FINDING THE STEADY-STATE RESPONSE OF ANALOG AND MICROWAVE CIRCUITS Kenneth S. Kundert and Alberto Sangiovanni-Vincentelli Deparineni of Eecrical Engin Per rss of Calorie ABSTRACT ‘Bing able to compute the seaty-sate response ofa circuit is ‘metods tat are eapaie of computing the steady-state response of ‘rei diecly —tammonke balance, a tequency domain med, ‘nd the fnte-difeeace method, which is based in the time domain. Both of these methods are eutabe for se on pontinear ‘Sais tat contain irtibted device and that exhibit ltr prriodlc or quasiperiodic teady-sae sousons 1 INTRODUCTION ‘Onen when simulating analog and microwave circus, the steady-state bebvior of the cat i of primary inert.” For ‘tampa, the distorion, power level, nose and wafer characen- ‘cs such as gain and'pedance of «eicuit can ony be deer mined from is steady-state reponse. Ths, i desinble for a Cire simulator used on analog and microwave cls to beable to compute effcienly and accurately the seay-sate solution of seh cts. (One approach to calculating the steady-state reponse is Imegrte te differential equations that cestibe the cacut from Some chosen inal state until any transient behavior des out an ‘ppoach Dat sues fom sever fundamental @nwbacks. Fir, it can be quite diffcalt wo determine when tbe transient hs died ou. If he Sime constants involved inthe taint are Tare, the responge must be observed over «long interval o be able to conelade that the circuit isin steady-state. Tf not observed fora Diod of tine whichis long enough the circuit may be erone- (uly declared as being in steady sate when in rely is que far fiom ‘This con be 2 seous problem For example 10 determine the linearity ofan amplifier, the steady-state response of te cat ‘o 8 sinwsjal ingot i computed and is deviation fom a pare sinusoid evaluated. Any transient that is preset when the ouput ‘is computed is eroncously considered to be distortion, Seoond, eve if ts posible w deer coneetly that stay state has been achieved, tay take along Ue Torte anos {0 decay, and thus, this approach would involve an expensive cal Cation. Its sometimes posible wo avoid this proba by using 2 ‘asiomizad integration mefiod o acceler the proces of reaching ‘Heady ste. For example, if the cieait exits ighly dampes ‘rilains is posi w have the imgraon meted follow be ‘veope ofthe slaon rater an the sition sell [pez] Finally, many analog and microwave circus, such as miter, ‘uve inp at (0 GF More independent Hequenles. These fre quencies are often sich that the rato ofthe ghetto lowest fe 61 IEEE 1988 CUSTOM INTEGRATED CIRCUTTS CONFERENCE, ering and Computer Sciences Berkeley, CA. 94704 quency generated bythe nonlinearities inte cet sarge. na {Tuslet simulton, the eae ofthe tine ep is proportional w he highest equeney and the length ofthe simulitio irl propor tional the lowest AS ames, hese cies ofen require a vast ‘umber of tine pins “Tis pape presents 2 numberof methods fr ety comput- ing the seady-rate reponse of nonlinear creas. However, ‘before inoducing these methods, we wil clay wat is mean by ‘Seay sia, Inthe most general lems, te steady-state solution of 2 diferent equation iste one tat i axympoticaly approached {8 the effet ofthe nal condtion dies out. An important aspect Of this defiton is tht Ue effect of the lnlal condidon mest ecay, bt iti noe necessary for io disappear compe. For example, a cit such a a flip-fop widh more than one sable Sneha dint nial conditions tt eventually rel in different ‘eadystae soluions. “However, cach steaiy-sate solution is ‘ached repailss of smal changes in he inal codtion. This is cquivalent to saying Gat if he diferenal equation is ta steady. ‘Sue soluson and is perurted slighly and temporarily, it will ‘enum fo the same soltion. Such a solution is refemed 102s bing yma sable. Notice that this defition excidesTosiess Inear LC oslson, ‘Thee ae several ferent kinds of steady-state behavior that are of iterst. The fits DC steady sie. Here the soaton is fn equlibriom poim of te circuit and is independent of ine Suble linear cals driven by sinusoidal sources eventually exhibit Sinusoidal steady sis soluions, which are churacenzed as being purely sisoidal excep possibly for some DC offiet Peiodc eady sate ie the seay-ete response of a norlinear cit Ativen by a periodic sour. A periodic steady-state solution con- iss solely of «DC offet and harmonicaly reed siowsoids. The riod ofthe solution is usally equal 1 at of the inp, tough ‘Sccasionaly the periods of the