
the ruler. The Ruler dialog shows the following information:
a permanent ruler.
To return to normal use of the plot window, close the Ruler dialog.
2.7.6.2 3D
The Ruler Dialog for 3D Mesh Plots (Figure 2-12) is used to obtain information about
quantities within a 3D mesh structure. To use the ruler, first select Tools→Ruler.... Press and
hold the CTRL key and the left mouse button where you wish to start. Then, drag the mouse
and release the button where you wish to stop.
The Start and End XYZ positions with the difference between each respective pair, Delta,
displayed. The length of the line, Length, is also shown. Any quantity values present in the
structure are also displayed for the Start and End points, along with their difference.
Rulers can be made permanent by setting the Anchor ruler switch. To anchor a ruler, check
the Anchor Ruler box before you draw the ruler. A ruler identifier will be created. You can
anchor multiple rulers in a structure, each of which will have a unique identifier. You can
delete each ruler separately or all at once.
If Snap to vertex is checked, TonyPlot will snap the start and end points to the mesh vertex
nearest to the mouse pointer when the ruler is placed. If Snap to vertex is unchecked, the start
and end points will be interpolated.
2.7.7 Labels
Labels are used to add arbitrary notes and informative text to any 1D or 2D plot. For 3D plots,
see the Markers tool. Labels can be drawn with leader arrows or can be free standing. The
Labels dialog (Figure 2-13) is used to add, change, and delete these labels. To access this
dialog, select Plot→Labels. As with the Annotation dialog, the Labels dialog is the same for
all plot types. The difference, however, is that only the first selected plot is affected. Each plot
has a list of labels associated with it. Each label has a position in the plot to which it belongs.
The labels that belong to the selected plot are shown in the list on the Labels dialog. Labels
can use Greek characters and math symbols via special tags. See Appendix C Greek and Math
Characters for more information.
• List of labels: This list contains all the labels that have been defined for the selected plot.
• Label: This shows the text of the selected label and is used to enter new text when creating
or changing a label.
• Arrow: Checking this box will add an arrowhead to the end of the label leader line.
• Create: Clicking on this button creates a new label with the text shown in the Label text
field. If the field is empty, the new label is created with its text set to New label. The label
attributes are set from the state of the attribute items (e.g., arrow and size). You can have
more than one label with identical text.
• Update: This replaces the selected label with new text or attributes or both. Use to change
the label attributes, such as color and size.
• Delete: Clicking on this button deletes the label that is selected in the list. The label is
removed from the plot if it has been placed.
• Text Size: This controls the size of the letters in the label. Three sizes are possible: Small,
Medium, and Large.
• Text Direction: This determines the direction of the text. The normal choice is Right,
which draws regular text. Up and Down draw text rotated by 90° upwards or downwards.
• Line: When placing a label with a leader line, the leader line can be forced to snap to
angles of 45°. This is a “constrained” leader line. A “Free” leader line can be drawn at any
angle.
• Color: A color palette is provided for selection of the label color. This is used for both the
text and the leader line.
If a leader label is being placed, the start of the drag is where the text will appear, and the end
of the drag will be the end of leader. In other words, the position to which the leader points.
As with any drag operation, holding down the Shift key moves the start and the end points of
the drag. When the drag is done, the label text is positioned correctly relative to the direction
of the leader line. For example, if the leader points down and to the right, the text will be
placed so that the leader starts from the bottom right corner of the text.
If you place a simple text-only label, the cursor indicates how the text is positioned by pointing
to a corner. For example, if the cursor points up and right, the text will be placed so that the
clicked point is in the bottom left of the text. You can change the cursor to obtain different
alignments by pressing the P key on the keyboard. Four positions are available.
• Integration Tool: This tool (see Integrate) adds a label to show the integrated x-range and
area. Although placed in a default position, you can customize the label attributes with the
Labels dialog.
• 2D RSM Plots: Pressing the ‘V’ key in a 2D RSM plot adds a spot height label to the plot.
The label can be moved but the height does not change, so the label value would then be
invalid.
• Electrode Names: 2D Mesh structures from Athena or Atlas can contain electrode
information. When electrode names are plotted, they appear as labels. By default, they are
positioned over the appropriate electrode but can be moved if desired.
2.7.8 Movie
The Movie tool allows you to combine a group of plots into an animated sequence, which can
be viewed in playback like a slideshow. To create a movie, you must select the slides. To do
this, create a group of plots in the main TonyPlot view, select this group, and choose Movie....
This item is active when you select at least two plots. You will notice a delay while TonyPlot
creates the movie sequence. When complete, the Movie dialog (Figure 2-15) appears, showing
the first frame of the movie and a group of control items.
You can change the size of Movie dialog. This is explained in Preferences. The control items
are:
• Video controls: The five play buttons perform the following functions: rewind to first
frame, play backwards, stop at current frame, play forwards, and skip to last frame.
• Repeat: This is the item marked with a looping arrow. This repeats playback in an endless
cycle in the direction determined by the play button pressed.
• Speed: Three playback speeds are available. To see playback speed, select the new speed
and press a play button.
• Export: This item allows you to export the current movie as an animated GIF.
TonyPlot can create automatic movie sequences from cutlines without repetitive use of the
Cutline and Movie tools.
2.7.9 HP4145
The HP4145 Emulator is available for any graph plot. Only one plot, however, can be used
with the emulator at any one time. When you select this option (Tools→HP4145), the first
selected graph plot changes to mimic the output of the HP4145. The HP4145 dialog (Figure
2-16) appears containing controls that resemble the functions of the HP4145.
select between existing cursors (the current cursor is shown in bold), and to toggle the size
of the current cursor between small and full screen. The four directional buttons move the
current cursor. The central button moves the current cursor directly to the marker
• Marker: The marker can be moved along its current graph line by moving the dial. To
move the dial counterclockwise, click at the left half of the button. To move the dial
clockwise, clicking at the right half of the button. Skip moves the marker from one curve
to the next, cycling back to the first curve when the last one has been reached.
• Options: Several options can be accessed from the middle panel. Line 1 and Line 2
toggles a line that joins the marker and cursor. Various geometry information about the
lines is displayed on the dialog and on the legend. Reticule toggles the plot grid (the same
grid that is shown using the Annotation dialog). Legend toggles the HP4145 legend. OK
closes the HP4145 emulator and restores the plot to normal.
• Information: The lower panel gives position information for the marker and current
cursor, and geometry information for both lines.
2.7.10 Integrate
The Integrate tool (Figure 2-17) allows you to measure the area under a single plot curve or
the area between two curves. The X interval over which the area is calculated can be set by
positioning marker lines at certain locations along the X axis. The Integration tool works with
both XY Graph and Cross Section plots.
2.7.10.1 Features
This list shows all the points of interest on the curve in the plot used. It shows all minima and
maxima, as well as the start and end X values and positions of all material interfaces. The
marker lines, which are used to define the X interval for the integration, can be moved to any
of these features, using the arrow buttons or by using the mouse. You can also use the mouse
pointer to add more features. See Plot Control for more information.
2.7.10.2 Options
You can toggle some options when using the Integrate tool. The following options appear in
a line under the scrolling list.
• Draw area fills the area under/between the curve(s) with a hatched pattern when turned
on. If turned off, no area is drawn, but it is still calculated.
• Absolute value uses positive areas only, taking the absolute value of all Y axis values. If
turned off, areas below the Y=0 line have a negative area.
• Use log of Y calculates the area using log values of Y, rather than the true linear value.
This option is independent of the method used to draw the Y-axis. In other words, you can
draw a curve on a log Y-axis scale but calculate the area on a linear scale.
• Convert X um to cm converts from microns to centimeters. X-axis quantities are
sometimes plotted in microns (e.g., cross section plots). Y-axis quantities are often given
in terms of cm or cm3. Use this option to calculate the area with the X-axis values
converted from microns to cm.
• Results continually displays the current area and interval on the right.
• Line control positions the two lines that specify the interval used for area calculation.
These lines can be moved with the buttons marked with left and right arrows. The lines
can be placed at any of the features that are shown in the list. You can move a line directly
to any feature by choosing either Move RED line to selected or Move BLUE line to
selected from the list. This causes the appropriate line to move to the feature currently
selected in the list.
• Add Label creates a label in the plot with the integral information. Pressing the button
multiple times updates the label with the latest Real and Interval values.
You can also create new features. To do this, hold down the Shift key and repeat the procedure
above. This time, the marker line can be moved to any X location. When you release the mouse
button, add a new feature at the current line position and move the line to it.
