NGSPICE Tutorial
EEE 52 1516s2
What is NGSPICE
mixed-level/mixed-signal circuit simulator based
on three open source software packages
Spice3f5, Cider1b1, Xspice
SPICE (Simulation Program with Integrated Circuit
Emphasis) from UC Berkeley is one of the most
used circuit simulators around the world and can
be considered the father of modern circuit
simulators.
For verifying circuit operation at the transistor level
instead of board level (composed of discrete parts)
Why study SPICE
It is free!
Modern (commercial) simulators have a
similar syntax.
Might be useful when encountering bugs or weird
results
At the end of the day, we must not rely purely on
simulations, there must always be some hypothesis or
educated guess.
Familiarize how circuit simulators work
Aids in scripting simulations
How to get NGSPICE
Download only. No need to install.
Running NGSPICE
After extracting, run the executable file
ngspice under the bin folder.
ngspice terminal
However, we need to prepare first the
code before we use this terminal.
NGSPICE Code General Structure
First line: title
No need for special characters (e.g. My RC Filter)
Last line: .end
See examples later
Each circuit element is specified by an instance line
which contains the following:
1. Element instance name
2. Circuit nodes to which the element is connected
3. Parameters that determine the characteristic of the
circuit element
Example: Vsupply 1 0 10
Instance Name
Nodes
Parameter
Sample Netlisting Process
Draw schematic on a paper
Sample Netlisting Process
Draw schematic on a paper
Assign node names and
instance names
Sample Netlisting Process
Draw schematic on a paper
Assign node names and
instance names
Write the netlist, one line per
instance, following the
format:
<name><nodes><parameter/s>
instance definition can be made
in any order
* CE AMPLIFIER *
V1
I1
D1
R1
Q1
1
1
2
1
0
0
2
0
3
2
5V
50uA
50kOhms
3
Important NGSPICE Element Types
First Letter of
Instance Name
Element Description
Capacitor
Diode
I
L
M
Q
R
V
Current Source
A name field must start with a
letter (A to Z) without any
delimiter
Inductor
MOSFET
BJT
Resistor
Voltage Source
* CE AMPLIFIER *
V1
I1
D1
R1
Q1
1
1
2
1
0
0
2
0
3
2
5V
50uA
50kOhms
3
NGSPICE Numbers & Scale Factors
Suffix
Name
Factor
Tera
1012
Giga
109
Meg
Mega
106
Kilo
103
mil
Mil
25.4x10-6
milli
10-3
Micro
10-6
Nano
10-9
Pico
10-12
femto
10-15
A number field can follow any of the
following formats:
13 (integer)
-1 (negative integer)
3.14159 (floating point)
1e-16, 1.23e6 (integer exponent)
1Meg (scaling factor)
Non-scale factor letters are ignored
1V = 1Volt = 1
Letters after the scale factor are
ignored
1mV = 1mVolt = 1munpf = 1m = 0.001
Either M or m will denote milli. Use
meg for 106. Same with K or k for
kilo.
NGSPICE Node Names
Node names can be any arbitrary string
First letter can be that of a valid element type
Valid node names: node1, 1, v1
Ground node must be named 0 (zero).
gnd is also accepted as the ground node.
Node names are considered as strings, not
numbers, and are case sensitive:
02 and 2 are considered as different nodes
v1 and V1 are considered as different nodes too
Defining variables
Variables can be defined using .param
Easier to change variable definition than to edit
numbers at different sections of the code
Helpful especially for long codes.
Used for parametric analysis (later)
* Resistors *
* Resistors *
.param Rx=1kohm
R1 1 2 1kohm
R2 3 4 1kohm
R3 5 6 1kohm
R1 1 2 Rx
R2 3 4 Rx
R3 5 6 Rx
Other Coding Conventions
Comments are started with an asterisk (*)
Need to start with * every line if spanning more
than one line
There is no ending symbol for a comment
Common Analyses/Simulations Used
DC Analysis (.op .dc .tf)
Operating point, DC sweep, transfer function
Inductors are shorted; capacitors are open
AC Small Signal Analysis (.ac)
Includes frequency dependence of reactive
components
Transient Analysis (.tr)
Setting Up Simulations
.DC
Format:
.dc src1 start1 stop1 incr1 [src2
start2 stop2 incr2]
src can be an independent voltage/current source, a
resistor, or temperature
Examples:
.dc R1 10k 100k 2.5k
.dc VDS 0 10 0.5 VGS 0 5 1
Setting Up Simulations
.AC AC small signal analysis
.OP operating point
.TF transfer function
Like AC analysis but evaluated only at 0Hz or DC
.TR transient analysis
Read these up on the ngspice manual which is
easy to understand :D
Running the simulation
Create netlist using your favorite text editor.
Optional: save the file with a .sp extension (e.g.
circuit.sp) to indicate that it is a spice file
Open ngspice
Go to the directory that contains your netlist
through the terminal (cd [directory])
Load the spice file (source [filename])
Run the simulation (run)
View the results (plot/meas/print)
Plotting Voltages and Currents
Plotting voltages is straightforward
All node voltages are saved by the simulator by
default
plot dc v(node1) v(node2,0)
plot dc v(node1,node2)
Plotting currents is a bit more tricky
Only currents through voltage sources are saved
Place dummy voltage sources (0V) at branches of
concern to save and measure the current
plot i(vsource1) vsource2#branch
SPICE demo
