INTRODUCTION ON CIRCUIT SIMULATION TECHNIQUES.ppt.pptVIP

* ? * * 4.3. Conventions The following conventions must be observed in the circuit definitions: ·??????? A circuit must always contain a ground node, which must always be number 0. ·??????? Every node in the circuit must have at least two elements connected to it; the only exceptions are the nodes of unterminated transmission lines. ·??????? Every node in the circuit must have a DC path to ground. In DC, capacitors represent open circuits and inductors represent shorts. This requirement prevents the occurrence of floating nodes, for which the program cannot find a bias point. * ·???Because standard SPICE2G.6 uses modified nodal analysis to solve for both node voltages and currents of voltage-defined elements, such as voltage sources and inductors, two restrictions must be observed: the circuit cannot contain a loop of voltage sources or inductors it cannot contain a cut-set of current sources or capacitors. The former is disallowed due to Kirchhoff’s voltage law and the latter due to Kirchhoff’s current law. * Any violation of the above restrictions results in an error message and termination of the SPICE program. The possible error messages and corrective actions are: During read-in, PSpice checks the topology of the circuit. One of the checks done is to make sure that there are no floating nodes. If there are floating nodes, PSpice will indicate a read-in error on the screen and the output file will contain a message similar to the following: ERROR: Node X is floating. This means that there is no DC path to ground from node X. A DC path is one that draws current, for instance a path through resistors, inductors and transistors. There are several paths that do not draw current and that do not count: ·??????? The two ends of a transmission line do not have a DC connection between them: in the following example node 5 has a connection to node 0 (ground): T1 5 0 4 8 Z0=75 td=20ns 1. “Floating Nodes” * ·??????? Voltage-controlled sources do n