xref: /dports/cad/gnucap/gnucap-2013-04-23/ChangeLog

Gnucap revision history
 ------------------------------------------------------------------
 ------------------------------------------------------------------
Gnucap 0.34 release notes  (02/01/2004)

This is a bug fix and compatibility release.

1. Fix bug causing incorrect interpolation of backwards tables.

2. Fix tanh overflow bug.

3. Fix some parsing bugs.

4. Fix occasional "double load" bug.

5. Fix AC sweep with one point.

6. Transient start time really works.

7. Fix occasional assert fail after option short is changed.

8. Fix memory leak resulting from failure to delete unused common.

9. Fix a Z probe bug that sometimes gave wrong answers.

10. Fix a limiting bug that sometimes caused non-convergence.

11. Configure handles isnan.

12. Improvements to logic initialization.  It is still not correct.
 ------------------------------------------------------------------
Gnucap 0.33 release notes  (01/12/2003)

This is a bug fix and compatibility release.

0.32 was not widely distributed due to password problems and a heavy
work load, so the release notes are repeated after the current ones.

New features:

1. Add inductance probes, like capacitor.

Bug fixes:

1. Fix xprobe duplicate default arg bug - shows in g++3.2.

2. Fix bug that sometimes caused a crash when changing a model after
analysis.

3. Fix bug that caused an assert to fail (debug build) after removing
a probe from an element.

4. Fix a dumb typo hack bug ddHAS_READLINE.  Now history and command
line editing really works.  It was working, but somehow the hack
slipped into the release code.
 ------------------------------------------------------------------
Gnucap 0.32 release notes  (09/30/2002)

New features:

1. Series resistance in the diode.  It took 5 minutes to do,
so it is embarrasing that it wasn't done before.

2. History and command line editing, using Gnu Readline.  Thanks to
Simon Hoffe for sending me the patch.

3. More parameters in the BJT model.  This gives it better
compatibility with commercial simulators.  These parameters are beyond
Spice 3f5.

4. "M" parameter in diode, BJT and MOS devices.  M is the number of
parallel devices.  Some commercial simulators have this.



Changes that may or may not be improvements.

1. The definition of the transient option "UIC" has changed.  It is
now Spice compatible, which means to not attempt to do any solution or
consistency check.  Just apply the values, assuming anything that
isn't specified is 0.  The old behavior was to attempt a solution
while holding the IC values.


Bug fixes:

1. voltage sync bug.  It still doesn't fix the MOS 2 convergence
problem.

2. Fix memory leak in POLY components.

3. Fix bug in Fourier that sometimes causes overrun (crash) and time
sync errors.

4. Modelgen: fix bug in list parsing.

5. Some changes to eliminate warnings when compiling with g++ 3.1.

6. Use Euler differentiation on first step, because trap used a value
that cannot be known then.  Usually, this doesn't make much
difference, but there are a few cases where the error can get
magnified and trigger trapezoidal ringing, leading to a totally bogus
result.  It most cases, you could hide it with small enough steps.
These cases should work with default settings now.

7. Fix bug that sometimes caused incorrect handling of initial
conditions (UIC),

8. Fix bug that caused continuing a transient analysis to give
incorrect results.



Significant internal changes:

1. The inductor uses all of the same support functions as the
capacitor, including "integrate", which is now correctly called
"differentiate".

2. Most of the code is in place for named nodes.  It mostly works and
can be turned on with the option "namednodes".  It is off by default
because it is not complete.  Most likely, it will be finished in the
next release.



Some things that are still partially implemented:

1. BSIM models, charge effects, "alpha0" parameter.  (computed then
ignored)

2. Configure still doesn't handle everything.

3. The model compiler still requires too much raw coding.

4. Named nodes.  If you set the option "namednodes", it will support
named nodes, but some things don't work, so it is off by default.

5. The preliminary IBIS code is now included.  For now, it is a
standalone executable, that reads an IBIS file and generates a
netlist.  The netlist requires some editing to use, and is not fully
compatible anyway.  It is included in hopes of recruiting help in
finishing the project.



