RE: Electric for MEMS and Microfluidics

Hi Steven, thanks for the reply. I think Electric is a great software overa=
ll and has a lot of potential for MEMS work. I especially like the variety =
of I/O formats. Many masks print shops ask for different layout formats (su=
ch as GDSII, ps, dxf) and don't have the required conversion tools. Java is=
 wonderful as well because that means I can design in Mac OS X.

An additional technology for MEMS work could be implemented, that would hel=
p tremendously for mask layout. However, what would help the most would be =
to have better capabilities for manipulating polygons and shapes. In the Ed=
it Menu, the Rotate, Mirror, Size and Move submenus should all have buttons=
 that are in the main window interface. These are the most commonly used fu=
nctions in mask layout and therefore should be just one click away from the=
 user.

When I first loaded a GDSII mask into Electric. I had difficulty seeing my =
layout. There should be buttons that make it easy to show and hide layers. =
Additionally, zooming in and out could be made much easier with a zoom in a=
nd out button and using the mouse wheel while holding down ctrl.

As a first step, I would suggest looking at other commonly used MEMS softwa=
res. LEDIT is the most popular. (  http://www.tanner.com/EDA/index.html ) I=
t is quite functional overall but has many design quirks that make it not t=
he friendliest and most enjoyable software to use. A very nice commercial l=
ayout software is Visual Chip Mask ( http://www.numericalinnovations.com/in=
dex.asp?PageAction=3DVIEWPROD&ProdID=3D27 ).=20

Layout Editor ( http://sourceforge.net/projects/layout/ ) is a good open so=
urce layout software. If you look at the main window, it  has the important=
 features I was talking about above. On the left you can select which layer=
s to make visible. Above it there is a variety of buttons for making and ma=
nipulating polygons.

Do you think these features are reasonable? Or would it me more complicated=
 than originally expected since Electric is connectivity based?

Great work on the software. I'm happy to see that this is in active develop=
ment and I would gladly be willing to help you on this project.

Luc Gervais
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