ie3d momentum fast

Momentum is open 2.5D MOM code so it is best for wide beam planar antennas and things that tend to radiate off the edge. I believe it is gridless as well.

Sonnet is shielded 2.5D MOM code so it has very high dynamic range and good for couplers, filters, and narrow beam antennas. It is gridded but has some conformal meshing features. Also has lots pf port options and de-embedding features. Microwave Office EM simulator is similar but not as many port features or conformal meshing.

HFSS is full 3D. Can solve 2.5D problems but not nearly as fast nor accurate. Good for waveguides and 3D antennas.

IE3D is 3D MOM code but I have only dabbled with it so I can't comment. It is very fast though.

I posted an EM simulator stripline benchmark here:



https://www.edaboard.com/viewtopic.php?t=208298

how to correctly draw a 50ohm strip line in HFSS?
what kink of port?

Use a wave port and draw the integration line from ground plane to center strip. Refine delta_S and port accuracy if you need more precise results. Also view the current distribution to see how it looks. The attached example has PEC sidewalls sicne I was comparing the results to Sonnet.

Momentum is very similar to Sonnet, they are both 2.5D. HFSS and IE3D are full 3D EM simulators. I've used all four and I'd say they are all easy to use and give reasonably good results. For fancy structures, you'll probably have to use HFSS or IE3D, which needs more computational resource.