CAzM: university/industry collaboration in design software

A description is given of the CAzM (circuit analyzer with macromodeling) analog circuit simulator. The simulator is characterized by device independence, modern numerical techniques, and a modular software architecture, as well as by compatibility with other simulators (such as SPICE), a library of device models, and an excellent user interface. The numerical techniques and table-based evaluations greatly improve the stability and speed over older simulators without compromising accuracy. Semiconductor devices are modeled in CAzM by tables containing charge and current information. Specific numerical features of CAzM include use of a time integration method which is highly stable and permits automatic time-step adjustment. In conjunction with the table scheme, the integration method leads to fast simulation times. CAzM has been applied to simulations of large digital devices and mixed digital/analog circuits