Program Reference for SPICE2

Ellis Cohen

EECS Department
University of California, Berkeley
Technical Report No. UCB/ERL M592
June 1976

http://www2.eecs.berkeley.edu/Pubs/TechRpts/1976/ERL-m-592.pdf

The design of high-performance integrated circuits requires an accurate, inexpensive way in which to assess circuit performance. Discrete "breadboard" techniques are inadequate because they do not accurately model the effects of parsitics, thermal coupling, and device matching, which are critical to integrated-circuit performance. Prototype circuit construction must also be ruled out because of the high cost--typically, six man-months and $25,000.

As a result of these considerations, the semiconductor industry has turned to the integrated-circuit (IC) simulator to evaluate the performance of circuits during the design stage. The SPICE program was developed to meet the needs of the IC group at Berkeley. The analyses which it performs include dc operating point, nonlinear transient, small-signal frequency-domain, noise, harmonic distortion, and dc sensitivities.

This report describes the internal design of the SPICE2 program (the fundamental theory and algorithms are described in L. Nagel's SPICE2: A Computer Program to Simulate Semiconductor Circuits). Chapter 2 describes the dynamic memory allocation technique which is used throughout the program. Chapters 3-12 detail the program structure. Finally, the Appendices (Chapter 13) contain a listing of the User's Guide, specifications for all the internal data structures, descriptions of COMMON variables, and a program listing.

BibTeX citation:

@mastersthesis{Cohen:M592,
    Author = {Cohen, Ellis},
    Title = {Program Reference for SPICE2},
    School = {EECS Department, University of California, Berkeley},
    Year = {1976},
    Month = {Jun},
    URL = {http://www2.eecs.berkeley.edu/Pubs/TechRpts/1976/9604.html},
    Number = {UCB/ERL M592},
    Abstract = {The design of high-performance integrated circuits requires an
accurate, inexpensive way in which to assess circuit performance.
Discrete "breadboard" techniques are inadequate because they do
not accurately model the effects of parsitics, thermal coupling,
and device matching, which are critical to integrated-circuit
performance.  Prototype circuit construction must also be ruled
out because of the high cost--typically, six man-months and $25,000.

As a result of these considerations, the semiconductor industry
has turned to the integrated-circuit (IC) simulator to evaluate
the performance of circuits during the design stage.  The SPICE
program was developed to meet the needs of the IC group at Berkeley.
The analyses which it performs include dc operating point, nonlinear
transient, small-signal frequency-domain, noise, harmonic distortion,
and dc sensitivities.

This report describes the internal design of the SPICE2 program
(the fundamental theory and algorithms are described in L. Nagel's
SPICE2: A Computer Program to Simulate Semiconductor Circuits).
Chapter 2 describes the dynamic memory allocation technique which
is used throughout the program.  Chapters 3-12 detail the program
structure.  Finally, the Appendices (Chapter 13) contain a listing
of the User's Guide, specifications for all the internal data
structures, descriptions of COMMON variables, and a program listing.}
}

EndNote citation:

%0 Thesis
%A Cohen, Ellis
%T Program Reference for SPICE2
%I EECS Department, University of California, Berkeley
%D 1976
%@ UCB/ERL M592
%U http://www2.eecs.berkeley.edu/Pubs/TechRpts/1976/9604.html
%F Cohen:M592