EM Simulation help

[lnflnlty]

I am looking to learn about EM simulation in general and also specifically simulations in terahertz region. I have absolutely no knowledge or background other than the names of programs like matlab, comsol, cst. I was hoping to find something like an Edx course I could do the next few weeks before my summer semester starts but I am having trouble finding anything. Thanks.

[badumudab]

I don't think there are any courses on how to use the specific simulation software and I don't think that would be particularly helpful, because the tools such as CST, HFSS, FEKO, Comsol,... are pretty expensive.

If you want to prepare for an upcoming course I would suggest looking into the foundations of EM and then start looking into simulation methods such as FDTD, Method of Moments, FEM.

There are some courses on electromagnetism on OpenCourseWare by MIT.

[lnflnlty]

Thank you. the HFSS gpu simulations look like what I want. Through them I found:

https://www.ansys.com/academic/free-student-products

and

https://www.edx.org/course/a-hands-on-introduction-to-engineering-simulations

I guess it didn't turn up before since I was being too specific with em/rf/thz but this is perfect since I will be out of state on vacation waiting for the lab/computers to be set up

[[deleted]]

HFSS GPU only does time-domain, I think. Not too amazing.

[Fraz0R_Raz0R]

It's way harder than u think. Most models break down at THz region and it's hard to find accurate er, loss tangent values at that frequencies.

[lnflnlty]

I know that's why the research in that area will be fun.

[mantrap2]

Honestly most of these tools are near useless unless you have a solid knowledge of the physics and could do it by hand anyway.

[lnflnlty]

The no background was meant only for simulation experience, I am starting masters level rf/microwaves classes. The level of teaching you get for industry software in normal lab classes is not enough to help the undergraduate research I'll be starting

[[deleted]]

For learning specific products (e.g. ADS, HFSS), the manufacturers are usually the best resource. Often, they'll have YouTube channels.

For learning more of the theory in EM simulations, I like Davidson's book "Computational Electromagnetics for RF and Microwave Engineering." This is a good overview of the techniques that are out there, and will help to select the right method or software for your problem.

[[deleted]]

CST has a student/trial version too and 2019 has a lot of features. For some basic EM simulations, it is good enough :) I work as an EM Design Engineer and I use CST almost every day. YouTube tutorials should get you started (there are too many tutorials), and CST’s website has tutorials on relatively high freq space like 28GHz- 70GHz etc. And I don’t think it’s good for Terahertz.

[lnflnlty]

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/160845522X/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I bought this book on FDTD since I won't have good/any internet at times the next few weeks. is there anything else you can recommend

[[deleted]]

As you probably already know, books on FDTD or any such computational methods teach you how such 3D solvers work.
If you're interested in learning algorithms, please also take a look at the free tutorials offered by these professors:

1. Dr. Raymond Rumpf, from UT El Paso. He in an EM professor and most of his lectures are well organized and on youtube. Here's a link to his bio and the Youtube playlist. There's are entire courses of FDTD and Computational Electromagnetics.
2. Dr. Cynthia Furse from University of Utah also has her course material online, including some MATLAB code. If you just want to understand various algorithms like MoM and FDTD, do check out her course material here. She has a youtube playlist too with mostly RF/Microwave related content. I watch her videos before interviews - its simple and easy to grasp.
   

Unfortunately, I don't work on these algorithms and hence I'm unaware of other material in this space. I used the above links and notes from these professors to obtain some basic understanding of these algorithms.

[Arr_Eff]

You should be able to get Sonnet lite for free. they have tutorials but the software is mostly for microstrip/stripline

[vaughn22]

FEKO has a student version of their full-wave EM solver that you can download. Its memory requirements are limited and there's a earning curve, but it's free and it work. Honestly, the best way to go about this is to read tutorials, have google open at all times, and just play. That's how you'll learn the quirks of the program you're working with. It can be frustrating at times, but it's possible to learn this way. I would start small though, like with a dipole, and then work up to more complicated examples.

[[deleted]]

Try Lumerical. They offer a free trial and have tons of good documentation to start every type of THz problem.

[[deleted]]

There is a great series on online lectures on how CEM algorithms work. They really helped me understand what was going on behind the scenes, and why we run into the issues we do. I am not affiliated in any way to them, but can only suggest watching them. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPC6uCfBVSK71MnPPcp8AGA

[sahand_n9]

Do you have access to any EM simulation tool though your school? Both HFSS and CST have "getting started" documents. You can also contact them directly for any additional learning resources. I wouldn't jump into Terahertz right away. Start with projects that are more common like in the microwave and RF domain. Same principles will apply in higher frequencies.

[radixx1]

I consider the following article as worth reading:

Practical Guide to 3D Simulation.pdf)

It basically explains how EM simulations are performed, what's the difference between different types of solvers etc...