• Layers and bias: The Poisson Solver dialog shows a scrolling list of all electrical layers
within a structure. The layers are areas of the same material. Silicon areas are divided up
into n-type and p-type silicon. Along with each layer is shown a bias (in Volts), which is
applied to that layer, when the solver is used.
• Marker: The Marker control can be used to move the marker arrow from one layer to the
next. The marker arrow is used to select layers for applying an external bias.
• Setup...: Click on this button to open the Poisson Solver options panel. These options
control the solver.
• Solve: Click on this button to perform the simulation with the current options and biases.
When the solution is complete, a plot of potential is displayed. Other solutions can be plotted
by using the Plot display dialog. The following list of quantities solved is:
• Electron QFL
• Hole QFL
• Electron density
• Hole density
• Intrinsic conc. (nio)
• Potential
• Electron (e-) Mobility
• Hole (h+) Mobility
• Electric Field
• Electrical Conductivity
The Poisson Solver tool provides a built-in 1D electrical solver, which can be used to perform
basic simulations of 1D structures. When it is used, the display of the first selected 1D plot
shows all electrical “layers” in the structure and one profile (usually “net doping”). An arrow
is drawn at the first layer.
The current layer is selected in the scrolling list on the dialog. The bias can then be specified
by typing the value into the field marked Bias on the dialog. Press Return to update the list.
For p-type silicon, the bias is converted to a negative value automatically, and to a positive
value for n-type. When you set all the desired biases, initiate the solver by clicking on the
Solve button.
• Display Solved Quantities: This list shows all the quantities that the solver calculates.
Only the ones selected, however, are displayed when the solution in complete. All other
quantities can be accessed later from the Plot Display dialog. If other quantities are to be
displayed automatically, choose them here. More than one can be selected. This does not
affect which quantities are calculated, only the ones that are displayed by default.
• Temperature: This specifies the temperature to be used for the simulation or use the
automatic default.
• FE Mobility: This activates the field effect mobility option for the simulation.
• Work function: Enter a specific work function with this option or use the default value.
• SOI Device: This simulates a device with Silicon On Insulator (SOI) structure layers.
2.7.12 Tracers
Tracers are used to illustrate the path of vector fields within 2D Mesh structures. They are
drawn as small markers, which can be positioned anywhere inside a vector field, and are then
animated by TonyPlot to show field strength and direction. The Tracers dialog (Figure 2-19)
is used to control the positioning and animation of the markers.
• Quantity: This selects the vector quantity that the tracers should follow. These are the
same quantities that are shown on the Vectors dialog (accessed from the Plot Display
dialog), but the vectors do not have to be displayed for the tracers to work.
• Tracers placed: This indicates the number of tracers that have been placed on the plot,
and the number of tracers available.
• Animation control: Three video-like controls are provided to control the animation of the
markers. These controls do the following: return all markers to their starting points, starts
the markers, and stops them at their current positions.
• Speed: There are three speeds available for the animation: Slow, Medium, and Fast. To
change the speed while the markers are moving, press Speed again.
• Calculate: When you have placed all the markers you wish to animate, click on the
Calculate button. TonyPlot then traces out the path of each marker. Progress is reported
in the lower left corner of the main TonyPlot frame. When all the paths have been
calculated, the markers can be animated. Markers can be placed anywhere within a vector
field by clicking at the position where you want a marker to start. The counter on the dialog
indicates how many have been placed. To remove a marker, press the Shift key and click
near to the marker to remove. The one nearest the pointer is erased, and if its path has been
drawn that too is erased.
• Setup...: Press this button to see the small panel of setup options available in the Tracers
tool. See the following section.
2.7.12.1 Setup
Clicking on the Setup... button to reveal the options panel on the Tracer tool dialog
• Color: All markers placed use the currently selected color. Different markers can have
different colors by changing the color for each marker placed. Tracer path lines are drawn
in the same color as the marker that follows it.
• Max. jump: This value controls the “granularity” of the path calculation. Higher numbers
reduce the calculation time but give only approximate paths with long jumps. Smaller
numbers produce more accurate paths but take longer to calculate.
• Lines: When turned on, lines are drawn along the tracer paths as the paths are calculated.
If turned off, the path is not shown but the tracers still follow the same route.
• Cycle: Three cycle modes are available which control the action of markers when they
reach the ends of their paths. The first choice stops all tracers as soon as one tracer reached
the end. The second choice stops each marker as it reaches the end of its own path. The
third choice makes each tracer move in a loop, returning to its start point each time it
reaches the end.
2.8 Functions
Functions allow you to further customize the output that can be produced and to extend the
amount of data that can be plotted without needing further simulation runs and large data files.
TonyPlot allows you to create functions for use with XY Graph or 2D Mesh plots. It also uses
an advanced mathematical parser to calculate function results from math expressions.
The Functions dialog can be displayed from the main Edit menu. It can also be displayed from
the buttons marked Functions... that appears in the XY Graph Display dialog, and the
Contours dialog.
• Graph functions: These are used on XY Graph plots only and are defined in terms of graph
(electrical) quantities.
• Impurity functions: These functions can be used in Mesh plots and Cross Section plots
only and are defined in terms of impurities.
It is possible to nest functions by including the name of one function as a variable in another.
2.8.3 Plotting
When choosing a function to plot, TonyPlot evaluates the results of the function at each data
point and stores these values in the data attached to each plot level. Then, the function can be
drawn along with any other quantity also selected.
2.8.3.1 Example
Suppose a Master file contains values for the four dopant impurities boron, arsenic,
phosphorus and antimony. We can use a function to compute the net doping by entering the
following as Function 1.
Most plots of net doping, however, are shown on log scales (this is the default for TonyPlot)
so you need to calculate the log of this sum. Make sure the total is positive beforehand, so use
abs() to get the absolute value:
The data for each dopant, however, is not useful below values of around 1e12. TonyPlot
usually does not show values below this level. But with a function, it cannot tell that this is
needed.
Therefore, use the max() operator to keep the function result within a useful range:
Simplify this expression by splitting into two functions and nesting one inside the other, as
follows:
Now plot Function 2 on a Mesh or Cross Section plot. It will show the profile of Net Doping
(clipped at 1e12).
• Function Macros: This shows all the macro names currently known to TonyPlot.
• Macro Name: Shows the name of the macro.
• Macro Definition: Shows the definition of the macro.
• Add: To create a new macro, click this button, then enter a new name and definition for
the macro. The new name appears in the list. If the name already exists, the old definition
is replaced.
• Delete: This deletes the macro that is currently selected in the name list.
The macro names can then be used in any function as though the whole definition had been
typed.
For example, in the Net doping example, we could add a macro called net_dop and in the
definition window, enter:
This makes the function definitions easier to read and allows useful names to be added to the
plot legend.
All macros can be saved to a defaults file for use any time TonyPlot is used. Two buttons on
the dialog allow defaults to be saved and loaded at any time.
a + b a plus b
a – b a minus b
a / b a divided by b
a * b a multiplied by b
a ^ b a to the power of b
-a negative a
asin(a) arcsine of a
acos(a) arccosine of a
atan(a) arctangent of a
Expressions can use parentheses to change the operator precedence where needed.
If an expression contains an error, this is reported when the function is plotted. Invalid values
are for the most part plotted as zero, except for log(), which uses the value predefined in the
property called Log Zero. If a function does contain an error, TonyPlot displays a notice box
informing you of the type of error encountered. A syntax error causes all function values to be
zero. An evaluation error causes just the offending data points to be zero.
The derivative function dydx can take any two variables. It also accepts distance to represent
the x value. For example, a vertical cutline dydx(boron, distance) would give the
derivative of boron concentration against depth.
3.1 Overview
If the View→Display… menu action is selected while a 2D Mesh plot is selected, the 2D
Mesh Display dialog is shown (Figure 3-1). It shows the current display settings for the first
selected 2D Mesh plot. When the settings on the display dialog are applied, all selected 2D
Mesh plots are affected. In this way it is easy to apply global changes to similar plots in the
view. The dialog shows the features that can be displayed in 2D Mesh plots.
The icons shown on the 2D Mesh Display dialog are described in Table 3-1.
Mesh
Edges
Regions
Contours
Vectors
Light
Junctions
Electrodes
3D
Adds lines dates to plots for ionization integrals or Monte Carlo ion implant.
Lines
Some of these features have further control dialogs, which can be accessed from the Define
button. The features that have detailed control are: Regions, Contours, Vectors, Light,
Junctions, 3D, and Lines.
3.2 Regions
There are several ways that TonyPlot can display mesh regions. The Regions dialog (Figure
3-2), is accessed by pressing the Regions icon, and then selecting Define→Regions.
