Implementation Of Exact Sensitivities In A Circuit Simulator Using Automatic Differentiation

Sensitivities are very important in electronic circuit analysis and design. This paper presents a general circuit simulation programme that calculates analytical sensitivities with respect to any parameter using automatic differentiation. A novel aspect of this implementation is that C++ templates are used along with automatic differentiation libraries to produce (at compilation time) different versions of the model evaluation functions, each optimised for a specific purpose. This results in a good compromise between the time to develop and maintain device models and execution efficiency. Algorithms and software design aspects of the circuit simulator are described. Sensitivities of a bipolar self-biasing current source are used to demonstrate the approach.

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