Bugs (nothing new, but needs repeating):

1. The transmission line initial conditions are not propagated until
the transient analysis runs.

2. An occasional bogus calculation in MOSFETS occurs when a device is
reversed.  This sometimes causes nonconvergence.

3. The "modify" command with multiple arguments seems to take only the
first one.  It used to work, but is broken in this release.  I am not
sure when it broke.
 ------------------------------------------------------------------
Gnucap 0.31 release notes  (03/25/2002)

The most significant changes are the BJT model and "binning".


New features:

1. BJT model.

2. "Binning" for all MOS models.

3. Internal element: non-quasi-static poly-capacitor. (needed by BJT).

4. Enhancements to the data structures and model compiler to support
binning in general.

5. A line prefixed by "*>" is not ignored, in spite of the fact that
"*" usually begins a comment.  This is a deliberate incompatibility
with Spice.  If you prefix a line by "*>" it will be interpreted as a
non-comment in Gnucap, but a comment in Spice.

6. Circuit line prefixes of ">" and command prefixes of "-->" are
ignored.  This is so you can copy and paste whole lines, without
having to manually remove the prompt string.


Changes that may or may not be improvements.

1. It is not the default to include stray resistance in device models.
The option "norstray" will revert to the old behavior.  This is only a
change to the default value of "rstray".


Significant internal changes:

1. The internal element non-quasi-static poly-capacitor actually
works.  It is used by the BJT model, and will eventually be used by
MOSFET models.

2. There are now two poly_g devices: "CPOLY_G" and "FPOLY_G".  There
are interface differences that impact modeling.  Previously, there was
only one, which is equivalent to the "FPOLY_G".


Some things that are still partially implemented:

1. BSIM models, charge effects, "alpha0" parameter.  (computed then
ignored)

2. Configure still doesn't handle everything.

3. The model compiler still requires too much raw coding.


General comments:

The new BJT model seems to pass the CircuitSim90 test cases as well as
anything else, except where a missing feature prevented it from
working.  A few files would not run because of named nodes.  One file
(ring11) failed completely.  This file also has MOSFETs, with level 2
models.  The MOS level 2 model is not as robust as the BJT.  I believe
the problem is due to the voltage sync bug that still impacts the MOS
model.

Most of the models have has a reasonable amount of testing in DC, but
inadequate testing in AC and transient.  The BJT model has had more
testing than the others in AC and transient.  All differences
(relative to other simulators) that were observed can be attributed to
differences in transient step size control or tolerance checking.


Bugs (nothing new, but needs repeating):

1. The transmission line initial conditions are not propagated until
the transient analysis runs.
 ------------------------------------------------------------------
GNUCAP 0.30 release notes  (10/29/2001)

The primary effort has been to finish the model compiler, to the point
where it can handle most modeling issues.  The second change is to
re-release as "gnucap", and add some configuration features to be more
consistent with other GNU software.


New features:

1. More complete model compiler.

2. "./configure" makes compiling more like other GNU software.


Some things that are still partially implemented:

1. Internal element: non-quasi-static poly-capacitor.

2. BSIM models, charge effects, "alpha0" parameter.  (computed then ignored)

3. Configure still doesn't handle everything.

4. The model compiler still requires too much raw coding.


Bugs (nothing new, but needs repeating):

1. The transmission line initial conditions are not propagated until
the transient analysis runs.
 ------------------------------------------------------------------
ACS 0.29 release notes  (06/30/2001)

The primary effort has been to implement IBIS, which is still not
done.  The changes here are mostly infrastructure changes needed to
support IBIS.


New features:

1. "Fit" function has choice of fit order and extrapolation.  You can
have order 0, 1, 2, or 3.

2. "Posy" has even and odd options, to determine what happens in the
negative region.

3. Modelgen improvements.  It now is useful for the whole device,
sometimes.  It now handles probes and the device side of the model.
The diode uses it completely.  There are still a few missing features
needed for the MOSFET and BJT.

4. Spice-3 compatible semiconductor resistor and capacitor.

5. "Table" model statement.


Improvements, bug fixes, etc.

1. Option "numdgt" really works.

2. Better error messages from modelgen.

3. Code changes for optimization of commons.  This should reduce
memory use, sometimes, by sharing commons.  Common sharing is still
not fully implemented.

