Version 15.101
New Features for both Classic and UI-Plus Editions:

  1. Two new operands are available. TSAG will calculate the local thickness at a given element at a specified fraction of the CAO, which is useful for molded plastic elements, which must not be too thin or too thick anywhere to avoid dimension changes. The form TYSAG is the same, but specified at a desired Y-height instead of fractional aperture.
  2. The new command MASK… will create an array of tiles containing areas to be masked. This can evaluate the effect on the image when looking through a screen as is sometimes done with cell phone camera lenses.
  3. The free-form analysis tool FFA has been enhanced. Now it not only calculates the Zernike shape that applies to a reduced area of a parent asphere. but it will actually recast that area into the new shape at the new location at the center of the decentered CAO. This feature then shows the mirror as you would actually manufacture it, with a centered clear aperture.
  4. FFBUILD now lets you specify a weighting for the clearance aberrations, which can affect the search direction.
  5. The WAP 2 pupil calculation is now more accurate in cases where the pupil aberrations are large.
  6. SPS can now edit the object thickness. (But the SYS dialog is still recommended for editing object declarations.)
  7. A new feature (TEC) will calculate the approximate effect on the wavefront of thermal gradients across lens surfaces in microlithography lenses with a high input illumination power.

New Features for UI-Plus Edition only:

  1. ISO drawing:  A new feature is added to the Lens Data and Viewer Menu to create ISO drawings for lens elements (Lens Data and Viewer > 2D Drawings > 2D ISO Lens Drawing).  You can read about it in the section of “User Manual for User Interface Plus”

  1. Workspace:
    1. The lens graphic display window (the SketchPad) is open automatically when you start SYNOPSYS™.
    2. UI-Plus will remember the arrangement of the Windows (the SketchPad, the Command Window, the Macro Editor, and the Graphics Window) in the Workspace when you close SYNOPSYS™ and maintain the same arrangement when you open it the next time.

Bugs Fixed for both Classic and UI-Plus Editions:

  1. The combination of WAP 2 and CSTOP did not work correctly in DSEARCH.
  2. The CDn definitions created in a COMPOSITE aberration were not retained afterward.
  3. The search button on the graphics toolbar did not work.
  4. The drawing programs could fail when the object space was not in AIR.
  5. If you ran a multiconfiguration optimization and varied the GLM in a higher configuration, while configuration 1 had a real glass assigned to the same surface, that assignment was lost.

IPAT did not correctly count the rays traced if you requested more than a single case. Also, the RANDOM option did not work on successive cases.

Version 15.100
The update to version 15.101 incorporates the following changes:

Features:

  1. The new command MASK… will create an array of tiles containing areas to be masked. This can evaluate the effect on the image when looking through a screen as is sometimes done with cell phone camera lenses.
  2. The free-form analysis tool FFA has been enhanced. Now it not only calculates the Zernike shape that applies to a reduced area of a parent asphere. but it will actually recast that area into the new shape at the new location at the center of the decentered CAO. This feature then shows the mirror as you would actually manufacture it, with a centered clear aperture.
  3. FFBUILD now lets you specify a weighting for the clearance aberrations, which can affect the search direction.

Bugs Fixed:

  1. The search button on the graphics toolbar did not work.
  2. The drawing programs could fail when the object space was not in AIR.

Version 15.99
The update to version 15.99 incorporates the following changes:
Features:

  1. The WAP 2 pupil calculation is now more accurate in cases where the pupil aberrations are large.
  2. SPS can now edit the object thickness. (But the SYS dialog is still recommended for editing object declarations.)
  3. A new feature (TEC) will calculate the approximate effect on the wavefront of thermal gradients across lens surfaces in microlithography lenses with a high input illumination power.

Bugs Fixed:

  1. If you ran a multiconfiguration optimization and varied the GLM in a higher configuration, while configuration 1 had a real glass assigned to the same surface, that assignment was lost.
  2. IPAT did not correctly count the rays traced if you requested more than a single case. Also, the RANDOM option did not work on successive cases.

Version 15.98
Features:

