INTRODUCTION TO PSPICE

WHAT IS SPICE??
The acronym SPICE stands for Simulation Program with Integrated

Circuit Emphasis. SPICE is a general purpose open source simulator

that simulates electronic circuits. SPICE contains models for common circuit elements, active as well as passive, and is capable of simulating most of the electronic circuits. SPICE enables computer aided analysis of complex electronic circuits. Thus, circuits can be analysed purely through simulation, without practically assembling the circuit. SPICE can also take into consideration the parametric changes due to variation in temperature and other external stimuli.

HOW DID SPICE ORIGINATE & DEVELOP??

Origin of SPICE can be traced back to the mid 1960s when ECAP was developed at IBM. ECAP served as a launch pad for CANCER (Computer Analysis of Non linear Circuits, Excluding Radiation), which was developed by Laurence Nagel in 1970 at University of California, Berkley. The first ever version of SPICE, aptly named SPICE1, was introduced to the public domain by Laurence Nagel and Prof. Pederson. SPICE1 was largely a derivative of the CANCER program. SPICE1 was coded in FORTRAN and used nodal analysis to construct the circuit equations. Thus SPICE1 suffered from the limitations of nodal analysis in representing inductors, floating voltage sources, controlled sources etc.

The second version, SPICE2 was introduced in 1975 by Ellis Cohen. It was also coded in FORTRAN, but was a much improved version as it contained more circuit elements and was exclusive of the shortcomings of SPICE1. SPICE2 gave SPICE its real popularity. In 1983 Thomas Quarrels and A. Richard Newton developed SPICE3, which is the latest version of SPICE. SPICE3 was coded in C, used the same netlist syntax and added X Window system plotting. Over the years SPICE2 has become an industry standard. The commercially supported versions of SPICE have been divided into two categories, Mainframe Versions HSPICE RAD-SPICE IG-SPICE AccuSim SPICE-Plus PSpice PC Versions AllSpice IS-SPICE Z-SPICE DSPICE PSpice MD-SPICE

WHAT ARE SPICE LIBRARIES & MODELS??

PSpice contains models of various common circuit elements. Whenever a component is used in a circuit, PSpice generates its corresponding model and analyses the circuit based upon the behavior of these models. A library is a set of component models of a similar kind. PSpice models of some of the most basic electronic components are as follows,

DIODE PSpice diode model.

Rs

DIODE
Rd

Cd

BIPOLAR JUNCTION TRANSISTOR PSpice BJT model.

Rc

Cbc @f Ic

BJT

Rb Cbe @rIc

Re

WHAT IS PSPICE??
PSpice is a very popular version of SPICE2. PSpice was developed by MicroSim. In 1997 MicroSim merged with OrCAD, which was later acquired by Cadence in 1999.

WHAT DOES PSPICE DO??

PSpice can perform following basic analyses, 1. Transient & Fourier Analysis 2. DC Sweep Analysis 3. AC Sweep & Noise Analysis 4. Operating Point Analysis

TRANSIENT & FOURIER ANALYSIS

In transient analysis PSpice computes the voltages, currents and digital states tracked over time. These quantities are plotted as a function of time in the output file. In Fourier analysis, PSpice computes the DC and Fourier components for the results of the transient analysis. In order to perform the Fourier analysis it is imperative to perform the transient analysis.

DC SWEEP ANALYSIS
In DC sweep analysis, PSpice computes the steady state voltages and currents while sweeping a circuit quantity over a specified range or at discrete values. The swept quantity can be a DC source, a model/global parameter or temperature. The scale of variation can either be linear or logarithmic.

AC SWEEP & NOISE ANALYSIS

In AC sweep analysis, PSpice computes the small signal response over a specified range of input frequencies. The scale for variation of frequency can either be linear or logarithmic. In noise analysis, PSpice computes Propagated noise contributions at output from every noise generator in the circuit. RMS sum of all the noise contributions at output. Equivalent noise input.

OPERATING POINT ANALYSIS

In operating point analysis, PSpice computes the DC operating point of the circuit as well as the nonlinear controlled sources and semiconductors. It also computes the small signal DC gain between a specified input source and a node voltage.

In addition to these basic analyses, PSpice performs the following advanced multi-run analyses as well, 1. Parametric Analysis. 2. Temperature Analysis. 3. Monte Carlo Analysis. 4. Sensitivity/Worst Case Analysis.

PARAMETRIC ANALYSIS
In parametric analysis, PSpice computes the response for various values of a power source, a model/global parameter or temperature. The scale of parameter variation can either be linear or logarithmic.

TEMPERATURE ANALYSIS
In temperature analysis, PSpice computes the response at various values of temperature. By default, all the analyses in PSpice are performed at 27C.

MONTE CARLO ANALYSIS

In Monte Carlo analysis, PSpice computes the circuit response to the changes in part values by randomly varying all the model parameters for which tolerance is specified. This provides statistical data for device parameters variance on the response. With Monte Carlo analysis, model parameters are given tolerances and multiple analyses are run using these tolerances.

SENSITIVITY/WORST CASE ANALYSIS

In worst case analysis, PSpice computes the worst probable output of a circuit given the restricted variance of its parameters. For this purpose, in addition to the circuit description, the parameter tolerances and the definition of worst case are to be specified.

HOW TO INTERACT WITH PSPICE??

The PSpice platform is an interface between the user and the PSpice program. The PSpice platform used depends on the version of SPICE. The three PSpice platforms are as follows, 1. PSpice A/D 2. PSpice Schematics 3. OrCAD Capture Lite

PSPICE A/D
PSpice A/D is used when the circuit is described by statements and analysis commands are simulated by the platform.

PSPICE SCHEMATICS
PSpice Schematics is a graphical user interface, thus there is no need to describe the circuit by statements. The circuit can directly be drawn on the platform.

OrCAD CAPTURE LITE

OrCAD Capture Lite is similar to PSpice Schematics as they share the same platform. OrCAD Lite has more features compared to PSpice Schematics. Further, schematic files can be run on OrCAD but OrCAD files cannot run on PSpice Schematics. The simulation results are always displayed on the PSpice A/D platform.

WHAT ARE THE LIMITATIONS OF PSPICE??

1. The student version of PSpice is limited to a maximum of 64 nodes, 10 transistors and 2 operational amplifiers. 2. The program is not interactive. The circuit cannot be analysed for various component values without editing the program statement. 3. PSpice can predict the output of any system if the elements of that system are known. On the other hand, given the output of any system, the system cannot be synthesized through PSpice. 4. Distortion analysis is not available in PSpice. 5. The input/output impedance of a circuit cannot be plotted directly.

HOW TO SPICE UP A CIRCUIT??

SPICE has become so popular that the term Spice up has become synonymous with simulation. So Spicing up a circuit essentially means to simulate a circuit. Circuit simulation involves three simple steps, STEP#1: Create the circuit on a PSpice platform. STEP#2: Specify the type of analysis that is to be performed. STEP#3: View the results.