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 1960’s 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.

R s

C d
R d

D I O D E

BIPOLAR JUNCTION TRANSISTOR

PSpice BJT model.

 R c

C b c

@ f I c

R b
B J T C b e @ r I c

R e

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 27˚C.

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.