  1. ARGLASS now accepts an argument NRM, which will defeat the error message that is shown when the index range of a material does not cover that in the lens. Normally this is a good check, but when matching plastics with the U catalog, if the range is only slightly out, the error is of no concern — and is displayed by every core in multicore mode, which is not friendly.
  2. The MRG dialog now has a button to include the NRM argument in the MACro that gets run.
  3. SSU and RSU will now accept a number and only operate on that configuration it is entered.
  4. A new tolerance desensitization operand is available. SDU will evaluate the sum of the squares of the change in paraxial angle UA at each surface. If this is large, then even if it is compensated elsewhere, the surfaces will have tight tolerances.
  5. Operands have also been defined for RUD (the difference between the incidence angle of the full-field upper and lower rim rays), which is squared and may help reduce contributions to off-axis aberrations, and DAA, the difference in SA3 contributions at adjacent surfaces. If this is large, then tolerances may also be tight on those surfaces.
  6. A new command, RUDIFF, calculates the difference in angle between the upper and lower rim rays, compared to the surface normal, in radians, and prints the sum-squared value.
  7. The optimization selection QPLUS now adds an additional ray at XC 1 1 0. This will avoid failures when the meridional rays will trace but a sagittal ray will not.
  8. If you by accident enter an APS number that exceeds the number of surfaces in the lens, the program will now inform you and put it on surface 1.
  9. We have deactivated mode switch 55, which controlled whether the diffraction image analysis used a coarse or fine sample pattern. PCs are so fast these days that it makes no sense to use the coarse sample anymore.
  10. SFIT now lets you specify the coordinate system in which surface sag data are presented. So if the measuring technician does not have the X and Y axes oriented the same as in SYNOPSYS, it will convert.
    11. The FN command can now make a plot showing how the F/number varies over the field.

Bugs Fixed:

  1. ZSEARCH did not get the final lens back if running in only CORE 0.
  2. The worst case from MC was only saved by CORE 0.
  3. BTOL did not calculate the tolerance on VNUM in some cases.
  4. The WAP 2 option did not calculate the entrance pupil correctly if there was a large amount of coma of the pupil and the search found ray failures.
  5. The PAD SCAN button, if clicked while a previous scan was running, would alter the value of YP0 in the lens.
  6. The command LLB, which loads the last 20 commands into an editor, did not work properly.
  7. The ZSPACE option in ZSEARCH did not work as it should. It now works better after applying a much higher damping.
  8. If you changed ACONs and varied the GLM in the new one, the program tested for a glass model in ACON 1.
  9. CPLOT did not work properly.
  10. The help file section on GRIN lenses was incomplete.
  11. If a ZFILE lens has fewer then four zooms assigned, the program will now default to the power-series expansion. (The cubic form requires four or more zooms.)
  12. The CCF (channel capacity fraction) analysis spaced the image samples at twice the correct distance.
  13. If the ILLUM command encountered field points at which no rays get through, it would plot those points off-screen. Now it zeros them out.

The new DSENS option in DSEARCH only worked in Q mode.

Version 15.97
Features:

  1. SSU and RSU will now accept a number and only operate on that configuration it is entered.
  2. A new tolerance desensitization operand is available. SDU will evaluate the sum of the squares of the change in paraxial angle UA at each surface. If this is large, then even if it is compensated elsewhere, the surfaces will have tight tolerances.
  3. Operands have also been defined for RUD (the difference between the incidence angle of the full-field upper and lower rim rays), which is squared and may help reduce contributions to off-axis aberrations, and DAA, the difference in SA3 contributions at adjacent surfaces. If this is large, then tolerances may also be tight on those surfaces,
  4. A new command, RUDIFF, calculates the difference in angle between the upper and lower rim rays, compared to the surface normal, in radians, and prints the sum-squared value.
  5. The optimization selection QPLUS now adds an additional ray at XC 1 1 0. This will avoid failures when the meridional rays will trace but a sagittal ray will not.

Bugs Fixed:

  1. The command LLB, which loads the last 20 commands into an editor, did not work properly.
  2. The ZSPACE option in ZSEARCH did not work as it should. It now works better after applying a much higher damping.
  3. If you changed ACONs and varied the GLM in the new one, the program tested for a glass model in ACON 1.

Version 15.96
Features:

  1. If you by accident enter an APS number that exceeds the number of surfaces in the lens, the program will now inform you and put it on surface 1.
  2. We have deactivated mode switch 55, which controlled whether the diffraction image analysis used a coarse or fine sample pattern. PCs are so fast these days that it makes no sense to use the coarse sample anymore.
  3. SFIT now lets you specify the coordinate system in which surface sag data are presented. So if the measuring technician does not have the X and Y axes oriented the same as in SYNOPSYS, it will convert.
  4. The FN command can now make a plot showing how the F/number varies over the field.

Bugs Fixed:

  1. CPLOT did not work properly.
  2. The help file section on GRIN lenses was incomplete.
  3. If a ZFILE lens has fewer then four zooms assigned, the program will now default to the power-series expansion. (The cubic form requires four or more zooms.)
  4. The CCF (channel capacity fraction) analysis spaced the image samples at twice the correct distance.
  5. If the ILLUM command encountered field points at which no rays get through, it would plot those points off-screen. Now it zeros them out.
  6. The new DSENS option in DSEARCH only worked in Q mode.

Version15.95
Features:

  1. DSEARCH can now add an operand for the tolerance desensitization parameters SAT and ESA, which can in some cases return designs with looser tolerances.  The new option DSENS controls this feature.
  2. Five new plastic types have been added to the U catalog: EP4500, EP6000, EP6500, EP7000, and EP8000.
  3. A new lens evaluation feature has been added.  CCF will analyze the channel capacity fraction, which is a measure of the total amount of information a lens can transmit, relative to a perfect lens.
  4. A new feature, QUANTIZE, will round off thickness or airspaces to a given decimal precision, for users who want round numbers on their drawings.