two willbe muliples of soe com- ton period. If + nonlinear crit is deven with several periodic Sources at unrelated fequncies, the steady-state response I caled ‘Guisperodi. A quasperodie neady-raie response consist of ‘nusoide at the sum and diference frequencies of two ot more fugdamenalfmqucis an ie amon, Te feces of gt sens oualy equal tat of e fundamen, tet sometimes they are even muliples. Other forms of seady-sate behavior exis, but ae beyond te scope ofthis paper. In this paper we discuss te compuution of periodic and ‘qusiperiodc Soons of ordinary diferenal equans. We do ot quarance tht these solitons represen steady-state solutions because the methods presen are unable to distnguich between fable and unstable sotuons ‘The tration approach wo finding te periodic steady-state response of a cat is 10 we shooting’ meds {apmile2,skelboe80). These methods explolt the possibilty of finding an inal conditon for the differential equations tat esrb he Gretsch thao tranient i excited ante resale A ‘c112584-118:0000-0026 $1.00 © 1988 TEEEing response isthe steady solution. Shoting methods anemgt to find Such inital conditions wsing an iver algrm, The ‘lgoritm for 8 periodiealy driven iru begins by poeting the {nal conditions and simolatng the circuit for one period using ‘ese conditions. ‘The response Is checked io se if I is peioic and if rot how fri it fom being period, A new inal guess 1S then generated that presumably sls in a response What is ‘lose o being periodic. The metbod used wo generate the ne in tal condidons ls what differents the shooting method variants Kundera. When tying to apply shoting methods 10 analog. and microwave circus, teo fudamental problems” ae encountered ‘Shoodng meshods find the periodic steady-sute response of a ci ‘ait by exploiting the fat thal under eens circumstance, iis possible to formulate the peiocty constant hat x(7) = (047) for all 1) as. a tworpoln bounday-vale contain (at HU)=x((4T) for sone fued 1)” (eler76,soer80) Unfor tunately, in genera, the sade response of a mixer, very limporantcommunicaton cieut, not peo, but rer quasi pefodie. The quasiperiodic edy-sate consraint camot be for ulated as a bounfary valve consaine. Shooting methods are Inappropriate for Ui type of cei On each iteration, shooting. methods compute a new init condition. For lumped cicuts, under non degeneracy condions [desert the inal condone area vector of voltages seross the apacitors and curents trough the inductors. However, if te ci ‘St conine distbuted devices, tna coin can no Tonger to given uring afte set of number. To speciy completely the Inlal condidons fora disibuted device requires thatthe volage ‘ao current be given everywhere slong is length. Tht, he i ondiions are specited not with a number, but wih a fncion FFupedonal inital condidons complica hopelesy shooting ‘mets and $0 they we not practi for creuits conaing dst ‘uted devices. For these reasons he shooing methods wil not be lected fer i hie paper. Harmonic balance Kundera] is anther method for com ating the steady-sate response of & cei that is poplar for Iicrowave ciel dies fom shooting metods in that it {cures thatthe circuit's steady-state response consis of a sum of Situsoids, and proceeds ofthe coetcierts ofthe simsoids that Susy dhe ferential equation. Thus, the stcad-stae solution Is ‘acuta dime and at transient is avoided. Hannonic balance is efficient nly few snuwids are ated Yo approximate the solution to the desied acuracy. is atracive, therefor, when the clei x driven by sinsoial sources and when the nonin: tesa driven mid [A promising metiod for nti steady-state solutions tat has yet And application in cit simulation is the iite-iference ‘method. When finding periodic solutions, ite-iference methods replace the different equations wih finie-diffeence equations on 4 mesh of points that cover one period. Tal solutions consist of isc values, one foreach pot om te mesh hat donot neces sarily satisfy the diference equations tut do sais the periodicity ‘consi ‘The tl solution at each pot i adjusted ul also ‘atses he dinerence equations, Finte- yg) if or sme J, x nT ‘The pale X= INE XFJ"e C is he Fourier coeficien ofthe Fowier eponent Oy 29d X=Ky Xy Xq” | ss called Be frequeney-demamn representation, o spect, of x. Convery, is the tme-domain representation, or waveforn, of X. I all be frequencies aye A are distinct (Le. 0, # @ forall # J) then here exists a linear inerble operator, refered 10 a6 the Fourier wansform, tht maps