Guardian is a (state-of-the-art) hierarchical netlist comparison system, which eliminates many of the disadvantages of existing programs. Running on PCs under Windows NT, it easily compares circuits with a large number of devices. The advanced algorithms implemented in Guardian allow a substantial reduction of execution time and also detect discrepancies between two netlists more precisely. Guardian generates a comprehensive hierarchical report, which is easy to read. An embedded tool, called the Spice Netlist Rover, links report files with source netlists to make inspecting correct matches and errors simple.

A. Typically, UTMOST III s-parameter module is used to measure the FT versus IC (collector current) characteristic of bipolar transistors. The FT_CE routine can also be utilized to extract important parameters such as Fmax, Gmax, Upg and K factor. These parameters provide a clear indication of the performance of the device as an amplifier.

General purpose dichotomic search method is often requested by designers when they want to find a specific element (voltage, current, parameter value ...) in an already sorted set. For example, a typical problem that makes extensive use of this kind of algorithm is the computation of setup and hold time for cell characterization. This problem was already discussed in two articles [1] and [2] and a solution was proposed with the use of the SmartSpice Script Language and .MODIF statement.