Designing electronics, electronic circuit simulators
Designing electronics, electronic circuit simulatorsDate of publication: 15-04-2022 Update date: 10-04-2026 🕒 5 min read
Designing electronic circuits is a process of creating circuits made up of passive and active components. Mounting and connecting them creates a path for electric current which performs specific functions. When designing such a circuit on a computer, it is presented as a diagram. Every physical component of the circuit is identified by an appropriate graphic symbol and information regarding its parameters. In the computer process of designing electronics, it is possible to edit some selected parts and the whole circuit even during further stages of the work.
In a computational sense, this is a highly laborious and difficult task, which is why we started creating devices that will support the process of designing circuits and also such that will help check the systems and their weak spots prior to implementation. This is how electronic circuit simulators were created. With them, it is possible to draw conclusions, based on observations, on the functioning of the physical objects in specific conditions (in good simulators, conditions such as the ambient temperature can be modified) and apply changes to the circuit before it is created physically.
Designing circuits – SPICE breakthrough
The first widely used electronic circuit simulator was SPICE (Simulation Program with Integrated Circuits Emphasis). The first demonstration of SPICE was in Canada, at the 16th Midwest Symposium on Circuit Theory on 12 April 1973. The speech was made by Professor Donald O. Pederson of the University of California, Berkeley. The developers of the program had modest expectations for SPICE and its success, so everything that happened later was a big surprise. Within a few years, SPICE gained acceptance in almost every part of electrical engineering. Schools and amateurs quickly started to produce SPICE derivatives, which was probably fuelled by the expanding integrated circuit industry. Nowadays, almost every program for simulation of electronic circuits is created based on the same mathematical foundations as those that were used by the developers of SPICE.
Circuit simulation – what is it? Designing electronics.
Circuit simulation is a process in which a model of an electronic circuit is created and analysed using various software algorithms, which predict and validate the behaviour and performance of the circuit. Since the fabrication of electronic circuits, especially integrated circuits (ICs), is expensive and time-consuming, it is faster, more convenient and, most importantly, cheaper to validate the behaviour and performance of the circuit using a circuit simulator before manufacturing. There are different types of circuit simulators catering to varied needs across the accuracy-performance-capacity spectrum. At one end of the spectrum are analogue simulators, thanks to which it is possible to obtain accurate representations of electronic circuits. They offer high accuracy and are commonly used to simulate small circuits. At the other end of the spectrum, there are digital simulators, which use functional representations of electronic circuits, typically described using hardware description languages (HDL). These offer the highest performance and capacity, but at relatively lower levels of accuracy. Digital simulators are commonly used to simulate very large circuits.
Types of circuit simulation. Programs for designing electronics.
There are three basic types of circuit simulation: analogue, digital, and mixed-mode.
- Analogue circuit simulation involves the use of highly accurate models (i.e. representations) of the electronic circuit to achieve high accuracy. The models include non-linear, linear, and simple table-based representations of various electronic devices in the circuit. Analogue simulation can be run in different modes. These include AC (frequency domain), DC (non-linear quiescent), and transient (time domain). All analogue simulators employ algorithms to analyse mathematically the behaviour of the electronic circuit in these different modes. They all share the quality of solving matrices to predict the performance of the electronic circuit. Signals are propagated as constantly varying values. There are two primary types of analogue circuit simulators: SPICE and FastSPICE. SPICE simulators use highly accurate non-linear and linear models of electronic devices to analyse the behaviour of the circuit. They employ many different integration methods, such as Forward Euler, Backward Euler, and Newton-Raphson, as well as matrix decomposition techniques to compute the response of the entire circuit (i.e. mathematical representation) at every single point in time. In contrast, FastSPICE simulators use simpler table representations of models of electronic devices to analyse circuit behaviour. They employ sophisticated algorithms to reduce the complexity of the circuit and divide the circuit based on various criteria, essentially creating a simpler and more modular circuit representation. This representation is then selectively evaluated at a given point in time in the period of interest within the simulation, a process that greatly improves the performance and capacity of the simulation. FastSPICE simulators offer various simulation knobs to help balance the trade-offs between simulation accuracy and performance.
- Digital circuit simulationinvolves the use of simple models of the electronic circuit. These models are typically created using HDL. In digital simulation, a few discrete voltage levels (primarily logic 0 and logic 1) are propagated, rather than constantly varying signals. The methods to propagate these signals have varying degrees of accuracy regarding the propagation delay of the logic levels across the circuit. With this method, much larger circuits can be simulated in a shorter time with less computing resources when compared to analogue simulation.
- Mixed-mode circuit simulation combines the analogue and digital simulation approaches. The circuit is divided between the two systems to support adequately detailed analysis for each part of the circuit. Analogue simulators (SPICE and FastSPICE) are used for analogue analyses, and digital simulators are used for digital analyses. This method of simulation allows for much larger circuits to be simulated in less time, with fewer computing resources when compared to analogue simulation.
Which electronic circuit simulator to use?
There are both paid and freeware simulators. In the case of analysis of complicated circuits for industrial use, it is worth considering paid software for professionals. However, for a hobbyist, one of free solutions should be enough, more and more frequently available straight from the web browser. Free and/or open software for electronic circuit simulation should help the user design electronics, analyse and test the circuit virtually, at the browser level. Ideally, the tool should offer the function of analogue or digital (or both) simulation, as well as diagram editing, waveform viewer, auxiliary resistors, capacitors, LEDs, etc.
Benefits of circuit simulation
Circuit simulation provides critical insight into the behaviour of electronic circuits. Given the expenses and time involved in manufacturing electronic circuits, especially ICs, it’s much more practical to validate circuit behaviour and performance via circuit simulation prior to manufacturing.
Using simulators has a few other benefits:
- Building the circuit in the simulator is significantly faster than real construction;
- If the circuit does not work at the beginning, we do not suffer any losses;
- We gain access to any node in the circuit with just one click, which makes the debugging much faster;
- We can try out components which we do not have yet physically.
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