The first choice controls the way in which regions are drawn. The following options are:
The second choice determines the parameter used when determining the regions color. The
first two options are always available: Material and Region. If you choose Material, the color
represents the material of the region (e.g., silicon or oxide) and the region legend shows the
material names. If you choose Region, then each region has its own unique color and the
legend shows the name of each region. If the data contains further region information (e.g.,
workfunction and phase), then these are also available, and the legend shows the values of
these parameters in each region. Any regions that are one-dimensional (e.g., substrate
electrodes) are drawn as thick lines, since they do not enclose a complete area.
3.3 Contours
Contouring is the most commonly used method for visualizing data on two dimensional
meshes. The contouring facilities in TonyPlot provide sufficient control for obtaining any
desired plot. Both contour plots and fringe plots (filled contours) are available with material
naming and range control to limit the plot to a restricted subset of the data. Each plot can have
up to three sets of contours displayed at once. This makes it possible to view more than one
quantity simultaneously, either all filled but in different material regions, or all lines over all
materials or any other combination. Of course, if all three sets are filled sets and all are plotted
over the same materials, only the third set (the last one to be drawn) will be visible. If lines
and filled sets are combined, the filled set should come before the line set.
TonyPlot selects a default quantity whenever possible. This allows contours to be plotted
without the need to use the Contours dialog (Figure 3-3).
Just select contours from the Mesh Display dialog, and plot them by clicking on the Apply
button. The Contours dialog appears if you select contours on the 2D Mesh dialog and then
select Define→Contours. The dialog is divided into subsections, as follows:
• Set number: This subsection shows which set is currently being edited. Set 2 will only be
plotted if set 1 is plotted, and set 3 will only be plotted if set 2 is plotted. To plot a set, the
quantity (see below) must be anything other than None.
• Quantity: Choose the quantity to be contoured. If the range items (see below) are set to
Auto, the corresponding minimum and maximum text fields are updated to show the range
of the new quantity. If None is selected, the current contour set will not be plotted. One of
two functions may also be chosen. Functions are defined from the Functions dialog (see
Section 2.8 Functions).
• Materials: The part of the structure on which contours are drawn can be limited to regions
of a certain material. If no materials are selected in the list, this is treated as all being
selected (the default). If you do not plot the contours on any material, set the Quantity to
None.
• Range: The group of items on the right part of the dialog control the range of the data
through which contours are plotted. The maximum (top item), minimum (middle item),
and interval or number of steps (bottom item) can be set or left to automatic defaults. The
default minimum and maximum values are the minimum and maximum values of the data
in the structure(s). The default number of steps is the same as the number of colors in the
current color set.
• Drawing style: Selecting the pencil creates line contours, while the paintbrush creates
filled contours (fringe plot). If you plot filled contours, you can add optional outlines by
selecting the Outline icon, which is to the right of the paintbrush. TonyPlot provides
several color sets which can be used for contour plotting. If the contour range is determined
by the number of steps (Num: selected), the number updates to match the number of colors
available in the color set when one is selected.
• Level widths: If you set the drawing style to line contour, this option forces overlaid plots
to use a different line width for each level.
• Legend title: The legend title can either be set automatically by TonyPlot (set to Auto),
or manually entered to create a custom title (set to Specify). An automatic title consists of
the name of the quantity plotted, with units if appropriate. A custom title is created by
entering the desired text into the text field supplied. This title is used on the contour legend
for this contour set.
• Functions: Click on this button to display the Functions dialog. This dialog can be used
to define the functions of the original quantities that can be selected from the choice of
Quantities.
3.4 Vectors
Vectors can be plotted for standard (the default) or user-defined vector quantities. TonyPlot
automatically detects the standard quantities made of an X component and a Y component.
They are shown in the Quantity pulldown menu. To create a vector made of unrelated X and
Y quantities, select the Custom option.
Vectors are represented on the plot by arrows. The direction of the arrow shows orientation of
the vector. The color or length of the arrow or both shows the magnitude of the vector. The
Vectors dialog (Figure 3-4) will appear if you choose Vectors on the Mesh 2D display dialog.
selected (the default). If you do not plot the vectors in any materials, set the Quantity or
Component X/Y to None.
• Range: The range items on the right-hand side of the dialog control the sizes of the vector
arrows drawn. The longest arrow matches the vector with the greatest magnitude, and the
shortest arrow matches the smallest magnitude. If the smaller length is specified as zero,
then the lengths of the draw arrow are directly proportional to the vector magnitude.
• Regions: The part of the structure on which vectors are drawn can be limited to the
specified region. If no regions are selected in the list, then it is treated as all being selected
(the default).
• Colors: This specifies the color sets for the arrows. These are the same color sets that are
used on the Contours dialog.
• Use Linear Interpolation: If you check this option, you can interpolate vectors onto a
cartesian grid. This can be useful if the vectors are particularly dense.
• Functions: This displays the Functions dialog used to define the two functions you can
select in the Quantity pulldown menu.
• Beam: When beams are present in the structure, they are shown as selectable numbers on
this item. Any of the beams can be shown at once by selected the required beam numbers.
If no light information is present in the structure, the option None is shown to show that
there are no beams.
• Materials: The part of the structure on which light beams are drawn can be limited to
regions of a certain material. If no materials are selected in the list, this is treated as all
being selected (the default). If the beams should not be plotted on any material, deselect
all beam numbers.
• Show as: There are two ways to show light beams. One way as lines that show the path of
the beam. Another way solid areas that also show the width of the beam. Choose the
required option with this item.
• Color function: The light beam rays can be colored in a variety of ways. Wavelength
colors the rays to match the wavelength. Wavelengths in the ultra-violet region and shorter
are shown as dark purple. Wavelength in the infra-red region and longer are shown as dark
red. Power assigns a color from the chosen color set dependent on the beam intensity.
Beam number assigns one color to each beam. Reflection Index assigns the color of a
ray according to the number of times it has been reflected.
• Colors: This allows you to choose a color set. These are the same as those available on
the Contour and Vector dialogs.
• Maximum reflection: This can be used to limit the number of rays drawn. Only rays that
have been reflected this many times or less are drawn.
3.6 Junction
You can plot depletion region edges from device simulations (Figure 3-6) and metallurgical
junctions. Depletion factor is the value of the ratio of majority carriers to doping used to
determine the depletion region edge.
3.7 3D
A 2D structure that can be contoured can also be elevated by choosing the 3D option and
defining some parameters in this dialog.
• Elevation: Any quantity can be chosen as the elevation. The height of the surface at any
point is proportional to the value of the elevation quantity.
• Show: There are number of optional items that can be drawn on a 3D plot, and each is
described by a small icon on the Show item. Choose the ones desired from this list.
• View: The view projection can be one of two choices: Parallel or Perspective.
• Log: You can select whether to log each of the axes individually.
3.8 Lines
You can overlay lines onto a 2D plot using the Lines dialog (Figure 3-8). This is used to show
static field lines on ion implant tracks.
The icon buttons control the drawing of the Lines and pseudo Contours. The icon buttons are
described in Table 3-2.
Lines
Contours
3.9 Transforms
The Transform 2D Mesh dialog (Figure 3-9) allows mathematical operations to be performed
between multiple selected 2D Mesh quantities. For example, you can add the voltages from
two different structures.
4.1 Overview
A variety of 3D Mesh Plot features are controlled using the 3D Display dialog. This is accessed
by selecting View→Display… when a 3D Mesh Plot is selected.
4.3 Contours
The Contour Display Mode is shown in Figure 4-2. Contours are shown as a colorization of
the exterior faces of the structure regions.
The Quantity option box holds all the quantities present in the data set. Choose one of these
quantities to use for contouring.
• All Materials All nodes in the structure are used to determine the data range.
• Outline Materials Only nodes in the checked materials in the Outlined Materials list are
used.
• Selected Objects The data range is computed from the list of selected objects in the scene.
The limits can also be set manually by unchecking the Use default controls and specifying the
The quantity values can either be plotted with either a linear or logarithmic scale. When the
Mapping is Linear, the values are directly mapped to the legend's colors. When the mapping
is Logarithmic, the log10 is taken before the mapping occurs. If Use default is checked,
TonyPlot will chose the mapping automatically based on the selected contour Quantity.
4.4 Isosurfaces
The Isosurface Display Mode (Figure 4-3) is used to show surfaces of constant value
throughout a 3D structure. The Quantity controls which impurity is used in the computation.
The value of an isosurface must be within the data range (Min, Max) of the selected Quantity
and can be set using the Value text field, or using the slider control. To view an isosurface,
you can either turn on the Preview isosurface or select the Create button. Once created, the
isosurface will appear in the isosurface list. To delete one or more isosurfaces, select them in
the list and then click Delete. You can use the Draw mode control to change the appearance
of all the isosurfaces at once.
