February 2026: Delivered targeted documentation and formula accuracy improvements for Charge Simulation in flexcompute/tidy3d. The work clarified 2D vs 3D output units, added unit metadata to monitor data fields, and cleaned docstrings across TCAD components. A single commit (26cb6066598bf027327ef657bf2fd995f9d59ac0) addressed formatting and formula inaccuracies, enhancing reliability and reproducibility for users. This reduces user confusion, improves onboarding, and strengthens data integrity for simulation results.

January 2026 (Month: 2026-01): Delivered high-impact improvements across tidy3d projects with clear business value. In tidy3d-notebooks, introduced a Small-Signal AC (SSAC) Analysis Notebook for silicon PIN photodiodes, establishing setup, simulation, and visualization workflows (commit d45e3bf4dd1a5dd8181ae10f1340818cb6bb33c8). In tidy3d, added GaussianDoping frontend validators to prevent misconfigurations by ensuring reference concentration < peak, validating the source face, and warning when box size is insufficient for the specified transition width (commit 730ab59fdc9f7d2dd9f7b1f5221469335398ed30). These changes improve robustness, reduce runtime errors, and accelerate reliable device simulations.

November 2025 delivered a new Jupyter notebook to simulate a forward-bias PIN phase shifter within a Mach-Zehnder modulator in the flexcompute/tidy3d-notebooks repository. The notebook models thermal and electrical characteristics to enable design exploration and optimization. This work is captured in the commit Add PIN Mach-Zehnder notebook (#355) FXC-1513 (c5fdbe5db77cfe2674ef8440ebd22a5016c2ef48), facilitating faster iteration and better thermal-electrical trade-off analysis. No major bugs were reported this month; changes are self-contained and focused on expanding modeling capabilities.

October 2025: Delivered two high-impact improvements for tidy3d Scene visualization that enhance data exploration capabilities and visual accuracy. Implemented support for log and symlog scales in Scene plotting to enable effective visualization of wide dynamic ranges. Fixed colorbar reverse color mapping to ensure the displayed colors faithfully represent the underlying data, removing visual inconsistencies. These changes improve analytical reliability, reduce interpretation risk, and demonstrate solid plotting correctness and maintainability.

September 2025 focused on improving tidiness and usability of the tidy3d API while expanding its modeling capabilities. Key enhancements include API documentation improvements across modules and the introduction of Small-Signal AC analysis, aligning with customer needs for frequency-domain simulations.

August 2025: Delivered a new Vertical Natural Convection Coefficient Model for vertical plates in the tidy3d thermal solver. The VerticalNaturalConvectionCoeffModel computes natural convection heat transfer coefficients using fluid properties and plate geometry, and integrates with the existing ConvectionBC to enable more accurate and comprehensive thermal simulations. This enhancement strengthens design validation, reliability of thermal analyses, and reduces risk in product thermal performance assessments.

June 2025 monthly summary for flexcompute/tidy3d-notebooks: Delivered end-to-end plasmonic nanoparticle analysis capabilities in Jupyter notebooks, including energy absorption visualization with new electric field and permittivity monitors, and a dedicated notebook for simulating photothermal heating of gold nanoparticles (single nanospheres and nanorods) using Tidy3D. This work includes material properties, source injection, and monitoring for EM and thermal analysis, enabling reproducible, scalable plasmonics workflows. Although no major bugs were logged this month, key commits added absorption power computation and a custom heat source notebook, enhancing analytical capabilities and user experience.