Features of OptiLayer Software Family

 

general designing targets manufacture
analysis data input/output  

General

  1. OptiLayer software family covers all steps of the design manufacturing cycle. It consists of three main modules: OptiLayer (design and evaluation), OptiChar (optical characterization of single thin film), OptiRE (post-production characterization of multilayers and reverse engineering). All modules are compatible on the database level and can easily exchange data.

  2. OptiLayer software uses multithreaded computations. This allows the user to interact with the software (input data, edit data, prepare reports, etc.) without interrupting computations.

  3. Live real time graphics is used to reflect all computational processes. This makes design, analysis, and characterization processes vivid and significantly increases the user's ability to monitor and control software operation.

  4. All programs of the OptiLayer software family have convenient user-friendly interface with independent desktop windows. The user will entirely recognize the convenience of this feature when discovering potentialities of multithreaded computations (see above) or using other applications in parallel with OptiLayer (OptiLayer allows to do this!).

Designing

  1. Refinement modes of OptiLayer utilize the most powerful first, second, and higher order optimization routines, among them

  • Modified Damped Least Squares

  • Sequential Quadratic Programming

  • Newton method

  • Hyper Newton method

OptiLayer is the only one thin film software where all optimization routines are based on sophisticated analytic algorithms belonging to the unique know-how of its developers. These algorithms provide the eminent convergence rate and accuracy of the OptiLayer refinement modes.

  1. The most powerful non-local design technique, the Needle Optimization technique, is implemented in manual and automatic modes.

Manual mode allows sophisticated users to control the course of the needle optimization procedure by selection insertion places for new layers, performing multiple needle variations, etc.

Automatic mode enables running the needle optimization procedure automatically. This mode has additional setup options raising its flexibility (like multiple needle insertion, etc.).

Both modes choose optimal layer materials automatically in the case of multiple materials specified for the designing.

Note: The extreme power of genuine needle optimization technique implemented in OptiLayer is based on the unique mathematical know-how accumulated by the authors of OptiLayer since the invention of this technique in 1982 by professor A.Tikhonravov.

  1. Gradual Evolution mode extends the potentialities of the needle optimization technique in finding the design that is most manufacturable. This mode enables generating a set of designs with various combinations of such major parameters as merit function value, number of design layers, total design thickness.

  2. Along with the variety of options based on the needle optimization technique OptiLayer has also other non-local design techniques:

Inhomogeneous Refinement

Random Optimization

These techniques turn to be quite useful for solving specific modern design problems, for example, for the designing of gain flattening filters.

  1. Extremely efficient automatic design technique has been elaborated specifically for the designing of WDM filters.

As almost all other design options of OptiLayer the WDM option is based on the unique know-how that is inaccessible to other thin film programs.

Targets

Targets for the designing can be specified either in Spectral or Angular modes. The second mode is useful when design targets are specified over the angular range.

  1. Targets include

  • Reflectance, Transmittance, Apsorptance for s-, p-, and average polarizations.

  • Phase shifts on reflection and transmition for s- and p- polarizations.

  • Differential phase shifts on reflection and transmition.

  • Group delay and Group delay dispersion for the reflected and transmitted light of s- and p- polarizations.

  • Combinations of various targets

  1. Spectral mode allows considering targets at up to 8192 spectral points at any of up to 99 target pages. Most complicated combinations of various targets can be used at each page. Each target page may correspond to different incidence angle, which allows the user to design coatings for wide spectral and angular range applications.

Note: OptiLayer is the only software implementing completely analytical approach for the calculation and optimization of all characteristics including group delay and group delay dispersion. This allows designing even most complicated coatings with the highest precision level.

  1. Color Targets can be specified simultaneously at up to 99 incidence angles. Color targets include:

  • X-, Y-, Z- color coordinates for the reflected and transmitted light of any state of polarization

  • Luminous transmittance and reflectance for any polarization

Manufacture

Distinguishing feature of OptiLayer is a wide variety of options aimed to help the designer to choose designs with the best likelihood of successful manufacture.

