Palace is an open-source 3D electromagnetic simulator supporting eigenmode, driven (S-parameter), and electrostatic simulations. This notebook demonstrates using the gsim.palace API to run a driven simulation on a CPW (coplanar waveguide) structure.
Requirements:
- IHP PDK:
uv pip install ihp-gdsfactory - GDSFactory+ account for cloud simulation
Load a pcell from IHP PDK¶
import gdsfactory as gf
from ihp import LAYER, PDK
PDK.activate()
@gf.cell
def gsg_electrode(
length: float = 300,
s_width: float = 20,
g_width: float = 40,
gap_width: float = 15,
layer=LAYER.TopMetal2drawing,
) -> gf.Component:
"""
Create a GSG (Ground-Signal-Ground) electrode.
Args:
length: horizontal length of the electrodes
s_width: width of the signal (center) electrode
g_width: width of the ground electrodes
gap_width: gap between signal and ground electrodes
layer: layer for the metal
"""
c = gf.Component()
# Top ground electrode
r1 = c << gf.c.rectangle((length, g_width), centered=True, layer=layer)
r1.move((0, (g_width + s_width) / 2 + gap_width))
# Center signal electrode
_r2 = c << gf.c.rectangle((length, s_width), centered=True, layer=layer)
# Bottom ground electrode
r3 = c << gf.c.rectangle((length, g_width), centered=True, layer=layer)
r3.move((0, -(g_width + s_width) / 2 - gap_width))
# Add ports at the gaps
c.add_port(
name="P1",
center=(-length / 2, -(s_width + gap_width) / 2),
width=gap_width,
orientation=0,
port_type="electrical",
layer=layer,
)
c.add_port(
name="P2",
center=(-length / 2, (s_width + gap_width) / 2),
width=gap_width,
orientation=0,
port_type="electrical",
layer=layer,
)
c.add_port(
name="P3",
center=(length / 2, (s_width + gap_width) / 2),
width=gap_width,
orientation=180,
port_type="electrical",
layer=layer,
)
c.add_port(
name="P4",
center=(length / 2, -(s_width + gap_width) / 2),
width=gap_width,
orientation=180,
port_type="electrical",
layer=layer,
)
return c
c = gsg_electrode()
cc = c.copy()
cc.draw_ports()
cc
[32m2026-01-24 22:47:42.984[0m | [33m[1mWARNING [0m | [36mdoroutes.pcells[0m:[36m<module>[0m:[36m25[0m - [33m[1mCannot determine output type ((D)KCell type)from annotation <class 'kfactory.kcell.DKCell'>. Trying to continue but likely this will fail.[0m
[32m2026-01-24 22:47:42.988[0m | [33m[1mWARNING [0m | [36mdoroutes.pcells[0m:[36m<module>[0m:[36m48[0m - [33m[1mCannot determine output type ((D)KCell type)from annotation <class 'kfactory.kcell.DKCell'>. Trying to continue but likely this will fail.[0m
[32m2026-01-24 22:47:42.990[0m | [33m[1mWARNING [0m | [36mdoroutes.pcells[0m:[36m<module>[0m:[36m110[0m - [33m[1mCannot determine output type ((D)KCell type)from annotation <class 'kfactory.kcell.DKCell'>. Trying to continue but likely this will fail.[0m
[32m2026-01-24 22:47:42.991[0m | [33m[1mWARNING [0m | [36mdoroutes.pcells[0m:[36m<module>[0m:[36m149[0m - [33m[1mCannot determine output type ((D)KCell type)from annotation <class 'kfactory.kcell.DKCell'>. Trying to continue but likely this will fail.[0m
[32m2026-01-24 22:47:42.992[0m | [33m[1mWARNING [0m | [36mdoroutes.pcells[0m:[36m<module>[0m:[36m168[0m - [33m[1mCannot determine output type ((D)KCell type)from annotation <class 'kfactory.kcell.DKCell'>. Trying to continue but likely this will fail.[0m
[32m2026-01-24 22:47:42.993[0m | [33m[1mWARNING [0m | [36mdoroutes.pcells[0m:[36m<module>[0m:[36m210[0m - [33m[1mCannot determine output type ((D)KCell type)from annotation <class 'kfactory.kcell.DKCell'>. Trying to continue but likely this will fail.[0m