To obtain the junction surface for Net Doping, click the Junction button.
4.5 Rays
When a 3D Mesh structure is opened that contains ray traces, the rays display mode is
automatically selected, and the rays are displayed in the plot. The Display Mode: Rays panel
(Figure 4-4) shows a summary of the ray trace data in tabular format.
By default, the ray traces are colored according to the wavelength of each trace. Wavelengths
in the infra-red region are displayed as a dark red color, while ultra-violet wavelengths are
displayed as dark purple.
The properties of the ray trace display can be examined and edited using the Object Browser
(see Section 2.7.1 Object Browser). In this way, rays of specific wavelengths can be displayed
or hidden as needed. The ray display can be turned off entirely by unchecking the View→Rays
menu item.
4.6 Vectors
When a 3D structure contains vector data, you can use Vectors feature to visualize their
directions and magnitudes. The vectors are interpolated and sampled on a uniform axis-aligned
grid. Figure 4-5 shows the Display Mode: Vectors panel.
To display a set of vectors, use the Quantity combo box to select a vector quantity. The
number of samples along each axis can be set using the respective boxes for X, Y, and Z. The
Drawing Settings controls are used to scale the relative length and radius of the displayed
vectors. Press the Create button to create the vector set. Once created, the vector set will
appear in the samples list. To delete one or more vector sets, select them in the list and then
click Delete.
Note: Creating a vector set may take a few moments if the structure contains many vertices
and/or many samples are requested.
5. XY Graph Display
5.1 Overview
The XY Graph Plot dialog (see Figure 5-1) shows the current display settings for the first
selected graph plot. When the settings on the display dialog are applied, all selected graph
plots are affected. This permits much easier application of global changes to similar plots in
the view. The XY Graph Plot dialog contains all the controls needed for complete control of
graph plots.
• Show: This allows you to select (Points/Lines) the way lines are drawn on the graph.
• Type: This specifies the type of graph that is to be drawn. The options represent Cartesian
graphs, polar plots, and Smith charts. The data that is plotted is mapped onto axes of the
chosen type. If the data is in a format that matches the type chosen (e.g. [r, theta] pairs for
polar plots), then selecting the Convert Data button tells TonyPlot to transform the
coordinates before plotting them.
• Display CIE Overlay: This displays a diagram of the CIE 1931 color space.
• Functions: This displays the Functions dialog, which can be used to define the functions
that can be selected from the choice of Quantities. Functions can be plotted on any axis.
The type of graph chosen will affect the controls on the remainder of the XY Graph
Display dialog.
Since only one quantity can be plotted on the x-axis, there is an item to select a linear or log
(base 10) x-axis. Choose the one desired. For the y-axis, more than one quantity can be plotted.
If all of them are to be on a linear scale, choose Linear for the y1 scale. Choose Log if they
are all to be log. Choose Use Mixed Y Axes if both linear and log quantities are to be plotted
on the y-axis.
X Quantity
One quantity can be chosen for plotting on the x-axis. All quantities available in all selected
plots appear in this list. If one of the plots does not have data for the chosen quantity, nothing
is drawn.
Y Quantities
Any number of quantities can be chosen for plotting on the y-axis. All quantities available in
all selected plots appear in two lists. The Y1 Scale controls whether the Y Quantities 1 list is
linear or log. The Y2 Scale similarly controls the Y Quantities 2 list. The Y Quantities 2 list
is only available if Use Mixed Y Axes is selected.
A context menu attached to each list (accessed by clicking the right mouse button over the list)
makes list control a little easier. There are options to move selections from one list to the other,
and for rapidly selecting, deselecting and locating choices in the lists.
Group
When Cartesian data is plotted that contains different groups of data sets for the same y
quantity, this item can be used to specify which quantity divides the y value into its distinct
groups. For example, a structure may contain data to show several plots of drain current against
drain voltage for different values of gate voltage. In this case, the x-axis would be set to “drain
voltage”, the y-axis to “drain current” and the Group item to “gate voltage”. The plot would
show one curve of Id vs. Vd for each value of Vg.
Two quantities are used to specify each curve. By default, the quantities real and imaginary
are used when the data is not converted. If the data is to be converted, the quantities R (radius)
and A (angle) are used. The data should only be converted if it appears in (r, theta) form in the
structure. When quantities are present that TonyPlot recognizes as being usually displayed on
polar charts, TonyPlot tries to automatically select an “i” (or “A”) quantity whenever you
choose an “r” (or “R”) quantity.
The real or radius quantity can be logged before plotting, and the angle quantity can be
specified in terms of degrees or radians. Choose the setting which corresponds to the data in
the structure.
There are some options to control the polar chart drawn. The chart can be drawn proportionally
(e.g., concentric circles appear as circles, even if the plot window is not square) and radial
labels can be shown in degrees (radians is the default). The radial lines can be drawn at various
intervals. Choose the interval desired from the item marked Radials.
Two quantities are used to specify each curve. By default, the quantities real and imaginary
are used when the data is not converted. If the data is to be converted, the quantities R and X
are used. The data should only be converted if it appears in R, X form in the structure.
When quantities are present that TonyPlot recognizes displayed on Smith charts, TonyPlot
tries to select an “i” (or “X”) quantity whenever you choose an “r” (or “R”) quantity. There
are some options to control the Smith chart drawn. The chart can be drawn proportionally
(e.g., concentric circles appear as circles, even if the plot window is not square), and axis arms
can be drawn in all four Smith quadrants (only the first quadrant is shown by default).
5.5 Transforms
The Transform XYG dialog is accessed by selecting Edit→Transform XYG…. This dialog
allows mathematical operations to be performed between multiple selected XY Graph curves.
5.6 Save As
XY Graph plots can be saved to Silvaco Standard Format (.str), TonyPlot User Data
(.dat), Spayn Data File (.dat), Neural Net I/O File (.net), Spice Raw File (.raw) and
Comma Separated Values File (.csv).
Note: To obtain a .csv file from a .str file, first use an extract command in DeckBuild to obtain
a (.dat) file, then save this data from TonyPlot as a .csv.
To save data, choose one plot that you wish to write to a file and select File→Save As. The
Save As dialog will then appear. Select the option desired. To name the file to be created,
enter a base name and a file extension. One file is created for each overlay level in the plot.
For example, if you export a three level plot, the basename is hello, the extension is dat,
hello1.dat
hello2.dat
hello3.dat
• Quantity: This specifies quantities to be plotted. Any number of quantities can be plotted.
One of two functions can also be chosen. These functions are defined from the Functions
dialog. See Section 2.8 Functions for more information.
• Options: This allows you to add mesh, interfaces, and materials to the plot. These options
are represented by the three icons in the top right of the dialog. To add any of these features
to the plot, select the corresponding icon. The icons underneath control the way lines are
drawn on the graph.
• Axis Scales: Each quantity that you can plot on a Cross Section plot has a default flag,
which TonyPlot uses to determine whether to use a Linear or Log y-axis. If you plot linear
and log quantities simultaneously, two y-axes will be drawn. One to show all log
quantities, and the other to show all linear.
• Functions: Click on this button to display the Functions dialog. This dialog can be used
to define the functions that can be selected from the choice of Quantities. See Section
2.8 Functions for more information.
The type of y axis drawn depends on the quantities being plotted. If log scale quantities are
drawn, such as Net Doping, then TonyPlot draws a true log scale axis. If linear quantities are
drawn, such as Potential, a normal linear axis is drawn. If a mix of the types of quantities are
drawn, TonyPlot draws both types of axis: the log axis that appears on the left side of the
subwindow, and the linear axis that appears on the right. When reading values from the curve,
be sure to use the correct scale.
For dopants, the log axis shows values below 1e12. You can change this value in the Plot
Options panel of the Preferences dialog (see Preferences).
6.2 Save As
Cross Section plots can be saved to Silvaco Standard Format (.str) and TonyPlot User Data
(.dat). To save data, choose one plot that you wish to write to a file and select File→Save
As. The Save As dialog will then appear. To name the file to be created, enter a base name
and a file extension. One file is created for each overlay level in the plot. For example, if you
export a three level plot, the basename is hello, the extension is dat, and the following three
files will be created.
hello1.dat
hello2.dat
hello3.dat
7. RSM Display
7.1 Overview
The RSM Plot display dialog allows you to control the display of the Response Surface Model
(RSM) inputs and outputs. RSM plots can be drawn in one of three modes: 1D graphs, 2D
contours, or 3D surfaces.