4. Fix two bugs that sometimes caused problems after a "modify" or on
a "fault".

5. Better handling of "vmin" and "vmax".  It should be much less
likely that limiting causes convergence to a nonsense result.


Some things that are still partially implemented:

1. Internal element: non-quasi-static poly-capacitor.

2. BSIM models, charge effects, "alpha0" parameter.  (computed then ignored)


Bugs (nothing new, but needs repeating):

1. The transmission line initial conditions are not propagated until
the transient analysis runs.

2. The makefile does not set up the proper link for the model
compiler.  You need to do it manually.

3. On some systems, you will get a warning from the linker that "the
use of 'tmpnam' is dangerous".  You can ignore this warning.
 ------------------------------------------------------------------
ACS 0.28 release notes  (09/05/2000)

New features:

1. New probes: diode G, mos IBD, IBS, GBD, GBS.

2. New options: "floor" and "vfloor".  (Floor was in the manual, but
not in the simulator.)


Improvements, bug fixes, etc.

1. There is a change to the way behavioral modeling conditionals are
handled.  It should now be 100% compatible with SPICE, considering the
subset that duplicates SPICE.  There are still significant extensions
beyond SPICE, particularly that you can have behavioral resistors,
capacitors, inductors, etc.

2. Parameter default calculations are now done in a manner consistent
with Spice 3f5.  Previously, it was supposedly consistent with Spice
2g6.

3. A bug in calculation of threshold voltage of the level 6 model, for
P channel devices, has been fixed.

4. A bug in calculation of Meyer capacitances when the device is
reversed has been fixed.  This bug sometimes caused a discontinuity at
vds=0.

5. I have added some smoothing to the Meyer mos capacitor models.
This improves convergence.   The down side is that sometimes the
answers are different.  It is probably a little better, when
considering closeness to reality, but it is still Meyer's model.

6. MOSFET parasitic diodes are now the same as those used in Spice.

7. There are subtle changes in the diode model.  I think this usually
improves convergence.

8. Charge calculation in Meyer capacitors and diode capacitiors is now
supposedly Spice 3 compatible.

9. An error in BSIM3 scaling has been fixed.


Some things that are still partially implemented:

1. Internal element: non-quasi-static poly-capacitor.

2. BSIM models, charge effects.


Bugs (nothing new, but needs repeating):

1. The transmission line initial conditions are not propagated until
the transient analysis runs.

2. The makefile does not set up the proper link for the model
compiler.  You need to do it manually.

3. A bad setting of "vmax" and "vmin" can lead to convergence to a
nonsense result.  It is not as bad now as it used to be.
 ------------------------------------------------------------------
ACS 0.27 release notes  (06/03/2000)

New features:

1. BSIM3 model, DC.
They work for AC and transient analysis, but only the DC effects
actually work.  The next release should have the charge effects.  For
now, it fakes it with Meyer's model.

2. A first cut at a model compiler, to aid in development of new
models.  Models are described in a ".model" file, which is processed
to automatically generate the ".h" and ".cc" files.  This version
fully handles the ".model" statement part of it, but leaves the device
and common sections the old way.  Eventually, the entire process will
be automated.  The old way still works.

3. "Fit" behavioral modeling function, which fits a curve to a set of
data.  You can specify the order of the fit, which is piecewise
polynomials.  For now, the order may be 1 (linear, like PWL) or 3
(cubic splines).  You may also specify the boundary consitions.

4. More probes.



Some things that are partially implemented:

1. Internal element: non-quasi-static poly-capacitor.  It is needed by
the BSIM3 and EKV models.  Eventually, it will be available as a
netlist item, but not yet.



Bug fixes:

1. PWL could fail if there were duplicate points at the beginning.  It
still does, but gives a reasonable error message.

2. Some "dot commands" were ignored if there were spaces before the
dot.  This was particularly annoying if the line was supposed to be
".end" which should make it exit.  It didn't, leaving it in
interactive mode, a major annoyance in a script.



