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<\/p>\nThe\u00a0SmartSpice<\/b>\u00a0interface to the Cadence Design Framework II has been substantially improved in its latest release (version 1.0.8.R), following feedback from a number of existing users. The interface is implemented through the Cadence Spice Socket, and enables users of Cadence’s Analog Artist and Composer software to interact directly, and seamlessly, with\u00a0SmartSpice<\/b>. The interface works through a series of Analog Artist control screens implemented by Silvaco using the Cadence OASIS interface. Because it depends on the sophisticated functionality provided by OASIS, the\u00a0SmartSpice<\/b>\/Spice Socket interface is only compatible with version 4.4.0 (and above) of the Design Framework.\u00a0SmartSpice<\/b>\u00a0is also compatible with the HSPICE Socket built into older versions of Cadence’s Composer, Edge and Artist products, although access through this interface to\u00a0SmartSpice’s\u00a0<\/b>more powerful features is necessarily limited. The improvements described in this article take the form of a series of enhancements (including some bug fixes) which have been made to several of the existing interface features. These improvements are part of an on-going project aimed at making the SmartSpice interface provide access to substantially more of the features available in SmartSpice itself than was the case in earlier releases.<\/p>\n
One important feature, fixed in this release, is the generation of hierarchical netlists from Analog Artist, and the ability to correctly annotate sub-circuit simulation information back to the Composer schematic window. The ability to annotate operating points and currents has also been fully implemented for all component types. An example of a fully annotated subcircuit is illustrated in Figure 1. The functionality of the analysis control screens in Analog Artist will be greatly enhanced in the next release of the\u00a0SmartSpice<\/b>\u00a0interface; the first step in this direction has already been taken in the current release, however, in the form of a set of control items providing the ability to save bias points in both DC and transient analyses.<\/p>\n
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