Settings

There are lots of parameters that the user sets to run NETEX-G; their values are stored in this section of the job file. It is a good idea to save the job file for each analysis since you can later load it and repeat the results.

B_SETTINGS
WINDOW           -16.130  -16.130  16.130  16.130
WORKDIR          "C:\project\working"
OUTPUTDIR        "C:\project\output"
MAXPOINTS        2000
ARCRESOLUTION    6.000000
CHORDERROR       0.010000
SMOOTHING        0.010000
SLIVER           0.005000
POLYOUTPUT       LEONOV
NODETEXTHEIGHT   0.010000
NODETEXTOFFSET   50
OUTPUTUNITS      SAME
SCALE            1.000000
STRINGMATCHING   DOS
PROXSMOOTHING    0.000000
OUTPUTFORMAT     ANSOFT
B_ASCIIOUT
MAXWIDTH 0.000000
E_ASCIIOUT
B_EGSOUT
E_EGSOUT
B_ACISOUT
MARGIN 0.000000
CORNERS 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000
GROUPING Layer
E_ACISOUT
B_THREEDIOUT
MARGIN 0.000000
CORNERS 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000
E_THREEDIOUT
B_GDSOUT
MAXWIDTH 0.000000
E_GDSOUT
B_DXFOUT
MAXWIDTH 0.000000
E_DXFOUT
B_ANFOUT
MAXWIDTH 0.000000
E_ANFOUT
OUTPUTFILE "C:\project\output\t3.anf"
WIREBOND  1   GBR   "C:\project\WIRE.GBR"      AUTO
WIREBOND  2   GBR   "C:\project\WIRE_VSS.GBR"  AUTO
E_SETTINGS

B_SETTINGS - defines the beginning of the settings section

WINDOW - defines the data clipping window; two coordinate pairs - Xmin Ymin Xmax Ymax

WORKDIR - the working directory where NETEX-G will write a large number of temporary and intermediate files.

OUTPUTDIR - the default directory for the output files - whether ANF, DXF, EGS or ASCII.

MAXPOINTS - the maximum number of vertices allowed in an output polygon. If a polygon is formed that exceeds this max, it is broken down into enough polygons so that none exceed the maximum.

ARCRESOLUTION - resolution in degrees used when breaking arcs/circles into polygon.

CHORDERROR - max error between the ideal arc and the approximation. You can use this parameter instead of ARCRESOLUTION as it uses more vertices for large radii arcs and less vertices for smaller radii arcs.

SMOOTHING - if smoothing is set to a non-zero value, the output polygons will be tested and any vertices that are closely spaced (i.e. their spacing is less than the smoothing value) are dropped. This keeps down the complexity of the output polygons.

SLIVER - sometimes during the boolean process, small pieces of metal are slivered off due to numerical noise or approximations. These can be deleted if they are smaller than the sliver parameter.

POLYOUTPUT - type of output polygons. There are three types - Leonov, where inner polygons can exist and are "negative; CUTLINE where islands are defined using cutlines that enter and exit the polygon by the same path; NOCUTLINE where islands are defined by breaking the polygon surrounding the island into two or more separate polygons that butt up (touch but don't overlap)

NODTEXTHEIGHT - height of node text labels (this applies to GDSII, DXF and EGS output. It has no use for ANF or ASCII output.

NODETEXTOFFSET - layer offset for node text labels: i.e. if the node is labeling metal on stackup 3 and the offset = 50 then the text will be placed on layer 53. Applies to DXF, GDSII and EGS outputs.

OUTPUTUNITS - use to change the database output units. By default the argument should be SAME which uses the same output units as input units.

SCALE - a scale factor to apply to output data. This should be limited to file types such as DXF and GDSII. Using scale with databases such as ANF can result in strange results.

STRINGMATCHING - wild cards and regular expressions can be used to define net names to extract. If setting = DOS then conventional DOS style wildcards are supported. If setting = REGXP then full UNIX regular expression parsing is used.

PROXSMOOTHING - often the user wishes to reduce the complexity of the proximity net and a separate (typically larger value) of smoothing can be assigned to the proximity net.

OUTPUTFORMAT - NETEX-G supports different output formats: GDSII, ASCII, DXF, ANSOFT, EGS, ACIS (3D) and 3DI (3D).

B_ASCIIOUT - start of section specifying controls when ASCII is the target output.

MAXWIDTH - the maximum width for converting boundaries to traces.

E_ASCIIOUT - end of section specifying controls when ASCII is the target output.

B_EGSOUT - start of section specifying controls when Agilent's EGS is the target output.

E_EGSOUT - end of section specifying controls when Agilent's EGS is the target output.

B_ACISOUT - start of section specifying controls when Spatial's ACIS is the target output.

MARGIN - used when creating a dielectric body - indicates how far beyond the conductor extents the body should extend.

CORNERS - used when creating a dielectric body - defines the four X,Y corners of the dielectric body (use instead of margin).

GROUPING - determines how the output is grouped in ACIS: LAYER indicates all items on a common layer are grouped together.

E_ACISOUT - end of section specifying controls when Spatial's ACIS is the target output.

B_THREEDIOUT - start of section specifying controls when Artwork's 3Di is the target output.

MARGIN - used when creating a dielectric body - indicates how far beyond the conductor extents the body should extend.

CORNERS - used when creating a dielectric body - defines the four X,Y corners of the dielectric body (use instead of margin).

GROUPING - determines how the output is grouped in ACIS: LAYER indicates all items on a common layer are grouped together.

E_THREEDIOUT - end of section specifying controls when Artwork's 3Di is the target output.

OUTPUTFILE - name of the output file to create. This can include a full path which would then override the OUTPUTFILE setting.

B_GDSOUT - start of section specifying controls when GDSII is the target output.

MAXWIDTH - the maximum width for converting boundaries to traces.

E_GDSOUT - end of section specifying controls when ASCII is the target output.

WIREBOND - used to load Gerber files that define wirebonds. First entry is the stackup position, second is the type of data (GBR or AIF), third is the filename/path of the appropriate file to load.

E_SETTINGS - closes the settings section.