4.2.1 Graphical User Interface

A timely interactive software product should have a graphical user interface. The GUI for SIMON is written in tcl/tk [57] [94] which is a public domain product. Tcl/tk is available for many platforms and operating systems (Unix, Linux, VMS, Windows, Macintosh). Embedded in the user interface is a   graphical circuit editor which allows a drag and drop assembly of SET circuits. Current-, voltage-, and charge-meters are placed and connected to the circuit for recording quantities of interest. They define the output data written to ASCII files. Later they may be viewed with the built in visualization tool. Parameters are changed interactively and may be changed randomly to study parameter sensitivity of SET devices, which is a very important issue for their industrial production. Fig 4.2 shows the main window of SIMON with the circuit editor. Additionally a simulation result plot of the Coulomb staircase of the double junction, visible in the circuit editor on the left, is depicted. A plot is brought up by clicking on the current-, voltage- or charge-meters in the circuit editor.

  

Figure 4.2: Screen shot of the main window of SIMON with an open dialog box on the left side. A simulation result plot is shown on the right side.

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In Fig. 4.3 SIMON's control panel and help window are shown. In the help window a HTML help file is displayed, which describes the basic commands and features of SIMON.

  

Figure 4.3: SIMON's control panel on the left side and the help window on the right side.

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