Other improvements:

1. There is a change to the way integration in capacitors is done.  It
is now strictly based on charge (i = dq/dt).  The old version was
based on capacitance (i = C * dv/dt) which is strictly incorrect.  The
dC/dt term was missing (i = C * dv/dt + v * dC/dt).  This is a
non-issue when C is constant.

2. More documentation on internals.



Changes that I think are improvements, but some may disagree:

1. The command line is a little different.  In the old version,
"acs file" would run it, and whether it exited or not depended on
whether there was an ".end" line.  Now, by default, it just loads the
file in preparation for interactive use.  If you want batch mode, say
"acs -b file".

2. The regression suite is included in the standard distribution.



Changes that are not really improvements:

1. Due to the model compiler, the build process is a little more
complicated.  To do a complete build, you must build the model
compiler first, then the simulator.  If you are not making any new
models, you can probably get away with just building the simulator.
This will change in a future release.



Bugs:

1. The transmission line initial conditions are not propagated until
the transient analysis runs.

2. The makefile does not set up the proper link for the model
compiler.  You need to do it manually.
 ------------------------------------------------------------------
ACS 0.26 release notes  (02/02/2000)

New features:

1. BSIM1, BSIM2 models -- DC only.
They work for AC and transient analysis, but only the
DC effects actually work.   The next release should
have the charge effects.

2. New elements:
	trans-capacitor
	voltage controlled capacitor
	voltage controlled conductance
	voltage controlled resistor
This is a side effect of the BSIM work.

3. Optional new syntax, with type first so component labels can start
with any letter, and the choice of components is no longer limited by
the 26 letters.  This was necessary for a clean syntax
for #2.

4. Some new parameters on existing devices, also a side
effect of the BSIM work.

5. The manual in HTML form.  The manual source is still in LaTeX,
which can be used to generate HTML, PDF, Postscript, or many other
formats.


Bug fixes:

1. An error causing truncation error to be underestimated has been fixed.


Other improvements:

1. MOSFET model evaluation is a little faster, due to use of one of
the new elements to replace several old ones.  I have seen 40%, but
20% is more likely.  The improvement is most evident on busy circuits,
where the ACS speed enhancements based on latency exploitation
contribute more overhead than their value, that is .. the type of
circuit that has run faster in Spice than ACS.

2. More documentation on internals.


Changes that I think are improvements, but some may disagree:

1. Truncation error based step control is disabled when Euler's method
is selected.  The justification for this is that the reason for
selecting Euler's method is to avoid the artifacts of high order
methods on "stiff" poles.  Without this change, a "stiff" pole would
cause an unreasonably small step size.  This did not appear to be much
of a problem in the old release because the use of an incorrect
formula for estimating truncation error.  A "stiff" pole is one that
has a response so fast it can be thought of as instantaneous.

2. The "help" command, with its 4 year old help file, has been
removed.  The concept is really obsolete.  With the HTML form of the
manual, a full online manual is a better replacement.
 ------------------------------------------------------------------
ACS 0.25 release notes  (11/04/99)

New features:

None!


Bug fixes:

1. A name conflict that caused compile to fail with gcc 2.95 has been
fixed.

2. A problem that caused switches to lose state when a simulation is
stopped and restarted when a switch is in transition has been fixed.

3. Two unrelated problems with transmission lines have been fixed.
(Short lines and lines in subcircuits.)


Changes that may or may not be improvements:

1. Several queues have been added, to manage model evaluation
scheduling.  This is part of work on multi-rate and mixed-mode
simulation, and it replaces the traditional bypass scheme.  In this
release, probably the only noticeable difference will be that it runs
a little faster.


Known bugs:

1. The help file has not been updated for 4 years.
 ------------------------------------------------------------------
ACS 0.24 release notes  (08/21/99)

New features:

1. Enhanced (now documented) behavioral modeling.

2. Transmission line in transient analysis.

3. More documentation of internals.

4. Better batch mode error handling.


Bug fixes:

1. Control-C trap works.

2. A bug that could cause a crash when a device had an improper number
of nodes has been fixed.  It now issues a warning, and grounds the
unspecified nodes.