To draw any RSM plot, TonyPlot “samples” the input(s) a number of times to calculate values
for the output. The number of samples taken (which are always regularly spaced) is determined
by the setting of the Density item. Higher densities generate more points, creating smoother
curves or surfaces, but take longer to compute. Low density plots are quick to calculate and
For total control of RSM plots and access to a selection of analysis tools, enable the VWF
Production Mode. A description of these features can be found in VWF Production Mode.
Without Production Mode, the benefit of RSM plots is greatly reduced.
Show
There are several ways to display data on 1D RSM plots. These are selected from the row of
icons near the top of the control panel.
• activates the Valid X Range marker, showing the range of the input that is valid
for the model used. The drawn range can be extended in certain cases to values outside the
valid range.
• represents Measured Points, which are plotted if measured data was passed with
the RSM.
• normalizes all outputs to a range between 0 and 1, for easier comparison of different
models.
• activates a crosshair, which can be used to track x- and y-coordinates along the
curve.
• X Quantity: Any input parameter can be chosen for plotting on the x-axis. In addition,
values of this input can be plotted on a log scale.
• Y Quantities(s): Any output parameters can be chosen for plotting on the Y axis. There
are two lists: one for outputs to be plotted on a linear axis, and one for a log axis. Any
combination of the two can be used.
X and Y Quantities
You must choose two inputs for contour plots: one for the x-axis and one for the y-axis. The
inputs chosen must be different. Each of these can be plotted on a log scale if desired.
Z Quantity
The Z Quantity cannot be chosen (it is always the RSM output parameter that is plotted). But
you can specify a linear or log scale for the Z axis.
Contour Type
Contours can be drawn as lines or filled areas, and filled areas can be outlined. There are a
number of color sets that can be used to create the contours. All these options are controlled
with the items in the lower left corner of the control panel.
Mesh
Next to the icons for controlling the contour types is an icon that draws the “sample mesh” on
top of the contour plot. This mesh shows the points where outputs were calculated to generate
the plot. A triangular mesh is created from these points to draw contours.
Projection
This is not used in the 2D mode. See 3D RSM Surfaces for an explanation.
Output Range
The range over which contours drawn can be selected as one of two options. The first option
is to use the highest and lowest output values over the sampled input range. This ensures all
contour colors are drawn on the plot. The second option is to use to absolute range of the
model output, which can be a greater range than that plotted.
Note: These 3D plots can be rotated and scaled (but not zoomed). See Plot Control for details
on 3D rotation and scaling.
8. Statistics Display
8.1 Overview
Whenever statistics plots are present, the Statistics Plot Display dialog can be used to alter
the way the data is displayed. These Statistics Plots are often generated from Production Mode
tools (see VWF Production Mode).
Statistics plots can be one of several distinct types. These are Histogram, Pie Chart, Scatter
Plot, Box Plot, and Sunray Plot. The current type is shown at the top of the dialog. To change
the type, select it from the Type menu. For each type, a different set of control appears beneath,
on the lower portion of the dialog.
8.2 Histograms
X Axis
You can plot one or more quantities on a histogram plot. Choose the quantities desired from
the scrolling list to the right.
Stack
When you plot more than one quantity, the stack item selects the method used for showing
each one on the same axis. You can stack the bars for each quantity vertically on top of each
other or horizontally next to each other.
Fit
This item allows you to plot a best-guess distribution curve over the data. TonyPlot uses the
range, mean and standard deviation of the data to generate a distribution curve of the chosen
type.
Show
The icons along the bottom control what items can be drawn on a histogram plot.
Lines
Solid Bars
Jitter Plot
Shows the total number of data points over the X axis range.
Cumulative Curve
Drawn when RSM output quantities are plotted on the histogram. See SPC
Limits for more information.
SPC Limits
X Axis
Y Axis
Select the quantities to be plotted from the scrolling list, and a sunray plot will be drawn for
each one. The icons along the bottom control how to draw the sunray plots. These are
circumference lines, radial lines, and a bounding circle whose radius is the maximum data
value.
9. VWF Display
9.1 Overview
The VWF Plot dialog (see Figure 9-1) shows the current display settings for the first selected
VWF plot. When the settings on the display dialog are applied, all selected VWF plots are
affected. This permits much easier application of global changes to similar plots in the view.
VWF plots can be drawn in one of three modes: 1D graphs, 2D contours, or 3D surfaces.
The VWF Plot dialog contains all the controls needed for complete control of VWF plots.
There are different ways to display data on 1D VWF plots. These are selected from the row of
icons near the top of the control panel.
X and Y Quantities
You must choose two inputs for contour plots: one for the X axis and one for the Y axis. The
inputs chosen must be different. Each of these can be plotted on a log scale if desired.
Z Quantity
You must choose an output for the Z/Contour quantity. You can specify a linear or log scale
for the Z quantity.
Contour Type
Contours can be drawn as lines or filled areas, and filled areas can be outlined. There are a
number of color sets that can be used to create the contours. All these options are controlled
with the items in the lower left corner of the control panel.
Mesh
Next to the icons for controlling the contour types is an icon that draws the “sample mesh” on
top of the contour plot. This mesh shows the points where outputs were calculated to generate
the plot. A triangular mesh is created from these points to draw contours.
Projection
This is not used in the 2D mode. See 3D RSM Surfaces for an explanation.
Note: These 3D VWF plots can be rotated and scaled (but not zoomed). See Plot Control for
details on 3D rotation and scaling.
10. Overlays
10.1 Overview
One of TonyPlot’s most useful features is the ability to directly compare different sets of
structure data. This not only means loading several output files at once and looking at each
one in the same view, but also overlaying the data sets in the same plot subwindow.
When different files are overlaid, the plot is called an overlay plot, and has some characteristics
not shown by normal plots. Each structure is drawn on a separate level in an overlay plot, and
the levels are transparently stacked upon one another. Each level uses the same axes and
display settings, so that the data can be readily compared. Obviously, each level must be of
the same plot type (2D Mesh, Cross Section or XY Graph).
Some levels may not be plotted if the display settings include quantities or options that are not
present in the data for that level. The display dialogs, however, shows all quantities from all
levels. For example, one level may contain boron and another level just arsenic. The
display dialog shows both boron and arsenic. If you only choose boron, only the first
level will be drawn.
Mesh plots, when overlaid, use the same color for each level. Because of the large amounts of
information that can be portrayed in a 2D Mesh plot, the number of levels is limited to three.
For XY Graph and Cross Section plots, there is no practical limit.
To change the name of a level, first select the old name from the scrolling list. Then, enter a
new name into the text field labeled Name and click on the Apply button. The plot updates to
show the new names.
10.8 Cutlines
When the Cutline tool is used on an overlay 2D Mesh plot, a section is taken from each level.
TonyPlot automatically overlays each of these when it creates the new cross section plot.
10.9 Preferences
There are some TonyPlot preferences that apply to overlays. These are accessed by choosing
1D/2D Plot from the Preferences dialog. Although explained in the Preferences, they are
briefly described here.
• Creating: When creating overlays from existing plots, TonyPlot just creates a new plot.
The old plots remain in the view. If you choose the Deletes originals, however, the plots
that made up the overlay will be deleted when you create the overlay.
11.1 Overview
TonyPlot provides the graphics to examine and interact with response surface models (RSMs)
in one, two or three dimensions. These RSMs can be examined with a selection of Production
Mode features, such as Failure Analysis, Disposition, and Synthesis. This section discusses
the advanced Production Mode features available.
RSM plots are displayed as either simple XY Graph plots, where the model is plotted against
the variation of one input, or as 2D or 3D contour plots, where the model is plotted against
two inputs. In all cases, inputs not plotted are held at fixed values, although you can set these
fixed values.
Controlling RSM plots is described RSM Display. See those pages for an explanation of how
to draw RSM graphs, contours and surface plots.
When Production Mode is enabled, the Production menu (between the Tools and Help
menus) becomes active.
This menu allows access to each of these Production Mode features (Interactive control,
Failure Analysis, Calibration, Synthesis and Yield Analysis) as well as some parameter
editing dialogs (e.g., Input range, SPC limits). Choosing any of the main features displays the
Production dialog in the appropriate mode. Selecting one of the editing dialogs displays that
dialog.
Below the mode selector is a panel whose contents depend on the mode currently selected. In
the Interactive mode, for example, it shows the current Process Name (if any) and a row of
four buttons for control of the input sliders.
The input sliders appear on the next panel down. Each input parameter in use is represented
as a slider/toggle combination. Inputs can be “selected” by pressing the toggle — it is grayed
out when not activated.
The dialog can show up to twenty-four inputs. You can expand or reduce size of the dialog to
show more or less sliders. The bottom of the dialog has the usual Cancel and OK buttons.