  1. Various design options of OptiLayer are supported by the databases

Collection and History

This allows the designer to choose the design or to return to the design, which seems to be most promising for the successful manufacture or for the additional treatment (see below) aimed for the obtaining of such design.

  1. Thin layer removal option is used for the removing of too thin layers from the final design.

  2. Design Cleaner option is used to reduce the total number of design layers by the elimination of less significant design layers (not necessary thin layers)

  3. Modify Design option enables a wide range of design modifications that can be useful when looking for the most practical design.

  4. A number of other options enables the user to constrain layer thickness, fix thickness of separate layers, enable and disable using various layer materials, etc.

Analysis

  1. Evaluation options enable calculating and ploting a large variety of characteristics:

  • reflectance, transmittance, absorptance for s- and p-polarized light and non-polarized light

  • phase shifts on reflection and transmittion for s- and p-polarizations

  • differential phase shifts on reflection and transmission

  • group delay (GD) and group delay dispersion (GDD) for the transmitted and reflected light

  • ellipsometric angles psi and delta

All characteristics can be evaluated over arbitrary spectral and angle of incidence ranges.

  1. It is possible to calculate color coordinates of a coating with an arbitrary light source in the reflected or transmitted light of an arbitrary polarization. Luminous reflectance and transmittance can also be calculated with arbitrary light source and state of polarization.

  2. Evaluation modes of the program are accompanied with a set of other convenient options. The user has an opportunity

  • to average coating characteristics over arbitrary spectral or angle of incidence range

  • to pick out exact numerical values from the evaluation plots at arbitrary points

  • to change the number of evaluation plots and their chart appearance in the most convenient way

  1. Field option calculates and displays the electric field inside coating layers. A number of convenient options allows the user to examine electric field distribution depending on the wavelength of incident light, angle of incidence, etc.

  2. Admittance option calculates and displays admittance diagrams. A number of convenient options allows the user to examine admittance diagram depending on the wavelength of incident light, angle of incidence, etc.

  3. Color analysis option enables the user to examine color coordinates and other important color parameters with the help of either Color diagrams or convenient spreadsheet presentations.

  4. Zeros and Poles is one of the most advanced and unique options of OptiLayer. It enables the user to examine parameters that become increasingly important in connection with the modern technology applications requiring group delay and group delay dispersion specifications.

OptiLayer provides the user with the variety of options specifically aimed for the detailed pre-production analysis of designed optical coatings!

  1. Error Analysis option allows the user to analyze the influence of errors on spectral characteristics of a coating. Error analysis can be performed for

  • errors in layer thickness

  • errors in refractive indices

  1. Worst Case Analysis option plots corridors of maximum deviations of spectral characteristics for specified levels of errors in coating parameters.

  2. Layer Sensitivity option ranks sensitivity of design layers to errors in their thickness and provides relative sensitivity numbers for all design layers.

  3. Layer Inhomogeneity option enables the user to investigate effects caused by the inhomogeneity of coating layers.

  4. Systematic Deviation option allows the user to examine effects of systematic deviations of coating parameters that can be caused by inaccuracies of monitoring calibration, etc.

  5. WDM Error Analysis option is aimed for the detailed pre-production analysis of WDM filters based on the computer simulation of deposition process with the thickness control provided by the turning point optical monitoring. As in a real deposition process, errors in layer thickness result from the inaccuracies of turning point determination. These inaccuracies are connected with such factors as instability of deposition rates, random noise inmonitoring data, drifts of monitoring data in time, etc. WDM Error Analysis option enables the user to examine influence of all these factors. The user can also estimate the production yield depending on the noise level and other parameters.

  6. WDM Filter GD Performance option allows the user to study the correlation between the shape of transmittion band and group delay properties. This innovative option of OptiLayer is extremely important for new developments connected with 40-Gb/s applications.

