The TNT software package was developed by the Special Purpose Processor Development Group (SPPDG) at Mayo Clinic in Rochester Minnesota. TNT was created in an effort to simplify and unify transmission line modeling for high performance electronics system designs. The SPPDG has developed and used several different transmission line ``field solvers.'' Each tool had unique capabilities and limitations, and each tool had a different and often complex user interface.
TNT makes it very simple to create and modify two dimensional cross section descriptions of transmission line interconnect structures. The transmission line is represented as a cross section, with ground planes, dielectric layers, and conductors. Cross sections can be saved in a format called the Cross Section Description Language, which can easily be edited, customized, or even programmed.
TNT also makes it easy to run the electromagnetic field solvers which generate per-unit-length transmission characteristics. TNT is integrated with the Multilayer Multiconductor Transmission Line (MMTL) quasi-static simulator and two experimental wavelet-based full-wave transmission line analyzers. All simulators can be run simply from the TNT menus. MMTL can be run iteratively by sweeping cross section parameters or by iterating until a desired characteristic impedance is achieved.