Software/ method to reduce iterations in Analog Design

Hello Ppl,

Generally, for analog design we use SPICE engines to solve the equation. But when we are trying to solve the problem, we may have to go through many iterations. Is there any way to reduce these iterations? I mean kind of software or method?

Thanks,

Generally speaking, SPICE is NOT a design tool but a verification tool, that verifies the circuit in the way you think it will work. With that said, the way to reduce or minimize the lengthy SPICE run is to do the hand calculation first, that is pretty much what most designers will do in their design flow. Unfortunatly, with today's advanced technology node, the first order equations which are meaningful enough to do hand calculation in the past no longer hold well against modern models except for strong inversion regions. From literature, it seems gm/Id methodology can be a useful vehicle in place of the hand calculation with reasonable accuracy, therefore can reduce SPICE runs. There are some EDA tools, Neocircuit from Cadence, Circuit Explorer from Synopsys, also from Orora, and some others, but my personal opionion is that they are all black box approach and doesn't provide the same design flow/methodology that analog designers are carrying out in a daily basis. A fairly new company (5 or 6 years, but new from the product perspective), MunEDA seems to offer an interesting tool from the datasheet.

Yeah .. you are right about SPICE that it's a verification tool, not the design tool. But generally, it's the only tool which is used for analog design.

All the information provided by you is very useful.

So HDMI, what about you? Do you also use Excel or spreadsheet heavily for the various analysis? Like in your company, do you have different templates or tools which can be used in the design process?

Thanks for your reply