MICROELECTRONIC SYSTEMS NEWS
FILENUMBER: 9805
BEGIN_KEYWORDS
SPICE TANNER
END_KEYWORDS
DATE: February 1998
TITLE: WINDOWS 95/NT SPICE AVAILABLE FROM TANNER
WINDOWS 95/NT SPICE AVAILABLE FROM TANNER
PASADENA, Calif. - Tanner EDA announces the V5 release of the T-
Spice Pro integrated circuit design capture and simulation system
for Windows 95/NT. The tool suite includes the S-Edit schematic
editor, the T-Spice circuit simulator, and the W-Edit waveform
viewer. The new release includes dramatic improvements in user
interface, integration, and simulation and modeling technology.
"We are dedicated to making T-Spice Pro the ideal design capture
and simulation system for mixed-signal integrated circuit
designers," explains Scott Wedge, Manager of Simulation and
Modeling. "We are pleased with the major enhancements featured in
this release. When combined with Tanner's L-Edit layout tools,
T-Spice Pro now provides a complete design solution for analog
and mixed-signal ICs."
Design Environment Overhaul
Tanner's hierarchic schematic capture tool, S-Edit, has been
overhauled to add many new Windows 95/NT user interface
improvements. Other enhancements include a superior simulation
interface and more flexible design export capabilities. A new
browser gives quick access to cell library components. Library
files can be easily added, removed, or accessed for design reuse.
A "quick pick" feature gives fast access to frequently used
components.
S-Edit is well integrated with the T-Spice circuit simulator and
W-Edit waveform viewer. Simulation results can be viewed by
probing the schematic using the new waveform probing feature. New
design export features include support for parametric
subcircuits, control of subcircuit pin orders, and output in EDIF
2 0 0 and VHDL formats. Compatibility with L-Edit simplifies the
design process-there is no longer a need to use mismatched design
capture, simulation, and layout tools.
"I am impressed by the dedication and support of Tanner to their
T-Spice product," says Rahul Sarpeshkar of Bell Labs, Lucent
Technologies. "We successfully used T-Spice Pro to simulate an
entire electromechanical system with lots of BiCMOS electronics
and nonlinear MEMS sensors. We found the external model
interface of T-Spice to be a convenient and transparent way of
simulating hard-to-model physical devices."
Simulation & Modeling Improvements
Tanner's circuit simulator, T-Spice, contains the BSIM3v3.1
MOSFET model, the latest version of Berkeley's BSIM3 model. New
MESFET models have also been added for GaAs IC support. T-Spice
accepts the latest parasitic and size-based device
characterization data available from foundries to give accurate
simulation results.
For devices that cannot be represented by one of T-Spice's
internal models, custom models can be written using a new
external model interface. Written in the C programming language,
external models can be simulated using a built in C-interpreter,
or compiled into a dynamically linked library (DLL). The general
purpose interface allows the addition of functional and
behavioral level models in addition to custom transistor models.
T-Spice's new enhanced Fourier analysis command contains new
accuracy and output control options. A waveform relaxation
engine has been added as an alternative to the standard transient
analysis method for simulation of large circuits. Simulation
queueing is also supported for running multiple T-Spice analyses.
Several new commands and options have been added to control
simulation methods, output data compression, case sensitivity,
device scaling, output expression handling, and simulation
statistics. In addition, T-Spice's netlist manipulation tools
have been enhanced with undo and redo, and regular expression
search and replace capabilities.
Waveform Visualization
Additions to W-Edit improve the power and flexibility for
graphically viewing simulation output data. New controls provide
precise adjustment of the graphical display of output data. A
waveform arithmetic tool can display traces formed by writing
mathematical expressions. Traces defined by expressions can be
composed of arithmetic combinations of other trace names or can
be written as a function of swept variables. Built-in functions
such as sine, cosine, exponent, and logarithm can be used to
perform complex operations on traces. Trace arithmetic also
allows the addition and subtraction of waveforms. This feature
allows custom post-processing of waveforms for comparing
simulated versus expected waveforms, defining new output
quantities, and verifying compliance with specifications.
Pricing and Availability
T-Spice Pro V5 for Windows 95/NT will be available February 1998.
Pricing starts at $3495 US. Support for Unix will be available
April 1998. T-Spice Pro is being demonstrated at the Custom
Integrated Circuits Conference, May 11-14th, in Santa Clara, and
the Design Automation Conference, June 15-19th, in San Francisco,
booth number 1600.
About Tanner EDA
Tanner EDA offers a wide range of easy to use, affordable design
software for IC, MCM, and MEMS applications. Since 1988, Tanner
has created tools that cater to the needs of custom/semi-custom
mixed-signal integrated circuit and multi-chip module designers.
Tanner offers complete design solutions that include schematic
capture, full custom layout, simulation, thermal analysis, place
and route, device extraction, layout vs. schematic comparison,
and design rule checking. Tanner EDA is dedicated to assisting
customers improve time-to-market and lower development costs. The
company offers software for both UNIX and Windows based
platforms, along with a comprehensive set of support services.
With over 10,000 licenses in more than 35 countries, many
designers totally depend on Tanner Tools for meeting their design
needs. More information about the company, its products and
services can be found on the World Wide Web at
TANNER.
Editorial contact: Jim Lindauer Tanner EDA (626) 792-3000
jim.lindauer@tanner.com
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dbouldin@utk.edu
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