Data

  1. OptiLayer stores databases with user's data on a hard disk. Data related to any specific problem can be stored in a separate directory with the corresponding specific name. Such directories are called problem directories. On a whole this means that OptiLayer software uses a decentralized data storage, which is especially convenient when several design or characterization problems are investigated simultaneously or when software is used by several users.

  2. File Transfer option allows transferring data files between different problem directories. This reduces time for the data preparation because previously created and useful data files can be simply transferred to the required problem directory. For example, substrate data files for many sorts of glass can be transferred from the directory Catalog

  3. Files in databases can be ordered according to
    - their names,
    - creation dates,
    - last revision dates,
    - user names.
    User name can be specified or changed during the the startup or using the General configuration option of the programs. This provides the convenient usage of OptiLayer software by several users.

  4. Substrate, incident medium and layer materials can be specified using spreadsheet formats for dispersive data as well as refractive index formulas. The list of formulas includes
    - several Sellmeier formulas,
    - Cauchy formulas,
    - Hartmann and Hartmann 2 formulas,
    - Schott Glass formulae,
    - Drude formulae.

  5. Designs can be specified using a spreadsheet format with synchronous presentation of layer thickness in Physical thickness, Optical thickness, QWOT, and FWOT (full wavelength optical thickness) units. Alternatively designs can be specified using a standard formula presentation. Any design can have up to 4096 layers.

  6. Spectral (angular) targets and color targets are specified using convenient spreadsheet formats. Spectral (angular) targets can be entered at several separate data pages. This concept is extremely convenient since each data page may be configured independently from other data pages. Due to this fact the user has an opportunity to simultaneously incorporate quite different target data into a design procedure.

  7. Powerful set of editing options facilities the entering and editing of data. This set includes:
    - insert options,
    - column editors,
    - grid generators,
    - and much more.

  8. All data editors have instant preview features. This allows to examine and validate refractive index spectral dependencies, spectral targets, refractive index profiles of various designs, etc.

  9. Special directory Catalog contains data for many Schott glasses. These data can be easily transferred to any problem directory using the File transfer option.

  10. Backup/Restore option is one more convenient OptiLayer feature. Using this option it is possible to create a backup file (*.zip file) of any problem directory and later to restore this directory on this or any other computer running the OptiLayer software. Besides the evident application this option provides an extremely convenient method for the data exchange between different users and computers.

Input and Output

  1. Variety of standard and specific editing options makes an input of data an easy task. These options include Undo, Cut, Copy, Paste, Select All, Insert Above, Insert Below, Column Editor, Mark Rows, Delete Row, Grid Generator, Reverse Layers, Angle Editor, and other items.

  2. OptiLayer provides the user a powerful option for importing numerical data from any ASCII file - only a few mouse clicks are required to enter external  data or measurement data, refractive index data, design data, etc.

  3. Special commands enable a direct input of data files written in CAMP-DX and other formats used by the most widely used spectrophotometers and ellipsometers.

  4. Results obtained by OptiLayer can be presented as various reports (design report, evaluation report, errors report, layer material report, etc.). All reports may have hierarchal form, Editable form, or Plain form, which allows to meet even most sophistical user requirements. It is possible to select any report area and copy and copy it to the Windows clipboard.

  5. The user can save and print any report or any OptiLayer chart window. Chart windows can be saved as
    - *.wmf files (Windows metafiles format),
    - *.bmp files (bitmap graphics format),
    - *.vtc files (this format is used by the powerful OptiLayer graphical option called Plot Engine.
    Note: OLE (Object Linking and Embedding) is supported by Plot Engine.

  6. OptiLayer allows to simultaneously save all data files presented in the RAM and related information in a special OptiLayer Design Specification format (ODS format). This format is easy readable and editable. It provides an additional option for data exchange and storage.

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