Use PSpice for TI to simulate complex analog power and signal chain circuits

“People usually expect hardware engineers to deliver results within tight project time. Circuit and system designers must use all tools to construct precise and reliable designs that will perform well in the first run. To meet these needs, coupled with today’s constantly changing office environment, means that circuit simulation and verification tools that can be operated at home or remotely are more valuable than ever.

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Author: Ian Williams (Note: Bob Hanrahan co-authored this article.)

People usually expect hardware engineers to deliver results within tight project time. Circuit and system designers must use all tools to construct precise and reliable designs that will perform well in the first run. To meet these needs, coupled with today’s constantly changing office environment, means that circuit simulation and verification tools that can be operated at home or remotely are more valuable than ever.

We found that engineers are reducing the prototyping and evaluation phase of the design. In some cases, they will directly use the final printed circuit board (PCB), but everyone hopes to reduce the risk of circuit errors. To this end, in response to the increasing demand for high-performance, full-featured analog simulation platforms, Texas Instruments has launched PSpice® for TI together with Cadence, a full-featured version of the industry standard OrCAD Pspice environment, allowing device evaluation and verification to simulate the entire Subsystem becomes easier.

First of all, why use SPICE simulation?

For decades, a simulation program (SPICE) focusing on integrated circuits has been helping engineers solve hardware design problems. There are three main use cases for circuit simulation:

・ Device evaluation. Sometimes even before the actual device or application circuit is actually available, the performance of a specific product in a specific application can be measured.

・ Verify the design. Before building a physical prototype, building and simulating complex board-level and system-level designs can give engineers confidence in their circuits and reduce design time. Design verification includes the ability to simulate circuit operation in the worst case, and the product to ensure normal operation when parameters such as temperature, extreme voltage, and device tolerances change.

・ Design and debugging. If the design effect is not as expected, engineers usually use simulation to solve problems or vulnerabilities in the system. No need to reprocess and test the actual PCB, SPICE simulation can also find and preliminarily test the circuit repair situation.

Using PSpice for TI to accomplish these tasks through circuit simulation capabilities can help you shorten development time and drive products to market quickly. Computer-based simulation has inherent advantages. For example, working from home is more common nowadays, and using simulation means you can make significant progress on projects anywhere. You also don’t need to wait for parts, PCBs or laboratory equipment, just build your simulation test bench.

You can easily share circuit simulations electronically with other team members for larger system-level simulations or peer design reviews. You can also run more complex tests such as parameterization or temperature scanning, sensitivity analysis, or device tolerance analysis, which are expensive and time-consuming in practice.

Let’s look at an example on PSpice for TI. The simulation in Figure 1 plots the AC transfer function of a single-pole resistor-capacitor filter network while gradually increasing the capacitance value.

Figure 1: PSpice for TI schematic and analog configuration file example

Figure 2 shows the result graph and the automatic measurement of the -3-dB bandwidth and gain of each graph at f = 1 MHz. Powerful analysis capabilities can greatly accelerate design optimization.

Figure 2: PSpice for TI simulation and measurement results

Important note: The correct simulation result is based on the assumption that the device model is accurate and converges quickly (this situation means that the result is reached). Fortunately, Texas Instruments has some of the most accurate and convergent models in the semiconductor industry and has been working hard to develop new integrated circuits.

Why use PSpice for TI?

PSpice for TI provides schematic capture and analog circuit simulation. PSpiceforTI is free to use, and it has many advanced features in the commercial version, including automatic measurement and post-processing, as well as Monte Carlo analysis and worst-case analysis. PSpiceforTI is built on the latest PSpice version, can work offline, is compatible with projects developed in the commercial version, and can provide an unlimited number of nodes and measurements when using Texas Instruments devices.

When it comes to Texas Instruments devices and standard device model kits, a complete model library of nearly 6,000 Texas Instruments analog power and signal chain models has been integrated into PSpice for TI. You can add Texas Instruments parts to Project. There is no need to manually import Texas Instruments models, and the rapidly growing model library will be automatically updated to be consistent with the latest information on TI.com.

Most Texas Instruments device models come with fully tested and operational design examples. In most cases, a complete reference design is also provided, from which you can cut and paste, allowing you to quickly start designing and view device operation and performance. In this tool, you can place a device and open the related reference design with a few clicks. Figure 3 shows one such design, which can be modified and simulated. The graph also shows the dark mode and customizable color scheme of this application, which helps reduce energy consumption and reduce visual fatigue.

Figure 3: Example of Texas Instruments device reference design

To make faster design decisions, you can use this tool to access detailed product information and data sheets from Texas Instruments, as well as related queries provided by Texas Instruments' E2E™ online support forum. A tutorial video library is also provided in the forum.

Add SPICE simulation to your engineering workflow, download PSpice for TI, and work with engineers who are already using this powerful tool to shorten your design time.

Other resources

・ Find and utilize the best technical reference design from Texas Instruments to solve your system-level challenges.

・ Use the Power Stage Designer™ software tool to start a new power supply design through in-depth calculation of voltage and current.

・ Explore TI’s high-precision laboratory video training courses to design analog signal chains, covering basic knowledge to advanced concepts.

・ Download WEBENCH®Power Designer, which is a general free online power supply design tool that uses basic input and output specifications, and can quickly provide a complete schematic and bill of materials (BOM).

・ Explore TINA-TI™, a more flexible SPICE-based simulation platform that supports various components and retains a basic user interface sufficient for many analog designs.

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