3. A bug that could cause a crash when a model or subcircuit is
deleted then accessed has been fixed.

4. A scoping bug that sometimes put subckt parts in the root circuit
has been fixed.

5. A bug in "fanout" that listed internal subckt nodes incorrectly has
been fixed.


Changes that may or may not be improvements:

1. "Make2" files for some systems have been removed.  These have not
been tested in years, and ACS and the compilers have both evolved
significantly, so any portability patches that old are probably
completely wrong now.


Known bugs:

1. The help file has not been updated for 4 years.
 ------------------------------------------------------------------
ACS 0.23 release notes  (06/15/99)

New features:

1. Level 6 mos model.

2. HSpice style PWL and POLY(1).

3. "Table" behavioral modeling function.

4. Mixed-mode digital initialization.



The bug fixes:

1. The alarm range worked backwards, now fixed.

2. Keep track of commons better.

3. Improved mixed-mode simulation.  It still has not been tested as
well as I would like, but is better.  Digital initialization works
now.

4. Another case of "zero time step" has been fixed.  This one was
relatively benign, in that it only caused a single extra full
evaluation, with immediate recovery to a normal step size.

5. "Z" probe gave wrong results when probing a voltage source.



Other improvements: (?)

1. Some subtractions now de-noise the result, eliminating the tiny
numbers that result from subtracting two nearly equal numbers.  The
threshold can be set by the option "roundofftol".  It is best left set
at 1e-13.  This improves speed slightly because 0 will prevent a
matrix reload, but any non-zero number will not.  It improves
convergence slightly because the tiny numbers (which result from
numerical problems) tend to cause further numerical problems.  These
tiny numbers are an artifact of the machine math, and vary depending
on optimization and machine implementation details.

2. MOS temperature effects are computed at run time, instead of at
load time, so you can change the temperature after loading and get
correct results.

3. The options for integration method have changed, and are more
flexible.  The default is still trapezoidal, but that may change in a
future release.  You can specify the mode individually for capacitors
and inductors.  The information is in the data structure for all
components, but it isn't always parsed.  A future release will let you
specify it by component or by model.  The names are Spectre
compatible, not Spice compatible, because it is more flexible.  The
Spice names are accepted, but may not act the same as they do in
Spice.  Choices are: unknown, euler, euleronly, trap, traponly.
Options accepted and coerced into something else are: gear2,
gear2only, trapgear, trapeuler.  In general, gear is treated as euler,
and each element will use either euler or trap.  The device choice
wins over the option command choice, but "only" wins over non-only.

4. Logic device syntax is changed.  There are two more nodes, so
power, ground, and enable are passed in.  Power and enable are not
used (except possibly in subckt models) but are required for
consistency.

5. In many (not all) cases, arbitrary limits, due to fixed size
arrays, have been removed.

6. More rigorous testing.  I actually have a regression suite now.  It
is still not rigorous enough.

7. More rigorous convergence criteria.  This should solve some of the
false convergence problems.  ACS convergence criteria has always been
more rigorous than Spice.



The cosmetic changes:

1. Convert most containers to STL.

2. Complete migration to the "common" tree, and eliminating reference
to the old C "x" structure extensions.

3. Rearrangement of MOS model hierarchy, to make it easier to install
other models.  (BSIM family is coming.)
 ------------------------------------------------------------------
ACS 0.22 release notes  (10/16/98)

This release contains a few bug fixes, and a few cosmetic changes to the
code.

The bug fixes:

1. Fixes convergence failures in circuits with linear inductors,
linear mutual inductors, and linear current controlled sources.

2. Fixes a bypass problem, which shows as transient analysis failure
with the message "very backward time step".

3. Failed assertion on switch.

The cosmetic changes:

1. The "OMSTREAM" class, as a step in migrating the i/o to C++ style.

2. A cleaner event queue, using a generic heap class.

That's really all.  I have not been actively working on ACS, mostly
due to employment at a semiconductor company in their "corporate CAD"
department.  This will change soon, because my new employer (a CAD
tool vendor) says it is ok to work on ACS.
 ------------------------------------------------------------------
ACS 0.21 release notes  (03/30/96)

There are several changes, most of which are only visible in subtle
ways from the outside.

