Method and apparatus for simulating a microelectronic circuit

Apparatus for simulating operation of a microelectronic circuit during a time interval, said microelectronic circuit having a plurality of linear and nonlinear interconnected electronic elements, said apparatus comprising,

• means for storing a representation of said microelectronic circuit in a computer system;
• means, responsive to said storing means, for dividing the stored representation into a first circuit comprising linear elements and a second circuit comprising nonlinear elements;
• moment determining means, responsive to said dividing means, for determining moments for a portion of said first circuit;
• pole determining means, responsive to said moment determining means, for determining poles from the moments;
• multiport macromodel forming means, responsive to said pole determining means, for forming a multiport macromodel of said portion of said first circuit from the poles;
• linearized transient representation means, responsive to said dividing means, for forming a linearized transient representation of said second circuit;
• simulation producing means, responsive to said macromodel forming means and said linearized transient representation means, for combining said multiport macromodel and said linearized transient representation at time points in the time interval to produce a time domain simulation of the operation of said microelectronic circuit during the time interval.

Apparatus for simulating operation of a microelectronic circuit during a time interval, said microelectronic circuit having a plurality of interconnected linear and nonlinear electronic elements, said apparatus comprising:

• means for storing a representation of said microelectronic circuit in a computer system;
• means, responsive to said storing means, for dividing the stored representation into a first circuit comprising linear elements and a second circuit comprising nonlinear elements;
• asymptotic waveform evaluation means, responsive to said dividing means, for forming a multiport admittance macromodel of a portion of said first circuit;
• linearized transient representation means, responsive to said storing and dividing means, for forming a linearized transient representation of said second circuit;
• and
• simulation producing means, responsive to said asymptotic waveform evaluation means and said linearized transient representation means, for combining said multiport admittance macromodel and said linearized transient representation at time points in the time interval to produce a time domain simulation of the operation of said microelectronic circuit during the time interval.

A method for simulating operation of a microelectronic circuit during a time interval, said microelectronic circuit having a plurality of interconnected linear and nonlinear electronic elements, comprising the following steps performed in a computer system:

• storing a representation of said microelectronic circuit in said computer system;
• dividing the stored representation into a first circuit comprising linear elements and a second circuit comprising nonlinear elements;
• forming a multiport macromodel of a portion of said first circuit;
• forming a linearized transient representation of said second circuit;
• and
• combining said multiport macromodel and said linearized transient representation at time points in the time interval to produce a time domain simulation of the operation of said microelectronic circuit during the time interval.

Apparatus for simulating operation of a microelectronic circuit during a time interval, said microelectronic circuit having a plurality of interconnected linear and nonlinear electronic elements, said apparatus comprising:

• Asymptotic Waveform Evaluation (AWE) means, for producing a model of a portion of said linear electronic elements;
• means, responsive to said Asymptotic Waveform Evaluation means, for converting said model of said portion of linear electronic elements into a SPICE compatible representation;
• and
• SPICE means, responsive to said converting means, for producing a time domain simulation of said microelectronic circuit from said nonlinear electronic elements and said SPICE compatible representation.

A method for simulating operation of a microelectronic circuit during a time interval, said microelectronic circuit having a plurality of interconnected linear and nonlinear electronic elements, comprising the steps of:

• producing a model of a portion of said linear electronic elements;
• converting said model of said portion of linear electronic elements into a SPICE compatible representation;
• and
• providing said SPICE compatible representation and said nonlinear electronic elements to SPICE to produce a time domain simulation of said microelectronic circuit from said nonlinear electronic elements and said SPICE compatible representation.

Apparatus for simulating operation of a microelectronic circuit during a time interval, said microelectronic circuit having a plurality of interconnected linear and nonlinear electronic elements, said apparatus comprising:

• means for storing a representation of said microelectronic circuit in a computer system;
• means, responsive to said storing means, for dividing the stored representation into a first circuit comprising linear elements and a second circuit comprising nonlinear elements;
• Asymptotic Waveform Evaluation (AWE) means, for producing a model of a portion of said linear elements;
• means, responsive to said Asymptotic Waveform Evaluation means, for converting said model into a SPICE stencil;
• and
• SPICE means, responsive to said converting means, for producing an operational model of said microelectronic circuit from said nonlinear electronic elements and said SPICE stencil.

A method for simulating operation of a microelectronic circuit during a time interval, said microelectronic circuit having a plurality of interconnected linear and nonlinear electronic elements, comprising the steps of:

• storing a representation of said microelectronic circuit in a computer system;
• dividing the stored representation into a first circuit comprising linear elements and a second circuit comprising nonlinear elements;
• producing a model of a portion of said linear elements;
• converting said model into a SPICE stencil;
• and
• providing said SPICE stencil and said nonlinear electronic elements to SPICE to produce an operational model of said microelectronic circuit from said nonlinear electronic elements and said SPICE stencil.