Shall always synchronize external input by internal clock

http://www.edn.com/article/CA6648806.html?title=Article&spacedesc=news&nid=3927

"big no-nos in digital design: using an external signal directly without synchronizing it with a flip-flop to the internal clock"

Shall always synchronize external input by internal clock

Free SPICE simulator from TI

http://focus.ti.com/docs/toolsw/folders/print/tina-ti.html

"without any node or number of device limitations", "loaded with a library of TI macromodels plus passive and active models"

Free SPICE simulator from TI

Better Loop Gain Simulation (with LTspice examples)

http://sites.google.com/site/frankwiedmann/loopgain

Include the LTspice examples using "Middlebrook's General Feedback Theorem", and Tian's Method (the one implemented in stb analysis in Cadence Spectre).

Better Loop Gain Simulation (with LTspice examples)

An IC design trading platform

http://yourcircuits.com/home

"provides a platform to allow circuit designers to trade their circuit designs."

It is a good opportunity for freelance design consultant.

An IC design trading platform

Optimization tool working together with SPICE?

http://members.aon.at/fschmid7/page_2_1.html

will read more details, including "LTSPICE user group at Yahoo"

Optimization tool working together with SPICE?

Free 0.35 um CMOS model library for LTspice

http://ecee.colorado.edu/~ecen4827/spice.html

LTspice is also free. Thus is good enough for a student to practise analog IC designs.

Free 0.35 um CMOS model library for LTspice

Fabricate a chip through MOSIS yourself

http://www.planetanalog.com/features/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=217701385

"Home schoolers don't qualify as academic institutions, so we must apply for accounts as commercial entities. My account is under the legacy proprietorship business I have, called Tesoft. They were kind enough to accept me, even though I look a whole lot more like the students they avoid instead of the professors they support."

Fabricate a chip through MOSIS yourself

LTspice: free SPICE simulator

http://www.linear.com/designtools/software/ltspice.jsp

Another free spice simulator, provided by Linear Technology.

LTspice: free SPICE simulator

ngspice: free AMS simulator

http://ngspice.sourceforge.net/

"Ngspice is a mixed-level/mixed-signal circuit simulator. Its code is based on three open source software packages: Spice3f5, Cider1b1 and Xspice. Ngspice is part of gEDA project, a full GPL'd suite of Electronic Design Automation tools."

ngspice: free AMS simulator

Rotary Traveling Wave Oscillator

EE report:

http://www.eetimes.com/news/latest/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=187200783

Slides: 

http://www-cse.ucsd.edu/classes/wi06/cse291-b/slide/let8/rotary.pdf

Rotary Traveling Wave Oscillator

XCircuit: A free schematic drawing tool

http://opencircuitdesign.com/xcircuit/index.html

It can draw schematic for publication quality, and generate SPICE netlist for simulation.

XCircuit: A free schematic drawing tool

A digital flow with free tools and standard cells

http://opencircuitdesign.com/verilog/index.html

It is a whole digital flow, from synthesis to layout generation. And there is a link to 0.18 um standard cell library.

A digital flow with free tools and standard cells

Book website with links: CMOS VLSI Design A Circuits and Systems Perspective

http://www.cmosvlsi.com/

Course slides:

http://www.cmosvlsi.com/coursematerials.html

To read...

Book website with links: CMOS VLSI Design A Circuits and Systems Perspective

Spice OPUS: a free AMS simulator with optimization capability

http://fides.fe.uni-lj.si/spice/index.html

"SPICE OPUS is a free general purpose circuit simulator specially suited for optimization loops."

"It is a recompilation of the original Berkeley source code for Windows and Linux operating systems. Later Georgia Tech Research Institute's XSpice mixed-mode simulator was added to the Berkeley code. "

Spice OPUS: a free AMS simulator with optimization capability

Course note from Phillip E. Allen

http://www.aicdesign.org/scnotes06.html

including: devices, op-amp, comparator, switched-cap, AD/DA

Course note from Phillip E. Allen

vSPICE (not open-sourced)

http://ipoint.vlsi.uiuc.edu/vspice/

"vSPICE: SPICE3-based Circuit Simulator with Support for High-Speed Optoelectronic Devices"

No download link was located for vSPICE, yet. Not yet distributed?

vSPICE (not open-sourced)

fREEDA - multi-physics simulator including analog IC simulation

http://www.freeda.org/index.html

"... support for transient, harmonic balance and multi resolution analysis. ... large signal noise analysis captures phase noise ... also supports the integration of EM models in transient analysis. ... including the major transistor models ..."

============================

It can also simulate lasers with rate equations:

R. Pant, M. A. Neifeld, M. B. Steer, H. Kanj, and A. C. Cangellaris, “Electrical package impact on VCSEL-based optical interconnects ;” Optics Communication, Vol. 245, Issue 1-6, Jan. 2005, p. 315-332.

