Introduction

Abstract

Computer simulation is used in a variety of different fields to predict the behavior of physical systems whenever it is inappropriate, or too expensive, to build the actual system to observe its behavior. In electrical engineering, circuit simulation is used routinely in the design of integrated circuits (IC) to verify circuit correctness and to obtain detailed timing information before an expensive and time-consuming fabrication process is performed. In fact, it is one of the most heavily used computer-aided design (CAD) tools in terms of CPU-time in the IC design cycle. The popularity of this form of simulation is primarily due to its reliability and its ability to provide precise electrical waveform information for circuits containing complex devices and all associated parasitics.