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There are two main hints to keep in mind when using HSPICE, they are:
- Know what to expect from the simulation BEFORE running it!!!
- Simulation is NO substitute for THINKING.
Even though these hints are not always followed, they are good guidlines to use.
For instance, if you run a simulation on a circuit that you know has a gain of
around 100db and get 1db, it is easily to assume that an error exists in the
netlist of the circuit. On the other hand, if a result of 1db is returned and
the actual is not known, it can easily be assumed to be correct when an error
actually exits in the netlist!!
Basic Strategy:
Even if you don't go through the entire help website, make sure you get
an understanding of how to write basic netlists. Here is a guideline
that you could follow:
-
First line has to be the title.
-
The second line could be:
.OPTIONS post
This will make sure that you get the plots in awaves.
-
Draw the circuit on a piece of paper. Name the nodes. The ground
terminal has to be named "0". Write down
the netlist in any order in the following manner:
-
For resistors:
Rname terminal1 terminal2 Rvalue
-
For capacitors:
Cname terminal1 terminal2 Cvalue
-
For inductors:
Lname terminal1 terminal2 Lvalue
-
For MOSFETS:
Mname drain gate source body Modelname L=length W=width
-
For voltage/current sources:
Study the section on
voltage and current
sources.
-
Typically you will be doing DC or transient or AC simulations.
Study the .DC,
.TRAN and
.AC statements.
-
If you had a MOSFET, put the model statement. PMOS and NMOS
transistors have separate models. The course TA will provide you
with the model, if you should require one.
-
Write .PLOT and/or .PRINT statements here.
-
The last line should be .END. Add a linefeed (enter) after that.
Other helpful hints:
-
You can measure the voltage at any node, or the voltage between any
two nodes. However, you can only measure the current passing through a
voltage source. To measure a current through a branch, insert a dummy
voltage source of value 0 in that branch (like an ammeter) and measure the current
through this dummy voltage source.
- It is not required to use one of HSPICE's graphing programs. One of the
most common ways is to extract the graphing data from the .lis file
using scripts and then use Matlab to graph the data. To
extract the data from the .lis file, have .PRINT statements.
Use ".OPTIONS ingold" so that the data is in the exponent notation.
Just edit the .lis file that you get to have the data
suitable for Matlab.
-
The material in this website is an expanded version
of material presented by Dr. J. Steensgaard.
This website is maintained by Shouri
Chatterjee. This page was last updated on
02/11/2003