1. The code is more conformant with the upcoming standard, particularly
in the use of complex, templates, lifetime of temporaries, and for
scope.  This should fix problems compiling with g++ 2.7.

2. Element commons are freed properly.

3. The manner in which elements are loaded into the matrix is
different, and should be faster for large circuits with latency.
Model bypass is more complete, because it is no longer necessary
to do anything with a latent model.  It makes little difference
for small circuits, and circuits that are mostly active.  Speed
gains on small circuits are offset by #4.

4. The bypass criteria are more strict.  It was possible to get
incorrect results through interaction between model evaluation
bypass and iteration damping.  This release will not bypass anything
when damping is in effect.  There is a slight speed penalty.

5. Logic devices work even when there is no analog model.  The bug
causing a failure in this case has been fixed.  The "bug" (that
could in a twisted sense be called a feature) that leads to random
mapping on start-up is still there.  The logic model still needs
work.

6. The code is somewhat more object-oriented.  Some classes have
been changed to be more general.
 ------------------------------------------------------------------
ACS 0.20 release notes  (11/22/95)

This release adds the level-3 MOSFET model.  It is Spice compatible.

Actually, it was there a long time ago but was removed because it
didn't work correctly.  This one has been tested and seems to match
Spice results, and have convergence characteristics a little better
than Spice 2g6.  Like the level 1 and 2 models, only Meyer's
capacitance model is implemented. (like Spice 3).
 ------------------------------------------------------------------
ACS 0.19 release notes  (10/31/95)

This release offers "improved" convergence.

Several new options have been added to control iteration damping.
In some cases, the program will take a partial step in an attempt
to tame the wild fluctuations that can occur during iteration with
Newton's method.  This version appears to be considerably more
robust than Spice 2g6.  Several test circuits that fail to converge
on Spice do converge on ACS.  The cost of this is sometimes slower
convergence.  It generally takes about 2 more iterations per step
than the previous version.  This can be turned off, using the
"dampstrategy" option at a slight cost in robustness.  See the
manual on the options command for more information.
 ------------------------------------------------------------------
ACS 0.18 release notes  (05/12/95)

This release offers improved memory management and exception
handling, primarily aimed at MSDOS systems.

Bug fixes:

1. For all ... Out of memory exceptions are properly trapped.
Version 0.17 would crash if it ran out of memory.  Now you get a
reasonable message.  It was only a real problem on MSDOS systems.

2. MSDOS floating point exceptions are trapped.  In 0.17, underflow
exceptions and null floating point exceptions could sometimes cause
an abort.  I don't know why, but the 80287 can generate a null
exception when apparently nothing is wrong.

3. MSDOS only: Evade underflow in exp().  A large negative argument
to exp can give bogus results.  This was a known (to me) in Microsoft
C 5.1.  Apparently Borland has the same behavior.  It may be a
hardware problem.  The fix is to not call exp with an argument
beyond -200, and return 0 instead.

4. Don't use "-fast-math" with g++.  (Makefile change).  It doesn't
make any difference in speed, and it sometimes causes problems,
particularly the one in #3 above.

Performance improvements:

1. Most elements no longer store values from the past.  Only
inductors and capacitors do.  This means that some probes are no
longer available.  Some other data has been moved to improve memory
usage.  This change increases the capacity of the MSDOS version by
about 10 transistors.  Unix systems will swap less.

Other visible changes:

1. The method of attaching models to devices has been changed, to
improve maintainability.  There are a few noticeable side effects.

a. The default models -d-, -n- are no longer available.  These were
not documented.

b. Model names must now be unique.  If you have a diode model named
"foo", you may not also have a mosfet model named "foo".

c. A diode can reference a mosfet model.  The diode will be equivalent
to the source-bulk diode in the mosfet.  This is a byproduct of
using C++ derived classes.  The mosfet model is derived from the
diode model.

2. Exception handling in batch mode is different.  It is still not
right.
 ------------------------------------------------------------------
ACS 0.17 release notes  (04/21/95)

The primary difference in this release is reorganization and C++.
A side benefit is that it is slightly faster, and uses slightly
less memory.  (The program is bigger, but it stores data more
efficiently, for a net improvement.)  It is a transitional release,
with some of the code still in C.  I hope to have a full C++ version
this summer.