• Reset to nominal: Clicking on this button sets all slider positions to the nominal value
for each input. The nominal value is defined by the RSMs, but can be changed to any other
value with the Input Parameter Ranges dialog (see Input Parameter Ranges) or with the
next button.
• Store as nominals: Clicking on this button uses the current position of all selected input
sliders as a new nominal value for those inputs. You can also set nominal values from the
Input Parameter Ranges dialog.
• Fix Y Axis: When you toggle this option, the Y-axis ranges of the selected RSM plots
remain when you move the input sliders.
This allows interactive user control over regression model parameters to study the effects on
the response surface.
• Any 1D RSM plot that has the input plotted on the X-axis moves the crosshair along the
curve to match the changing X-axis value. If the input is not the X (or Y) quantity, the
Note: Since plots are updated interactively, it is usually preferable to set the RSM plot density
to “low”. This speeds up the calculations and greatly improves the response time.
This interactive control is available regardless of the current dialog mode. That is, sliders can
be dragged in any of the production modes, and plots are still updated interactively as
described in Interactive RSM Control.
Figure 11-2 VWF Production Mode Dialog with Failure Analysis selected
11.3.2.1 Setup
When the Production dialog is set to Failure Analysis, there is a list of all output parameters,
a text field for entry of “failed values” and START and STOP buttons. There is also a Method
item.
• Failed Values: For each output parameter, enter the failed value that was measured at the
production site. Press the Return key to submit this value to the list.
• Method: This controls the error tolerance method used in the failure analysis. Higher
orders are less error tolerant, lower orders are more tolerant.
• Select Inputs: From the set of input sliders, choose the ones to be used in the analysis.
TonyPlot tries to find which of these inputs is the most likely cause of failure in all the
outputs. You must at least select two inputs because the algorithm compares relative
probabilities of failure cause.
• START: Click on this button to start the failure analysis. As each of the selected input
parameters are tested, its slider moves from the minimum to the maximum value. Once all
inputs have been tested, a plot of the results appears.
• STOP: Click on this button to stop the analysis at any time. All calculations are aborted,
and no result plot appears.
Note: Each input is tested individually. The analysis tries to find the one single input that could
cause the specified failure in all outputs. The highest bars show inputs that are most likely to
have caused the failure(s).
TonyPlot also adds a set of labels to the plot. These labels indicate the values of each input
which would have generated the failed value, if that input had been the cause of the failure.
11.3.3 Calibration
The initial condition of the calibration function requires an overlaid display of the measured
and RSM data to be made. At this time, choose which parameters are to be varied to do the
calibration. Your choice is to set the process parameters to be fixed while the model parameters
are allowed to vary.
11.3.3.1 Setup
To use the calibration tool for VWF, do the following:
1. Generate a Design of Experiments (DOE) employing the “Most Practical and the Most
Important” Process Parameters and the “Most Important” Calibration Parameters. Split
lots can be Orthogonal DOEs or Random DOEs.
2. Run the Simulation Split Lot in Parallel on MP machine.
3. Generate RSM for each Process Parameter.
4. Load the (Calibration Parameters and Processing Parameters) RSMs into TonyPlot.
5. Load in the measured data into the Production Tools. Production Tools will find values of
11.3.4 Synthesis
In Synthesis mode, TonyPlot tries to find a value for each selected input that produces a
desired set of outputs. Two algorithms are provided to perform this reverse calculation — a
“Levenberg- Marquardt” optimizer and a method known as Adaptive Simulated Annealing.
11.3.4.1 Setup
Before starting the synthesis calculations, you must set the desired output values. Use the text
field labeled Target Value to enter a desired value for the output currently selected in the list
on the left. Press the Return key to submit this value.
When all target values are entered correctly, select the desired method. There is a choice
between the Levenberg-Marquardt optimizer and Adaptive Simulated Annealing. Select
the method desired.
Select the input sliders that are to be used in the synthesis: not all of them need to be used.
Unselected inputs will be fixed at their current values when the RSM computations use them.
Certain operational parameters specific to each synthesis method can be customized to help
obtain the required results. See Optimizer Setup or ASA Setup for further details.
Click on the START button to start the synthesis procedure. As the calculations progress, the
latest results achieved will be displayed in the Current value text field. A status message
describes the current state.
To abort the synthesis at any point, click on the STOP button. The procedure is cancelled and
reset.
11.3.4.2 Results
The inputs sliders changes as the synthesis calculations progress. When the procedure is
successful and complete, the input slider positions shows the values of the inputs needed to
produce the output value(s) that were specified in the list of targets.
The statistical distributions of input parameters are obtained in several ways. First, they can
be passed to TonyPlot along with the actual RSM data that uses the inputs. If none pass,
TonyPlot generates a default distribution. Finally, all input distributions can be specified using
the Input Distributions dialog (see Input Distributions).
Figure 11-5 VWF Production Mode Dialog with Yield Analysis selected
11.3.5.1 Setup
The first thing to set up before running a Yield Analysis is the input distributions. The
scrolling list on the Production dialog shows the distribution types for each input.
To examine the distributions in detail, and possibly alter them, use the Input Distributions
dialog.
The number of samples taken by TonyPlot of each input parameter can be set to any value.
The default is 5000 samples. The more samples that are taken, the more accurate the results,
Click on the green START button to start the analysis. The number of samples taken is
continuously displayed next to the start and stop buttons. To abort the analysis at any time,
click on the STOP button.
When all samples have been taken, TonyPlot takes a few moments to collate the data it has
obtained, and then a histogram is plotted.
11.3.5.2 Results
The default result plot that Yield Analysis creates is a histogram showing the distribution of
the output parameter(s). This plot is an instance of a standard Statistics plot, and can be
manipulated further with the normal dialogs for Statistics plots.
The plot also contains data for all the input values that were used: these can also be plotted.
Use the Statistics plot Display dialog to select sets of data to be plotted, and the type of plot.
It is possible to draw pie charts, scattergrams, box plots, and other figures, to examine the data.
See Statistics Display for more information.
The range and nominal value of any input can be changed by using the Input Ranges dialog
(Figure 11-6).
Figure 11-6 VWF Production Mode showing the Input Ranges Dialog
Once you made all the desired changes to the list, click on the Apply button. This will submit
these new values to TonyPlot. Any RSM plots are updated to use these new ranges and
nominal values.
11.3.6.2 Uses
The Input Parameter Ranges dialog affects the range over which values are taken for each
input when RSM outputs are computed. The sliders on the Production dialog reflect the
current range for each input.
Some models may only be valid for specific ranges of their inputs. Since it is possible to
exceed these ranges, there is a feature that allows the valid range to be identified on a 1D plot
The default distribution given to each input is Gaussian with a mean value halfway between
the minimum and maximum value of that input. The standard deviation will be 10% of the
mean.
To alter the distributions for any input, use the Input Distributions dialog (Figure 11-7).
Figure 11-7 VWF Production Mode showing the Input Distributions Dialog
Underneath the list, the values for the currently selected input are shown. The name of the
input is fixed and cannot be changed but the other items can. Press the Update button on the
Mean and Std. Dev text fields to submit changes to the list. If you select a new distribution
type, the list will update automatically.
When you made all the desired changes, click on Apply to commit the new values. If the
Production dialog is set to Yield Analysis mode, the new distribution types are shown in the
scrolling list.
To examine and alter the distributions graphically, press the View... button. This summons a
small window showing a histogram distribution of the selected parameter. Select other
parameters to view their distributions also. The sliders under the histogram can be used to
modify the mean and standard deviation of the parameter. Click on Apply to save the values
back to the original scrolling list.
11.3.7.2 Uses
Input distributions are used in Yield Analysis. When TonyPlot takes input samples, it uses
these distribution parameters to generate realistic values that may be found in a real-life
scenario. For accurate Yield Analysis results, each input distribution should be set up so that
it matches a closely as possible that found by experimentation.
These limits are abbreviated to USL, LSL, UCL, LCL, and CL respectively. Values for each
of these are sometimes passed to TonyPlot through the RSM data. If not, or if they need to be
modified, the SPC Limits dialog can be used to add or modify SPC Limit values for any
output. To display these values, select Production→SPC Limits and the SPC Limits dialog
will appear (Figure 11-8).
Figure 11-8 VWF Production Mode showing the SPC Limits Dialog
If an output parameter has no defined SPC limits, use the word None to indicate missing
values. To remove defined values, enter the word None into the text field and click on the
Return key. When you made all desired changes, click on the Apply button to store the new
values. Values in the list are not stored until the Apply button is clicked.
11.3.8.2 Uses
SPC Limits are used to monitor measured output values to ensure that these values stay within
predefined boundaries and generate some warning when the boundaries are crossed.
