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5.27 Spice notes

(B)

(C)

(D)

(E)

(F)
(G)

Colours may also be set as rgb values, e.g. object255 0 0 gives red. The model
libraries are also listed in order in the msim.ini le so you can see what you
have. If you wish to suppress some of them, or add any, for any reason, then
the remaining libraries must be in sequentially numbered order without any
gaps.
View bias levels V and I on schematic: There are two buttons on the top ribbon
that allow you to display directly on the schematic the bias values at each
point. This can be useful for seeing whether you are operating at a sensible
quiescent condition, or when there is a problem in nding an acceptable starting conguration.
DC, AC and TRANSIENT runs: You must choose the type of simulation you
require from the ANALYSIS menu. An AC run will nd a quiescent operating point and linearize the circuit around that point. It will then determine
the frequency (and phase) response over the range specied to be plotted by
PROBE. The magnitude of the gain response is not limited by the circuit since
it is now considered as linear, so you may get some unexpected results. A DC
run requires the selection of some source and a range over which it is to be
varied. Then you can get PROBE to plot any of the other variables against
this to see, for example, the proper value to set the source to bias your circuit
appropriately. A TRANSIENT run will plot proper waveforms allowing for
all the characteristics of the models and of the circuit. The basic x-axis
parameter will be TIME but this can be subsequently manipulated in many
ways only limited by your ingenuity. For an example of this see Figs. 3.12.4
or 5.26.2.
Attribute display, e.g. volt sources, etc: It is usually helpful to display on the
schematic the attributes of signal sources as a reminder, since with much
adjusting when investigating a system you may easily forget. When setting the
value of an attribute there is a choice as to whether you wish to display it.
Select CHANGE DISPLAY and then NAME AND VALUE. The text lands
up in a heap on the schematic and you have to separate them out to be legible.
Setting CAPS LOCK on your keyboard makes reading small text easier
without enlarging the schematic so far that only a small portion is visible.
Fourier display: A spectrum of a waveform may be obtained by running a
Fourier analysis. This can, for example, indicate distortion on a sine wave or
show the bandwidth required to pass a given signal without too much distortion. This option is available if you do a transient analysis since you must have
a wave to analyse.
Transfer function: See Laplace (p).
Model/subcircuit: When PSpice accesses the library to read the model for a
device then it expects the template denition string type to match the type in
the library. A problem sometimes arises as when the template gives it as a