Multi-level simulation of large analog systems containing behavioral models

Abstract

The trend towards integration of analog and digital components on the same chip is creating a need for simulators capable of handling high-level analog behavioral models. This paper presents a multi-level simulation algorithm that accepts analog behavioral models written in the C programming language. The portions of the circuit described at the behavioral level are treated as if they were individual devices with their own stamps. There are two main advantages to this approach: on one hand, it creates a seamless environment where there is no need to use different algorithms to simulate different parts of the same circuit. On the other hand, the proposed algorithm gets around the problem of having to come up with a reliable and efficient way to differentiate the behavioral equations, because the stamps for the elements described at the behavioral level are generated using Broyden's method, which does not require evaluation of derivatives. Numerical results show that the algorithm offers a viable, efficient approach to multi-level analog simulation.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>