Bugs Fixed:

  1. The pupil selection WAP 0, when applied to a lens with the wide-angle object OBD would behave as though it were WAP 1.
  2. The PAD scan feature would sometimes fail if the object was type OBD.
  3. The drawing programs rendered systems with hyperhemispherical surfaces on both sides incorrectly.
  4. The blaze height of a DOE was not listed correctly if the DOE was on side 2 of the element.
  5. The listing of switches on the MOM dialog was incorrect for switch 12.
  6. The algorithm for finding the intersection of a ray with an aspheric surface did not work if the lens was much smaller than one mm in diameter.

Version15.94
Features:

  1. A new feature, QUANTIZE, will round off thickness or airspaces to a given decimal precision, for users who want round numbers on their drawings.

Bugs Fixed:

  1. The blaze height of a DOE was not listed correctly if the DOE was on side 2 of the element.
  2. The listing of switches on the MOM dialog was incorrect for switch 12.
  3. The algorithm for finding the intersection of a ray with an aspheric surface did not work if the lens was much smaller than one mm in diameter.

Version 15.93
Features:

  1. Surface type USS 24, an extended NURBS shape, allows up to 400 control points.
    • In the Ui-Plus edition, a data entry form that can support all the 400 control points is available in the Surface Type Editor accessible via the Spread Sheet construct.
    • In the Classic edition, this shape can no longer be edited in the Surface Shape dialog.  You can edit it in the WorkSheet of LE editor.
  2. In the Classic edition, the WorkSheet toolbar is now attached to the PAD toolbar.  Before, it belonged to the Command Window, but this makes more sense.

The following descriptions apply to both the Classic and Ui-Plus Editions:

  1. The Monte-Carlo program MC now has a NOKILL option, for use with very complicated jobs where some cores could take much longer to complete than core 0.  If selected, this option will disable the message asking if you want to kill the other cores.
  2. BTOL now has separate mnemonics for air thicknesses (ATH) and glass thicknesses (GTH), for when you want to assign a fixed tolerance or non-default range to those variables.
  3. BTOL will now tolerance the glass model parameters Nd and Vd, for cases where you want tolerances for a lens that has not yet been assigned real glasses.

Bugs Fixed:

  1. The “F” option on the SPROFILE command was not tested or honored correctly.
  2. BTOL did not tolerance the index and dispersion of a material correctly if the wavelength range was far outside the normal visible range of the C d F lines.
  3. Closing PAD when the WorkSheet was open could crash.
  4. The Fab-adjust MC program FAMC did not treat conic constants correctly.

Version 15.92
Features:

  1. The WorkSheet toolbar is now attached to the PAD toolbar. Before, it belonged to the Command Window, but this makes more sense.
  2. The Monte-Carlo program MC now has a NOKILL option, for use with very complicated jobs where some cores could take much longer to complete than core 0. If selected, this option will disable the message asking if you want to kill the other cores.
  3. BTOL now has separate mnemonics for air thicknesses (ATH) and glass thicknesses (GTH), for when you want to assign a fixed tolerance or non-default range to those variables.
  4. BTOL will now tolerance the glass model parameters Nd and Vd, for cases where you want tolerances for a lens that has not yet been assigned real glasses.

Bugs Fixed:

  1. Closing PAD when the WorkSheet was open could crash.
  2. The Fab-adjust MC program FAMC did not treat conic constants correctly.

Version 15.91
Features:

  1. The Nikon glass table has been updated, reflecting the measuring temperature of 22.5 degrees.
  2. ZFILE zoom lenses now default to the CUBIC cam interpolation, which has been working better than the older power series expansion.
  3. The narcissus program NAR has been improved. Now it can evaluate the ratio of the narcissus at the marginal and chief rays, which is a useful target for minimizing the effect where there is a large cold stop. And the new command FNAR can create a bitmap picture showing what you would see on a display in the presence of the narcissus.
  4. A new operand, RNAR can control the above ratio, thereby improving the narcissus.
  5. If MTF or ZMTF encounter a problem with the lowest spatial frequencies, where there are insufficient pupil samples, it prints a warning message.
  6. The environment package ENM now warns you if you try to implement an index perturbation where an index pickup is involved.

Bugs Fixed:

  1. Sometimes the WorkSheet toolbar would remain open even if WS was closed.
  2. DOE surfaces via USS 16, if tilted, gave tilted OPD results. The MTF was not affected, but the plots were. A very long radius of curvature turns on the hyperhemisphere flag.
  3. The CAP calculation did not work properly for object type OBD.
  4. If switch 84 is on and the pupil is noncircular, the MTF calculation was incorrect.
  5. There was a problem with the BGI plot.
  6. The dialog for editing GRIN data required changing.
  7. The tabulated data for OFPSPRD did not match what was plotted.