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SPICE: Certainty for All Decisions

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Cascaded transfer functions monte carlo Monte Carlo Analysis With Transfer Functions in Cascaded Circuits Pro circuit designers don’t just work with components in parallel and series when they design circuits. One way to build circuits is with circuit networks, which will have input and output ports. What happens inside each network can be analyzed in the traditional way (SPICE, by hand, etc.), but what is important is that the network maps an input voltage/current pair to an output voltage and current pair. Mathematically, this is quantified with a Read Article
3-port S-parameters How to Get 3-port S-parameters From a 2-port VNA Measurement S-parameters are fundamental quantities in signal integrity, and an ability to understand them from measurement or analysis is very important. If you have a 3-port network, like a power divider or circulator, it may appear that you must use a 3-port VNA to measure these S-parameters. It is always acceptable to measure between two ports, but you need to know what exactly it is you are measuring. As it turns out, you can use a 2-port VNA Read Article
Best Circuit Design Software Altium Designer: The Best Circuit Design Software Altium Designer doesn't just include the best PCB layout tools, it is also a the best circuit design software for students, hobbyists, and professionals. Read Article
Monte Carlo Simulation vs. Sensitivity Analysis Monte Carlo Simulation vs. Sensitivity Analysis: What’s the Difference? SPICE gives you an alternative to Monte Carlo analysis so that you can understand circuit sensitivity to variations in parameters. Read Article
Identifying Near-field EMI in a PCB's Power Distribution Network Identifying Near-field EMI in a PCB's Power Distribution Network Near-field EMI on the PDN in a PCB can be identified when you use a 3D field solver to examine your PCB layout. Here’s how Ansys SIwave integrates with Altium Designer for a powerful simulation workflow. Read Article
Monte Carlo in SPICE The Basics of Monte Carlo in SPICE: Theory and Demo Anytime you place a component in your PCB, it’s almost like you’re gambling. All components have tolerances, and some of these are very precise (resistors for instance), but others components can have very wide tolerances on their nominal values (e.g., wirewound inductors or ferrites). In the event the tolerances on these components become too large, how can you predict how these tolerances will affect your circuits? While you could calculate Read Article
PDN Simulation and Analysis Guide Cover Ebook: PDN Simulation and Analysis Guide In this e-book, we’ll show how to create some fundamental PDN simulation models with SPICE, and how to analyze PDN impedance with industry-standard simulation programs. Read Article
ferrite bead PDN Ferrite Bead Models and Transfer Impedance in a PDN Simulation Ferrites in a PDN and transfer impedance are investigated in this article. We’ll show how ferrites in a PDN create problems for switching circuits. Read Article
PDN Impedance Simulation SPICE PDN Impedance Simulation and Analysis in SPICE PDN simulations can be performed in SPICE if you know how to properly model parasitics and inductive effects in power integrity analysis. Read Article
Power plane resonances PCB When Do PCB Power Plane Resonances Occur? Do you know when a power plane resonance occurs in the PDN on a circuit board? We’ll examine when this occurs and what causes it. Read Article
Capacitive load termination How To: Impedance Matching and Terminating Capacitive Loads Impedance matching and capacitive load termination are examined in this article. Read Article
Gibbs phenomenon How the Gibbs Phenomenon Produces Measurement Artifacts The Gibbs phenomenon is a measurement artifact that can be mistaken for real signal integrity problems like ground bounce, ringing from reflections, or resonance on short lines. Read Article
MLCC controlled ESR capacitor Controlled ESR Capacitors: Should You Use Them for Power Integrity? I can’t think of a single product I’ve built that doesn’t require capacitors. We often talk a lot about effective series inductance (ESL) in capacitors and its effects on power integrity. What about effective series resistance (ESR)? Is there a technique you can use to determine the appropriate level of resistance, and can you use ESR to your advantage? Like many answers to important engineering questions, the answer is “it depends.” One type of Read Article
H-bridge Full Wave Rectifier Beginner's Guide to H-bridge Full Wave Rectifier Design Need to start a new power conversion design? You’ll probably need an H-bridge full-wave rectifier to produce a stable DC output. Read Article
Gibbs ringing What Causes Gibbs Signal Ringing in High-speed Channel Simulations? Gibbs ringing is both a measurement artifact and a calculation artifact that arises in band-limited channels. Make sure you understand how this arises due to transform and convolution operations. Read Article
photodiode circuit Photodiode Circuit Simulation and Design for Your PCB Your design tools should give you an easy way to create circuit diagrams, simulate electrical behavior, and start a new PCB layout. A photodiode circuit is important in many applications, ranging from simple ON/OFF light detection to receiving digital data in an optical fiber. These semiconductor devices are similar to a regular diode, but they can be difficult to simulate without the right component models and circuit design tools. With Altium Read Article
Best RF Design Software Use the Best RF Design Software for High Frequency PCBs What should you look for in your RF design software? Integratoin between schematic and PCB is the top need among RF engineers. Read Article