[32m2026-01-24 22:47:42.995[0m | [33m[1mWARNING [0m | [36mdoroutes.pcells[0m:[36m<module>[0m:[36m244[0m - [33m[1mCannot determine output type ((D)KCell type)from annotation <class 'kfactory.kcell.DKCell'>. Trying to continue but likely this will fail.[0m
[32m2026-01-24 22:47:42.996[0m | [33m[1mWARNING [0m | [36mdoroutes.pcells[0m:[36m<module>[0m:[36m269[0m - [33m[1mCannot determine output type ((D)KCell type)from annotation <class 'kfactory.kcell.DKCell'>. Trying to continue but likely this will fail.[0m
[32m2026-01-24 22:47:42.997[0m | [33m[1mWARNING [0m | [36mdoroutes.pcells[0m:[36m<module>[0m:[36m294[0m - [33m[1mCannot determine output type ((D)KCell type)from annotation <class 'kfactory.kcell.DKCell'>. Trying to continue but likely this will fail.[0m

Configure and run simulation with DrivenSim¶
from gsim.palace import DrivenSim
# Create simulation object
sim = DrivenSim()
# Set output directory
sim.set_output_dir("./palace-sim-cpw")
# Set the component geometry
sim.set_geometry(c)
# Configure layer stack from active PDK
sim.set_stack(substrate_thickness=2.0, air_above=300.0)
# Configure left CPW port (P1 lower, P2 upper)
sim.add_cpw_port("P2", "P1", layer="topmetal2", length=5.0)
# Configure right CPW port (P4 lower, P3 upper)
sim.add_cpw_port("P3", "P4", layer="topmetal2", length=5.0)
# Configure driven simulation (frequency sweep for S-parameters)
sim.set_driven(fmin=1e9, fmax=100e9, num_points=40)
# Validate configuration
print(sim.validate())
Validation: PASSED
Warning : 2 ill-shaped tets are still in the mesh
Warning : ------------------------------
Warning : Mesh generation error summary
Warning : 1 warning
Warning : 0 errors
Warning : Check the full log for details
Warning : ------------------------------
Mesh Summary
========================================
Dimensions: 500.0 x 330.0 x 416.6 µm
Nodes: 3,942
Elements: 31,230
Tetrahedra: 22,592
Edge length: 0.40 - 323.88 µm
Quality: 0.468 (min: 0.001)
SICN: 0.519 (all valid)
----------------------------------------
Volumes (4):
- air [1]
- passive [2]
- SiO2 [3]
- airbox [4]
Surfaces (7):
- topmetal2_xy [5]
- topmetal2_z [6]
- P1_E0 [7]
- P1_E1 [8]
- P2_E0 [9]
- P2_E1 [10]
- Absorbing_boundary [11]
----------------------------------------
Mesh: palace-sim-cpw/palace.msh
# Static PNG
sim.plot_mesh(show_groups=["metal", "P"], interactive=False)
# Interactive
# sim.plot_mesh(show_groups=["metal", "P"], interactive=True)

Run simulation on cloud¶
PosixPath('palace-sim-cpw/config.json')
Uploading simulation...
done
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Downloaded 6 files to /home/runner/work/gsim/gsim/nbs/dev-palace-simulation-e6dc608f
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import pandas as pd
df = pd.read_csv(results["port-S.csv"])
df.columns = df.columns.str.strip() # Remove whitespace from column names
freq = df["f (GHz)"]
fig, (ax1, ax2) = plt.subplots(2, 1, figsize=(6, 6))
# Magnitude plot
ax1.plot(freq, df["|S[1][1]| (dB)"], marker=".", label="S11")
ax1.plot(freq, df["|S[2][1]| (dB)"], marker=".", label="S21")
ax1.set_xlabel("Frequency (GHz)")
ax1.set_ylabel("Magnitude (dB)")
ax1.set_title("S-Parameters")
ax1.legend()
ax1.grid(True)
# Phase plot
ax2.plot(freq, df["arg(S[1][1]) (deg.)"], marker=".", label="S11")
ax2.plot(freq, df["arg(S[2][1]) (deg.)"], marker=".", label="S21")
ax2.set_xlabel("Frequency (GHz)")
ax2.set_ylabel("Phase (deg)")
ax2.legend()
ax2.grid(True)
plt.tight_layout()