x 10 X.. This is a more general einen ofthe Founer wansfonm than (used else in tat we define the transfor for almost ered signals as well as avidin, TR pe te pm er tr agent on pen wk cap ant nna hens rome beater wr case of sonata pure oo Sones eases © ae 6.1.2A collection of devices is called system if te devices ae arranged to operate on input signals (le stimulus) to proguce ‘utp signals (ie response). A sysiem 8 awonomous If bot ‘oie souls atime invariant, oerwise it forced. An ellaior isan example of an autonomous sysein while an tmplier, «er, and a miner ar ll examples of ford systems asl, an algebraic of memoryless deve o system is one whose response is only a fonction of the present vale of its imal, not oF frre values. 2.2. Problem Formulation In the interest of Keeping ration simple, we consider only nonlinear time-invariant eels conssing of independent Curent lures and volage controlled rsors, capacitors and disited ‘evioes, Those resins ae moaly cosmetic; they allow the use fof simple nodal analysis to formulate the ccut equations. If a ‘more general eqation formulation method such as modied nodal analysis i used sangovann) al ress presented in this paper an be applied to crits containing inductors, voltage sources, and ‘unes-conlla components. We futher asume that te dst ‘dud devices ae linear, that the clelt Is nonaunomous (or Fored), and that has 4 eady sate ston LEU te the number of nodes in the circuit, and asume it Iss an, jolted ssympotcally sabe almos: period sohion ve APM(A) ati» i a vector of node volage waelonns ech (Of whic is smost periodic on the st of frequencies A,” Fuher ‘ssune thatthe source current wavefonns belong 10 AP*(A), and Uta al device eonsinuveequatons are dfereniable when wate functions of voltage. Now, asng Kirhot's caren law, the iit can be described by Foun ates dons fyeorede ru =0 6) here f 8 te function tat maps he node voage wavefors nip the sun ofthe cares ening each node; € IR is tine: Oe Js the 2270 vesor, we APH (A) isthe vector of source curent wavefoms; 1.g:1R° +R” ae dlfleeniablefuncuons represent Ing. respectively he sum of the cure entering the nade from the nonlinear conductors, an the sum of the charge entering the ‘odes fom the nonlinear capacitor; and y isthe mavit-valved impulse response of the ceut- with the nonlinear devices movedt 23 Discretization ‘Gosed form soltons to general orliear deena equs- tions are not Known. Thus, numerical tecniques have to be wed to solve equations of the form described by (5). Numerical tech igus dscreize (ve. approximate) the differential equations t yal a ite sysem of algebraic equations, [A discretization method approximates he solution wing finite linear combination of prespeciied bass functors. Tis ‘complies two goals Fist allows the soluen wo be appro ‘mad using 4 frite collection of numbers, sch asthe coefeients (of the linear combination. Second, since the basis function are own and are being combined linearly is posible to pesam- pute algebraic fonnulas for dynamic operasons such a tine {iferentaten, integration, delay and convolution thereby conver- Ing he diferetal equation ino a system of alsbaic equations. ie gee, typ en pin =f) (One example of dsreizaion methods are the backward itterence metiods(gea7T). These metiods break the inerval for ‘which the solution i desired into fie number of subinervals ‘using & mesh, ‘The soluion i approximated on each sbineval by ‘low order polyoma. ‘The choice of polyols is constrained to au thatthe resulting funtion and perhaps is fit few deriva tives are continuous a the mesh poins. In this example, the bas funevons re nonzero for only a shor interval and 90 alfect the ‘lution ony local, -An example for which the basis functions le used globally is harmonic balance, wich uses sino as he ‘ass funeuons. Local metods can rapidly and accurately respond to abrupt changes inthe oluion whereas global mehods can accu ‘ely represent sth sons over lng hme inerals wih few basis fection Once the base functions ae specified, ts sll necessary chose how the solution is > be represeied. The convention ‘ppreach ito use sampling, which species the approximate slo tion by giving is value and perhaps the value of ts derivatives at the mesh pons. ‘The bai fincions are used when computing tbe tdscet approximation to the time derivative tnd hen Seria ing to fn the solution between the given te point. Metbods that use 8 smpled data representation for the solution ae ca ‘der nie-iference methods. ADother