Outputs generated by RSMs in TonyPlot can be compared to SPC Limits in a similar way. If
these values are defined, the control lines can be added to any 1D RSM plot. See RSM Display
for details on how to add these SPC limits to a plot.
Figure 11-9 VWF Production Mode showing the Experimental Results Dialog
• Experimental Result: This is the measured value. It can be set from information provided
by the RSM as it is passed from the VWF, or it can be added or modified later using the
text field.
• Modeled Result: As previously mentioned, the experimental result is measured when all
inputs are set to their nominal values. The modeled result shows the value that is calculated
by the RSM and is a measure of the accuracy of the model. It also used to make a first-
order error correction of the model.
• Error Delta: The error delta is the difference between the experimental measured value
and the modeled value when all inputs are nominal. The smaller this error, the more
accurate the model. This delta is used to error-correct the model.
• Predicted Value: This shows the modeled result after error-correction has been applied.
It is the same as the experimental results, to show that after error-correction, the model is
To change the experimental result for any output, select the appropriate row from the list, enter
the new value in to the text field provided, and press the Update button. Once all new values
have been made, click on the Apply button to commit the changes.
11.3.9.2 Uses
A measured result for an output parameter allows TonyPlot to make a simple error correction
to a model of that parameter. The value shown as the “error delta” is added to values obtained
from a model to “shift” the response curve to a more accurate position. The nominal case is
used for this calibration (i.e. when all inputs are at their nominal vales), and the result applied
for all modeled values.
ASA code is made available under terms of the GNU general public license for libraries. See
the file $SILVACO/etc/gnu_license for details about this license.
12. Preferences
12.1 Overview
TonyPlot has many preferences that you can set. You can alter these preferences to suit your
needs. All preferences can be viewed and modified using the Preferences dialog. To open the
preferences dialog, select Edit→Preferences….
12.3 Application
12.3.1 Toolbars
• Display large icons: This controls the size of the icons on the toolbar.
• Display text labels: This controls whether descriptive text is shown beneath the icons on
the toolbar.
• Display hints: This controls whether tool tips are displayed when you hover the mouse
cursor over an icon on the toolbar.
• Customize: Clicking this button displays a dialog that allows you to customize which
buttons are currently shown on the toolbar.
12.3.2 Shortcuts
• Assign: This customizes which keyboard shortcuts you use for any menu item. Select the
menu item you wish to customize. If there is a shortcut currently assigned to it, it will
appear in the Current Keys box. Press your new desired shortcut (e.g., Ctrl+A) and it will
appear in the Press new shortcut key box. It will also tell you if the shortcut is currently
being used for another menu item. Press the Assign button to assign the new shortcut to
the menu item.
• Remove: This removes the currently assigned keyboard shortcut from the current menu
item.
• Details: This gives an overview of all the currently assigned shortcuts.
12.4 Rendering
12.4.1 Colors
This allows you to set the default colors for the foreground and background, as well as the
various parts of the structure being displayed.
12.4.2 Fonts
This allows you to set the default font family used in TonyPlot.
12.5 Settings
12.5.1 1D/2D Draw
• Grid level: This controls whether the axis grid is drawn on top of the displayed structures or
underneath them. The axis grid is controlled from the Annotation dialog.
• Mesh level: This controls whether the simulation mesh is drawn on top of the displayed
structures or underneath them. The simulation mesh is controlled from the Display dialog for
either 2D Mesh plots or Cross Section plots.
• Mark frequency: For line plots, this controls the number of marks or points that are drawn
along the curve. 1 draws a mark at every data point, while any other value draws marks at the
specified frequency.
• Log axis numbers: When log axes are displayed on either Cross Section or XY Graph plots,
the way numbers are drawn depending on this item. The number 3 is used as an example.
• Linear axis numbers: When linear axes are displayed, the way the numbers are drawn can be
12.5.3 General
• Load/Save Dialog: If checked, TonyPlot will remember the last working directory used
in load and save dialogs.
• Quantity/Impurity Lists: This allows you to display quantities in dialogs such as the
Contours Dialog in alphabetical order or unsorted.
• Minimum doping: This either displays doping concentrations to their actual minimum
values (choose Actual) or to a specified value (choose Clip to) with the value in the text
field indicating the minimum value at which doping is clipped.
• Log of zero: When plotting results that involve the logarithm of zero (in any base),
TonyPlot uses this predefined number as the result. Zero is used by default.
12.5.4 Legends
Each legend position item provides eight options. If you select Off, then that legend will not
be drawn. If you select any of the six specific positions, the legend will be drawn in that
position in the plot. If the icon with the arrow is displayed, then the legend has been positioned
by hand and is in none of the six standard locations. For more information, see Legends.
• Contours: There are three contour legends: one for each set. There are three items to
control each one separately.
• Regions: This indicates the color used to distinguish each material region or region
12.5.5 Tools
• Cutline X Axis: There are three methods for marking the X axis on cutline profiles. By
default, the X coordinate is relative to the start of the line, and so measures distance along
the line. If you select Absolute, the axis shows the X coordinate of the original mesh (if
the cutline is horizontal) or the Y coordinate (if the cutline is vertical). Cutlines that are
neither horizontal nor vertical show a Relative X axis. If you select Interface, the X axis
centers around the first material interface in the cross section. For example, the first
interface is at X=0. If no interface exists, a Relative X axis will be drawn.
• Probe Impurities: This controls how impurity values reported by the Probe tool are
shown. By default, true linear scale values are shown. Select Log of value to see the values
on a log scale.
• Panner Jump: When panning by using the arrow keys, this controls the amount of the
jump, given as a percentage of the screen width.
• Pointer Readout Precision: This controls the precision of the pointer readout in the status
bar.
12.6 Sequence
12.6.1 Colors
TonyPlot uses sequence colors whenever a group of items are plotted, and each needs its own
color. Examples are lines on items, such as Graph and Cross Section plots, regions, and levels.
The colors used are defined by the list of sequence colors indicated on this dialog. For
example, if the first color is red, the level one is Red, the first cross section profile is Red,
region 1 is Red, and so on. If you need more than twelve colors, the color sequence repeats at
one.
12.6.2 Lines
Graph lines are represented by Lines and Marks. TonyPlot allows you to change the line type
of these graph lines. You can choose among Solid, Dash, Dot, Dash Dot, and Dash Dot Dot.
12.6.3 Marks
Graph lines are represented by Lines and Marks. TonyPlot uses different mark types to
represent either quantities or levels. You can define these mark types in this dialog. The types
are: Cross, Circle, Plus, Triangle, Square, and Star. This dialog also allows you to change
the size and width of the marks.
12.7 Viewing
12.7.1 Axis
• Appearance: Determines the initial visibility and 3D drawing mode of the axes. When the
3D Draw mode is set to Lines, the axes are initially drawn as thin lines. When it is set to
Cylinders, the axes are drawn using three dimensional cylinders and cones. The initial
appearance can be overridden for each plot by modifying the axis properties in the Object
Browser. For more information, see Section 2.7.1 Object Browser.
12.7.2 Camera
• Projection: This option controls whether 3D structures are drawn using a perspective or
orthographic view. The angle control sets the vertical field of view, measured in degrees.
• Scaling: Restricts scaling (zooming) to the selected objects axes.
• Coordinate System: When the coordinate system Selection is set to Auto, TonyPlot will
determine the orientation of the coordinate system by examining the source of the structure
data. This can be overridden by setting the Selection to User-Defined and picking either a
Right-handed or Left-handed convention.
• Depth Cue: This creates the illusion of fog within a 3D scene. Distant objects blend into
the fog more than near objects.
12.7.3 Lights
TonyPlot uses two directional light sources to illuminate 3D scenes. Each light source has the
following properties:
• Longitude: Sets the longitudinal position of the light source in degrees. A longitude of 0
degrees represents a position closest to the observer, and 90 degrees represents the right-
hand side of the display.
12.7.4 Materials
This allows you to customize the colors of materials. You can also choose if the material is
displayed on the materials legend or not.
12.7.5 Structure
• Contour Outlines: This sets whether or not stepped contours are drawn with an outline.
If Enabled is checked, the stepped contours are drawn an outline thickness set by Width.
• Materials: Show air determines whether or not the material “air” is drawn on the plot.
Show gas does the same for materials “gas” and “gas backside”.
• Other Settings: Mesh width sets the width (thickness) of lines drawn in Mesh views.
<title line>
<r> <c> <t>
<title 1>
<title 2>
...
<title t>
<x11> <x12> ..... <x1c>
<x21> <x12> ..... <x2c>
<x31> <x12> ..... <x3c>
... ... ..... ...
