HomSPICE: simulator with homotopy algorithms for finding DC and steady-state solutions of nonlinear circuits

We describe the use of homotopy (also called parameter embedding and continuation) methods for finding DC operating points and steady-state solutions of BJT and MOS transistor circuits. Past implementation of homotopy algorithms in proprietary industrial circuit simulators proved that they were viable options to resolving convergence difficulties for finding circuits' DC operating points. In this paper we describe a software implementation of publicly available homotopy algorithms (from the software package called HOMPACK) in the UCB SPICE circuit simulator. The new simulator, called HomSPICE, provides options for finding a circuit's DC operating points and steady-state solutions via three homotopy algorithms. We illustrate the performance of HomSPICE on several simulation examples.

[1]  Stig Skelboe,et al.  Computation of the periodic steady-state response of nonlinear networks by extrapolation methods , 1980 .

[2]  Thomas L. Quarles.  THE SPICE3 IMPLEMENTATION GUIDE , 1989 .

[3]  Seth R. Sanders,et al.  Multi-parameter homotopy methods for finding DC operating points of nonlinear circuits , 1993, ISCAS.

[4]  Paul Horowitz,et al.  The Art of Electronics , 1980 .

[5]  L. Watson.  Globally convergent homotopy algorithms for nonlinear systems of equations , 1990 .

[6]  Ljiljana Trajkovic,et al.  Artificial parameter homotopy methods for the DC operating point problem , 1993, IEEE Trans. Comput. Aided Des. Integr. Circuits Syst..

[7]  J. Yorke,et al.  Finding zeroes of maps: homotopy methods that are constructive with probability one , 1978 .

[8]  W. Graham Richards,et al.  Art of electronics , 1983, Nature.

[9]  Ljiljana Trajkovic,et al.  Parameter embedding methods for finding dc operating points: formulation and implementation , 1995 .

[10]  Andre Vladimirescu,et al.  The Spice Book , 1994 .

[11]  Eugene L. Allgower,et al.  Numerical continuation methods - an introduction , 1990, Springer series in computational mathematics.

[12]  Alberto L. Sangiovanni-Vincentelli,et al.  Steady-state methods for simulating analog and microwave circuits , 1990, The Kluwer international series in engineering and computer science.

[13]  T. Aprille,et al.  Steady-state analysis of nonlinear circuits with periodic inputs , 1972 .

[14]  Layne T. Watson,et al.  Algorithm 652: HOMPACK: a suite of codes for globally convergent homotopy algorithms , 1987, TOMS.

[15]  Albert E. Ruehli,et al.  The modified nodal approach to network analysis , 1975 .