Difference between revisions of "An Overview of RF.Spice"
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| − | The major differences between RF.Spice and [[B2.Spice A/D]] are | + | The major differences between RF.Spice and [[B2.Spice A/D]] are: |
* The RF.Spice Workshop has an additional RF Menu with a large collection of RF parts. | * The RF.Spice Workshop has an additional RF Menu with a large collection of RF parts. | ||
Revision as of 13:14, 13 August 2014
RF.Spice is the “RF Edition” of B2.Spice A/D. In other words, it is an enhanced superset of the B2.Spice A/D application with an extensive library of RF devices that include S-parameter-based multiport networks and a variety of generic and physical transmission line types. You can use RF.Spice to simulate or design distributed analog and mixed-mode circuits at high frequencies.
The major differences between RF.Spice and B2.Spice A/D are:
- The RF.Spice Workshop has an additional RF Menu with a large collection of RF parts.
- The RF.Spice Device Editor has an additional RF Menu with a variety transmission line calculators and designers as well as utilities for importing active and passive S-parameter-based RF device models.
- The RF.Spice parts database is a superset of the B2.Spice A/D parts database.
- The node-locked licenses of the two programs are different.
RF Circuit Analysis
RF circuit analysis, by nature, is an AC analysis that you typically run at high frequencies ranging from tens of Megahertz to tens of Gigahertz. At such high frequencies, the dimensions of your circuit may become comparable in order of magnitude to the wavelength, and wave retardation effects start to appear. In other words, your circuit starts to act like a distributed structure rather than a lumped circuit where signals propagate instantaneously. In the analysis of a low frequency circuit, two nodes that are connected to each other through a wire are assumed to have equal potentials or identical voltages. In RF circuits, however, the connecting wires act as transmission lines, whose lengths play an important role in determining the voltages and currents at different points of the circuit.
The RF devices of RF. Spice are characterized and modeled based on their frequency-domain scattering (S) parameters. The S-parameters are tabulated as a function of frequency and interpolated in between the frequency samples. RF.Spice performs an AC analysis of these RF devices by converting their S-parameters to Y-parameters and using them in conjunction with SPICE’s nodal admittance matrix formalism. The high frequency AC analysis is carried out by the same analog and mixed-mode SPICE simulation engine. As a result, you can mix the RF devices in your circuits with all the other analog and mixed-mode devices of B2.Spice A/D.
The RF devices of RF.Spice are primarily intended for use in two types of tests:
- AC Frequency Sweep Test
- Network Analysis Test
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RF devices do not work with “Live Simulation” or Transient Test as their models normally contain S-parameters at high frequencies only. |
At the heart of RF.Spice lie the concepts of a multiport network and a generic transmission line.
