SPICE modeling of thermal behavior for passive components

All types of passive components present variations of most parameters as function of the operating temperature. Depending on the component type and thermal management, in a specific application, these parameter variations can sometimes exceed 20% over the entire temperature range, having an important effect on the overall performance of the circuit. These variations in parameter values, although expected, are rarely implemented in the electric simulations because of the lack of temperature dependent electrical models for passive components. This paper presents a method and its software implementation for generating improved SPICE models for passive components, models that describe thermal variations of the main parameters based on manufacturer datasheet information, general package parasitic elements and thermal behavior measurements.