Houssam Kanj, Circuit-Level Modeling of Laser Diodes , M.S. Thesis, North Carolina State University, 2003

fREEDA - multi-physics simulator including analog IC simulation

gEDA project

http://www.gpleda.org/index.html

contains: Schematic Capture, Netlist Generator,  Symbol Library, etc, and...

=========================

"ngspice : An improved SPICE"

http://www.gpleda.org/tools/ngspice/index.html

"Ngspice is a mixed-level/mixed-signal circuit simulator. Its code is based on three open source software packages: Spice3f5, Cider1b1 and Xspice." 

It provides DC, AC, transient, noise analysis, etc.

gEDA project

ZSPICE

http://mot-zspice.sourceforge.net/

pros: use verilog-ams to model devices; highly re-configurable

cons: "Only DC/AC simulations are supported"; "syntax for netlists is NOT of spice flavor".

ZSPICE

Free finite element solver

http://www.freefem.org/

"FreeFem++ is an implementation of a language dedicated to the finite element method. It enables you to solve Partial Differential Equations (PDE) easily."

Can it be used to run electro-magnetic (EM) simulation, as an ADE Momemtum replacement?

Free finite element solver

Tool/platform to generate device model params

http://www.itrs.net/models.html

GTX (Design chapter) 

http://www.itrs.net/Links/2005ITRS/Linked%20Files/2005Files/Design/Website/GTX/index.html

"provides a robust, portable framework for interactive specification and comparison of modeling choices, e.g., for predicting system cycle time, die size, and power dissipation The GTX provides an open, portable framework for specification and comparison of alternative modeling choices. "

GTX seems the tool to generate the device params in Predictive Technology Model (http://www.eas.asu.edu/~ptm/)

Tool/platform to generate device model params

Fuding Ge's Design Ideas For CMOS Analog/Mixed Signal ICs

http://www.geocities.com/fudinggecircuit/

Complete titile:

Fuding Ge's Design Ideas For Low Voltage, Low Power, Low Noise, High Speed, High Resolution, PVT Insensitive CMOS Analog/Mixed Signal ICs

Great site for all-level of analog/mixed-signal IC designers.

Yahoo is going to close geocities. Hopefully Fuding will move it to other platform.

Fuding Ge's Design Ideas For CMOS Analog/Mixed Signal ICs

A free IC design software: Electric

http://www.staticfreesoft.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_(software)

"Electric is used to draw schematics and to do integrated circuit layout. It can also handle hardware description languages such as VHDL and Verilog."

"Simulation two built-in simulators and interfaces to over a dozen industry tools (Spice, Verilog, etc.)"

A free IC design software: Electric

Free IC design and simulation tool: Qucs, Quite Universal Circuit Simulator

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quite_Universal_Circuit_Simulator

http://qucs.sourceforge.net

"It gives you the possibility to set up a circuit with a graphical user interface and simulate the large-signal, small-signal and noise behaviour of the circuit."

"Pure digital simulations are also supported using VHDL and/or Verilog."

"Analysis Types:
S-parameter, including noise
AC, including noise
DC
Transient Analysis
Harmonic Balance (not yet finished)
Digital simulation: VHDL as well as Verilog-HDL
Parameter sweeps"

Question:

Where to find model parameters for transistors?

Free IC design and simulation tool: Qucs, Quite Universal Circuit Simulator

An online course on "Practial circuit design strategy" (All slides can be downloaded)

http://www.rdmiddlebrook.com/D_OA_Rules&Tools/index.asp

Some highlights:

"Chapter 14 shows how you get the "wrong" results when you don't choose the "right" injection configuration.

Chapter 15 shows how nonidealities ignored in the conventional single-loop model can be incorporated in an extra term in the formula, which predicts a drastically different step response from a high-frequency IC feedback amplifier example. 

Chapter 16 is a real design-oriented example of how to get the proper response for a Darlington configuration, and features the CT. This is slightly different from the GFT CD, where the same example was treated by the GFT.

Chapter 17 is the classic switching regulator input filter problem, illustrating the use of the EET.

Chapter 18 shows how a current-programmed feedback loop in a switching regulator can be represented by a closed-loop equivalent circuit."

An online course on "Practial circuit design strategy" (All slides can be downloaded)

A PhD website on burst-mode CDR etc

http://personalpages.to.infn.it/~cobanogl/

http://ocobanog.web.cern.ch/ocobanog/

Contents include:

1. Burst-Mode Capable Clock and Data Recovery (CDR) design

2. PLL based serializer design

3. Current mode D/As

4. Tutorials on transistor level CMOS hand calculations, etc.

A PhD website on burst-mode CDR etc