<xr1> <xr2> ..... <xrc>
title line is a one line sequence of ASCII characters. No quotation marks should be used, but
spaces are fine. This is used as the main plot title, and must be present.
r is the number of rows in the file. This must be present, but can be set to zero, in which case
TonyPlot works out how many rows there are.
c is the number of columns. This must be present, but can be set to zero, in which case
TonyPlot works out how many columns there are.
t is the number of column titles. If not present, it defaults to zero (i.e., no titles).
title X is the title that is assigned to the data in column number X. These titles are optional,
but if given, the number of titles must match the t parameter in the second line.
Each column in the file represents data values for a certain quantity. If no titles are given, these
quantities assume default names User data 01 for the first column, User data 02 for
the second, and so on. The titles allow you to add more meaningful names.
13.1.2 Examples
The following are examples of some user data files and descriptions of each. These can be
entered into a text file and tested with TonyPlot, if needed.
13.1.2.1 Equation
This simple example plots a section of a curve of the equation y=sin(x). This type of file is
the simplest.
y = sin(x)
10 2
0.1 0.09983
0.2 0.19867
0.3 0.29552
0.4 0.38942
0.5 0.47943
0.6 0.56464
0.7 0.64422
0.8 0.71736
0.9 0.78333
1.0 0.84147
13.1.2.2 Transistor
This example contains information about an NMOS transistor. This example shows how
columns are named.
0.2 1.0E-12
0.3 1.0E-11
0.4 1.0E-10
0.5 1.0E-09
0.6 1.0E-08
0.7 1.0E-07
0.8 5.0E-07
0.9 8.0E-07
1.0 8.9E-07
13.1.3 Display
User data files are treated in the same way as normal XY Graph plots in TonyPlot. This
display dialog for these plots is exactly the same as the Graph display dialog. In fact, once
loaded into TonyPlot, there is no difference between these two types of data at all.
Note: TonyPlot version 5 and later uses the newer .setx XML file format. You are still able to
read the older, legacy .set files, but you can only save to .setx. In addition, you now specify
one .setx file per plot.
13.2.1 Creating
To create a .setx file, choose File→Save Set File…. Move to the directory where the .setx file
is to be created, and enter the name of the desired file into the field marked File name. If the
file already exists, select it from the scrolling list (use the Filter to screen out undesired files
from the list). When you click on the Save button, the .setx file will be created. Confirmation
is required if the file is overwritten.
13.2.2 Loading
To load a previously created .set or .setx file, locate the file by select the File→Load Set
File…. Then, click on the Open button and the view will update. You can also load .set or
.setx files from the command line with the -set option. If an error occurs when loading the
file, a warning notice appears.
Set files cannot record any actions you performed to create overlay plots, although they can
store setup information about the overlay itself.
Cross section plots that are generated using the Cutline tool can be created from the original
2D Mesh plot using .setx files. Therefore, you can save a view with a mesh and a cross section
and recreate it from the mesh alone. For example, suppose you load a mesh file called
pmos.str, creates a cutline cross section, and then save a set file called cut.setx. You
can then recreate the view with:
The set file automatically takes a cutline from the PMOS mesh and display the cross section
plot as it appeared when the set file was created.
If you have two separate plots, each with its own saved .setx file, you would load it like this:
13.3.2.1 2D File
#spreadsheet
#columns,<second axis>
<columns num>,<chv1>,...<chvc>
<first axis>,<output>
<x11>,<x12>, ..... <x1c>
<x21>,<x22>, ..... <x2c>
<x31>,<x32>, ..... <x3c>
... ... ..... ...
<xr1>,<xr2>, ..... <xrc>
#spreadsheet is a required line, and tells tonyplot the type of information that follows.
#columns is required on the second line for 2D file types. The remainder of this line denotes
the second axis name.
columns num is the number of columns. This must be present. The values that follow on this
line are the column header values.
13.3.2.2 1D File
#spreadsheet
<first axis>,<output>
<x11>,<x12>
<x21>,<x22>
<x31>,<x32>
... ...
<xr1>,<xr2>
#spreadsheet is a required line, and tells tonyplot the type of information that follows.
first axis is required on the second line for 1D file types, and denotes the first axis name.
13.3.3 Examples
The following are examples of some TonyPlot spreadsheet data files. These can be entered
into a text file and tested with TonyPlot, if needed.
13.3.3.1 1D Example
#spreadsheet
#time, temperature
0, 1000
0.5, 1100
1.0, 1200
13.3.3.2 2D Example
#spreadsheet
#columns, depth
3, 0, 0.1, 0.2
time, temperature
0, 1000, 1100, 900
0.5, 1100, 1200, 1000
1.0, 1200, 1300, 1100
14.1 Introduction
Models and Algorithms used by one dimensional (1D) electrical solvers in DeckBuild and
TonyPlot.
Note: This appendix is intended to serve as a quick reference only. A detailed description of
the semiconductor device physical models is provided in the Atlas User’s Manual.
where ψ is the potential, ε is the dielectrical permittivity, n and p are the electron and hole
concentrations, and ρF is the fixed charge.
1 14-3
𝑑𝑖𝑣𝐽⃗⃗⃗𝑝 − 𝑈𝑝 = 0
𝑞
Where:
⃗⃗⃗ 14-4
𝐽𝑛 = 𝑞𝜇𝑛 ⃗⃗⃗⃗
𝐸𝑛 ∙ 𝑛 + 𝑞𝐷𝑛 ∇𝑛
𝑘𝑇 𝑘𝑇 14-6
𝐷𝑛 = 𝜇𝑛 , 𝐷𝑝 = 𝜇
𝑞 𝑞 𝑝
∆𝜇𝑝 14-8
𝜇𝑝𝐷 = 𝜇𝑝𝑚𝑖𝑛 +
1 + 𝑁𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 ⁄𝑁𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑓
Where:
𝑌 −0.57 14-9
𝜇𝑛𝑚𝑖𝑛 = 88 ∙ ( )
300
𝑌 −0.57 14-10
𝜇𝑝𝑚𝑖𝑛 = 54.3 ∙ ( )
300
𝑌 −2.33 14-11
∆𝜇𝑛 = 1252 ∙ ( )
300
𝑌 −2.33 14-12
∆𝜇𝑝 = 407 ∙ ( )
300
𝑌 2.456 14-13
𝑁𝑛𝑟𝑒𝑓 = 1.432 ∙ 1017 ( )
300
𝑌 2.456 14-14
𝑁𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑓 = 2.67 ∙ 1017 ( )
300
𝜇𝑝𝐷 14-16
𝜇𝑝 =
√1 + 5.35 ∙ 10−5 ∙𝐸
xleft and xright are determined by the p-n junction locations and the semiconductor material
boundaries.
O corresponds to the oxide-silicon interface and xinv is the boundary of the inversion layer.
Threshold voltage will be determined using the g(Vg) curve as an intersection with the Vg axis
of the straight line drawn through two points on the g(Vg) curve, corresponding to the
maximum slope region shown below.
g(Vg)
Vth Vg
𝐵𝑃 𝐵𝐸𝑇𝐴𝑃 14-20
𝛼𝑝 = 𝐴𝑃 ∙ 𝑒𝑥𝑝 [− ( ) ]
𝐸
where:
The values of the parameters ANI, AN2, AP1, AP2, BN1, BN2, BP1, BP2, BETAN, BETAP, EGRAN
are user-definable (through the extract command or pop-up menu). Their default values
are:
AN1=7.03e5 cm-1
AN2=7.03e5 cm-1
BN1=1.231e6 V/cm
BN2=1.231e6 V/cm
AP1=6.71e5 cm-1
AP2=1.582e6 cm-1
BP1=1.693e6 V/cm
BP2=2.036e6 V/cm
BETAN=1.0 (unitless)
BETAP=1.0 (unitless)
EGRAN=4e5 V/cm
Γ <Gamma> ∂ <part>
16. Index
2
Base Window.......................................................................................................................................................... 17
Calculation
Functions
Defining.............................................................................................................................................................. 62
Macros ............................................................................................................................................................... 63
Operators ........................................................................................................................................................... 63
Syntax ................................................................................................................................................................ 63
Use Of ................................................................................................................................................................ 61
Isosurfaces ............................................................................................................................................................. 83
Calibration........................................................................................................................................................ 122
Legends
Positioning ......................................................................................................................................................... 30
Types.................................................................................................................................................................. 30
Camera............................................................................................................................................................. 157
1D Graphs .......................................................................................................................................................... 98
2D Contours ....................................................................................................................................................... 99
3D Surfaces ........................................................................................................................................................ 99
Set Files