Software for the Optical Engineer and Physicist

TFCalc

TFCalc is a fully featured thin film design program written by Software Spectra Inc of Portland, OR, USA.

Thin Films

• Up to 500 layers on both sides of the substrate
• Layers can be added manually or created with a stack formula, such as (HL)⁵ 1.2(HL)⁵
• Layers may have a variable index
• Layer thickness may be entered as physical or quarter-wave optical thickness
• Layer thicknesses may be constrained

Etc.

Analysis

• Compute reflectance, transmittance, absorptance, optical density, loss, phase shift, psi, electric field intensity, color (CIE and LAB), and equivalent index
• Compute the sensitivity of reflectance, transmittance, absorptance, optical density, loss, phase shift, and color to normal manufacturing errors
• Compute cone-angle average (also called biconical) reflectance, transmittance, absorptance, density, and loss

Etc.

Optimisation

• Three local methods: Variable Metric, Gradient, and Simplex
• Global Search may be used to find the best coating design
• Needle optimization (with tunneling) may be used to synthesize unusual designs
• Vary either thickness or index or both
• Layer thickness can be constrained during optimization
• Deviations are displayed during optimization
• Index profile may be displayed during optimization
• Flexible merit function
• Optimize front and back layers simultaneously
• Optimize group factors

Targets

• Optimization targets can be reflectance, transmittance, absorptance, density, color, luminance, phase shift,and psi at any wavelength, polarization, and angle
• First, second, and third derivatives of these quantities maybe used as targets
• Targets can be entered manually, generated automatically, or read from spectrophotometer files
• Targets may be distributed by wavelength, wave number, or logarithmically
• Target values can be inequalities
• Targets may be continuous across a defined spectral region

Etc.

Results

• May be displayed numerically or graphically
• All tables and graphs can be printed
• Results can be saved in a file for processing by other programs
• Results of up to 5 coating designs can be displayed simultaneously on a graph
• Two results, such as reflectance and transmittance, can be overlaid on one graph

Etc.

Optical Data

• Unlimited number of material, substrate, illuminant, and detector data files
• Refractive index maybe entered as tables or dispersion formulas
• Refractive index (N and K) can be computed from spectral or ellipsometric data
• Material and substrate data can be absorbing and dispersive
• The reflectance or transmittance of a coating can be saved as an illuminant

Etc.

User Interface

• Easy-to-use, standard Macintosh or Windows user interface
• Menus, dialogs, spreadsheet-like windows
• Very easy to edit and recompute.

Accurate and Fast

On computers having a math coprocessor, all calculations are done in 16-digit floating-point arithmetic During optimization, TFCalc calculates up to 100,000 layers/second on top-of-the-line computers.

Visit the Software Spectra Inc site for full details and to download a demonstration for either an IBM compatible PC or an Apple Mac . Software Spectra maintain a library of sample coating designs on this site.

Within Europe the price of TFCalc is 945 Pounds Sterling. Post and Packing are extra.

Send an to request further information or a a formal quotation.
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