A Method for Generating Structurally Aligned Grids Using a Level Set Approach

We describe a technique to generate structurally aligned triangular grids. The main advantage of this method is the adjustable propagating speed of the front in different parts of the simulation domain in order to achieve different densities of triangles in each part of the simulation domain. This feature is usually needed in semiconductor device simulation. Other advantages of this technique are twofold: firstly, the grid can be very well adapted to the structures, and secondly, the grid elements fulfill desirable requirements like Delaunay triangulation and the minimum angle criterion. The technique is based on viewing the boundary of the simulation domain as a front which is propagated structurally at different speeds. A smooth propagation is achieved by the level set method by viewing the front as the zero level set of a higher dimensional function whose equation of motion is described by a partial differential equation.