603

5.27 Spice notes

(m)

(n)

(o)

(p)

(q)

is worth making it into a MACRO that can be stored with the .prb le and if
required transferred to other schematics (just copy the .prb le and rename it
to match the new schematic). On the TRACE/ADD window you will see a
selector showing ANALOG OPERATORS AND FUNCTIONS with a selector which will alternatively display MACROS. Give the macro a unique name
and enclose its arguments in () comma separated. In the denition box type
the denition and then save the macro as required. An example of this is given
in Section 5.14 where macros are used in applying the T technique. In general
it is undesirable to display current traces and voltage traces on the same plot
since currents are commonly numerically much smaller than voltages and the
currents simply appear along the x-axis. A separate plot is usually more
revealing. If in any plot you require a reference trace just ask for one, e.g. add
a zero trace 0.
Markers for signals: V and I markers may be placed on the circuit to indicate
those that you wish to examine. In PROBE setup you can restrict collection
of results to these points if you have memory limitations. Otherwise PSpice
will retain all the voltages and currents, which can lead to large data les.
Trace availability listing and reductions: All the traces that are available are
listed upon TRACE/ADD and there can be a long list. There is a check box
which enables suppression of the display of internal model variables, which
will generally not be of interest, and will usually considerably shorten the list.
Trace editing: If you wish to edit a trace a double click on the name will bring
up the TRACE/ADD window and you can adjust the requirements rather
than deleting the trace and starting from scratch, e.g. to keep the trace colours
the same since you have just learnt which is which in a complex display. The
adjustment is not limited to the original signal you can ask for a completely
new one.
Laplace parts: The Laplace part, a form of ABM, allows you to set up a transfer function by specifying it in the normal transfer function form with a
numerator polynomial and a denominator polynomial. Examples of this are
shown in Sections 3.4 and 4.3. As this is a frequency domain part, the output
will depend on the past inputs as well as the present. In the MicroSim Users
Guide, Cautions and Recommendations for Simulation and Analysis, Laplace
Transforms, there is an error in that it is stated that the transform can contain
poles in the left-half plane. Such poles will cause an impulse response that
increases with time instead of decaying. It is poles in the right-half plane
which will have such an eect. Poles in the left-half plane denote a stable
system.
Mathematical constructions and functions: Mathematical expressions can use
a wide range of operators and functions and the rules of precedence control
the basic operators !, , *, /, but it is usually safer to use brackets to make