Mixed Simulation Analyses Reference

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Modified by Phil Loughhead on Mar 4, 2014

Simulation Analyses

The various analyses that can be performed by the Simulator are defined in the Analyses Setup dialog. The options in the General Setup page of the dialog are also used to specify the scope of the simulation and the signals to be automatically displayed upon completion of the simulation.

Each individual analysis type is configured on a separate page of the dialog. Simply click on the analysis name to activate the corresponding setup page.

The following basic analysis types are supported:

General Analysis Setup Options

General setup options with respect to running a circuit simulation are defined on the General Setup page of the Analyses Setup dialog. This is the default page whenever the dialog is launched. To get back to this page from the setup page of another analysis type, simply click the General Setup entry in the Analyses/Options list. To learn more about the general setup options, refer to the Analyses Setup article.

Advanced SPICE Options

Main article: Advanced SPICE Options

The Advanced Options page of the Analyses Setup dialog enables you to define advanced simulation options, including the values of SPICE variables, the integration method used by the Simulation Engine and the simulation reference net. In general, you should not have to change any of the parameters in this page of the dialog for accurate simulation. Only change these options if you understand SPICE simulation parameters. To learn more about the Advanced SPICE options, refer to the Advanced SPICE Options article.

The setup options defined in the Analyses Setup dialog are used in the creation of a SPICE netlist (*.nsx), upon which the simulation is run. In order for a SPICE netlist to be created, the schematic design must be simulatable. If there are any errors or warnings that exist, the Analyses Setup dialog will not appear and instead, a dialog will appear alerting that there were errors parsing the circuit. The errors/warnings will be listed in the Messages panel. In this case, you will have to work through all warnings and errors and fix them, before you are able to access the Analyses Setup dialog and subsequently perform a simulation.

Simulation Results

As the simulation proceeds and the defined and enabled analyses are performed, a simulation waveform file (*.sdf) will open as a separate tab in the main design window, to display the results of the analyses in the Sim Data Editor's Waveform Analysis window.