Manual

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Introduction: What is FLOODS/FLOOPS?

FLOOXS is a Technology Computer Aided Design (TCAD) tool used for semiconductor process modeling and semiconductor device modeling that will descretize and solve a set of partial and ordinary differential equations on a 1, 2 or 3D mesh using numerical methods such as the Finite Element Method (FEM) and the Finite Volume Method (FVM). FLOOXS is built in c++, and uses several well-known math packages such as BLAS, LAPACK, and PETSC to handle the linear algebra. The user-interface is command-line tcl (tool control language), a scripting language, with additional FLOOXS-specific Alagator commands added in.

Developers and History

Code Description

  • What is Under the Hood - Detailed - A detailed description of how the c++ code is organized, how the finite element methods is implemented, what physics currently exist and how to add more.

Installation

Porting Notes from a 2016 port of the 2008 version. Thanks to Rex Lowther for sharing!

Running FLOOXS

Executing FLOOXS

  • Startup Script - set environment variables and alias paths (running FLOOXS for the first time)

Overview and Basic Concepts

  • Tcl - Tool Control Language is the main scripting language used to control local variables (set), do simple calculations (expr), define procedures (functions or routines), and accomplish basic read/write file operations (file). It sits on top of c++.
  • Conventions - how parameters work
  • Alagator - Alagator is the scripting language created specifically for FLOOXS to describe the differential equations used in process and device simulation. It sits on top of tcl.
  • Units in FLOOXS
  • Support Scripts - Built in tcl procedures that support simulation.

Examples and Tutorials

If you've never used FLOOXS before, start here. Work through these examples and exercises to learn the basics of FLOOXS. The example decks here contain line-by-line explanations, and are organized in such a way as to introduce important concepts in increasing complexity. Full unannotated examples are in the full examples section.

Full FLOOXS Examples

These are full working decks that can be used as templates. If you would like line-by-line explanation of these examples, see the tutorial section of this manual.

Troubleshooting

Convergence: Having problems with solution convergence? If so, refer to this convergence FAQ page.

Command Reference Library

This contains a command reference, in Unix man page style for each command in the program.

Command Reference Library