approach so recognize thatthe solutions are being approximated by a near combination ‘of bast functions and use the oefclens ofthe basis funcons to represent the soliton. Methods at mprese the sluton wsing ‘hese coefclents are called expansion methods (kundenSts), of Which harmonic balance isan example. The issue of whether 1 te samples or coefficients to represent the sluton is primary a ‘quesion of efficiency. Once the bass fanctons andthe formula for computing the Ue derivative ae chosen the essential charc- leit ofthe dsretiton method ae ed 3 HARMONIC BALANCE Harmonic balance difers from wadonal wansint analysis in two findamenial way. Thee diffeenes allow hasoonic balance 1 compu periodic and quasiperiodic solutions drecy and give the method significant advantages in tems of accuracy and ceficeney. Transient atljis, which uses. standard mumesc integration, consis & sluion 48 & cllecuon of time samples with an implied inerpolaing function. Typically the inerpoaing fncion is 4 low order polysomial However, paiynomials ft sinusoids poorty, and 30 many poins are needed to approximate the simoial sludons accurately ‘The fit diference between harmonic balance and transient amalyis 16 that harmonic balance uses « near combination of SSnuoids to build te soladon. ‘Thus, natal approximates the Diode. and. alnos periodic signals found in steady-se ‘esyonse. Ifthe seay-sae response consis of just a few dom- Iman sinusoids, whichis common, then hamenie balance needs only 2 small data set 1 represent the response accurately. The ‘vantage of using sinusoids © approximate an almost periodic Steady response becomes particularly imporant when the response contains dominant simacde a widely separated frien: oes Harmonic balance also difers from tron sine-domsin ‘methods in tat time domain simulators represent waveforms as a fallecton of samples whereas hamonic balance Fepescas them Using the ooefcens of te sino Gust at ln ona tine omain methods where iis presumed th a polynomial is used to Imerpolate Berween samples, we can we sales 10 represent the 613‘combination of sinusoids, with the understanding that 2, sum-of Sinasoid itepoaion it be done between simples) Working with te coefciens and exploiting superposition makes t pose 1p caleulae symbolically the response from linear dynanie opera. ‘ons Such a time integration, differentiation, convottion, and ‘ely. ”Because linear devies respond atthe sae fequency a he Stimulus tis oly necessary io determine the magus an pase ff the response. Using phasor analysis (Ssoer, this is easly Sone for lumped. componens such’ a resistors, capacitor and indusors; while itis not wvial forthe more ese éibuted devices eis generlly mich easier to find thee response sing usr analjls than 1 uy to determine thei response fo sampled ‘avefoms in he time domain. Determining the response of the nalnear devices Is more ittcal. There is no known way 10 compute the coef of the response directly from the coefcents of Ue simul for an ssbirary nonlinsanty, dough is posible if the nonlinearity Is esrbed by a polynomial ora power series (ser. We donot Wish wp rest ourcves to these special cases, nor to accept the feror of using them 10 approximate arity nonlineaiis, Tnsead, we conver the coeficientrepresemation of the simuhis limo 2 ‘sampled data represenaon: dis i¢ 4 conversion from the ‘Hequency domain to the time domain and is accomplished with the Inverse Four vansform. Wit Wt Teprsentiton the noninesr evies ae easly evaluates. The rer are converted back into ‘pellet form Using the forward Fourier anton ‘Because the coecents of the seady-rne response are an lgebaiefuncson ofthe coefficients ofthe sults the dynamic ‘pect of the problem is eiminaed. Thus, the noinestinero: Gifereial equaons thar dese a creul ae convened ty hat ‘monic balance ino a sytem of algebraic ‘nonlinear equations Whose solution is the steady-state response ofthe cet These ‘Squats are solved ieratvely sing Newton's method, 341 Derivation ‘When applying hamoni balance 1 (5), both ¥ and f() are tnnsforned inthe frequency domain. Since» ix almost period, both (+) and q(v) ae almost pid; therefore all thee savefoms can be writen in tems" of cheir Fourier cottons: rev, Fy) = FF") =10) and F90) = Fa(F'V) = QW), Since v, 10) and g() ae vectors of wavefoms — one waveform fr each node in he cies — V. 1(V) and QC) are vecors of specea. The Four coeicens of ‘he convolution integral are computed by exploiting ie Tinea. ‘Assume y sass Jove