Bug fixes:

1. Voltage source (vs, vcvs, ccvs) probes (current, power, etc.)
now really work.

2. Fixed bug that caused strange results with mutual inductance
after other parts of the circuit are changed.

3. Fixed memory leak in subcircuits and complex devices.

4. Fixed bug that caused a crash when probed elements were deleted.
 ------------------------------------------------------------------
ACS 0.16 release notes  (12/10/94)

New features:

1. New components: current controlled switch, current controlled
current source, current controlled voltage source.  Any simple two
terminal element (not a diode) can be used as a probe, not just
a voltage source.

2. Diode transit time parameter works.

3. Mutual inductance.  The coupled coils must be linear.  Only
pairs of coupled inductors are supported in this release.  A future
release will probably support multiply coupled inductors.

Bug fixes:

1. Continuing a transient analysis now works as documented.
 ------------------------------------------------------------------
ACS 0.15 release notes  (07/31/94)

Version 0.15 is supposed to be a minimal bug fix release to 0.14,
but does have one new component.

1. Some additional ports are supported, including VMS.  An HP port
is supplied as a user contribution, but I have not tested it.

2. New component: voltage controlled switch.  Spice-3 compatible.

3. Fixed bug that caused unpredictable behavior (usually loss of
a probe, sometimes a crash) after replacing a component.

4. Fixed bug that caused incorrect evaluation and initialization
of logic devices when there is no analog model.

5. Fixed a bug in truncation error control that sometimes caused
it to become a no-op.  It still seems to usually work the same as
Spice, except that ACS will actually use at least the time steps
you ask for.  Spice will pick all the steps and interpolate for
the points you ask for.  This will usually cause ACS to use more
time steps than Spice, hence often slower simulations.

6. Fixed another bug in truncation error that sometimes caused a
divide by zero.
 ------------------------------------------------------------------
ACS 0.14 release notes  (07/05/94)

Version 0.14 was supposed to be a minimal bug fix release to 0.13.
The same bugs are still there and there are a few small additions
mostly aimed at coping with convergence problems.

1. The truncation error formula was changed to use the third
derivative of charge instead of the second derivative of current.
These two numbers are theoretically equal, but in practice they
are not.  The second derivative of current uses 3 terms to compute
by divided differences.  The third derivative of charge uses 4
terms.  Using the odd number of terms catches the error due to the
oscillatory nature of the trapezoid rule.  An even number of terms
tends to lose this error.  Also, using charge tends to mask it.
So, I have changed it to a less accurate, more optimistic method,
the same as Spice.  It now seems to work about the same as Spice,
in the sense that it usually chooses about the same step sizes.
Strictly, the old method is "better" but it tends to run away on
stiff poles, trying for excess accuracy that doesn't matter.  Your
comments on this matter are welcome.  If you know of any good papers
on this, please let me know.

2. The "stiff" option has been removed from the transient command.
Instead, use the .options "trapezoid" or "gear".  For now, "gear"
implies first order and is equivalent to the old "stiff".  (A
cop-out.)  Actually, for stiff poles you want a first order method
because the error is lower.

3. You can specify the integration method individually on any
capacitor or inductor.

4. A bug causing the MSDOS version (2 byte integers) to mess up
probes of other than nodes was fixed.

5. A bug that sometimes caused it to perpetually repeat the same
time step was fixed.  (SPICE would have reported "time step too
small" and stopped.)

6. A bug that messed up step control when a dormant model wakes up
and finds out it has been sleeping too long has been fixed.

7. "Mosflags" and "diodeflags" are different and there are more of
them.  There are lots of them and they may be useful in taming
convergence problems.  They control the heuristics that are applied
when there appears to be a convergence problem.  I have yet to find
a circuit that could not be made to converge by judicious application
of the flags and options, but any one setting is no better than
Spice, and many are worse.  One combination of flags gives Spice
style limiting, which more often than not makes convergence worse.

8. "vmax" and "vmin" options as part of convergence heuristics.
The default value of "limit" now large enough to essentially remove
it.  These limits sometimes help convergence, but more often hurt.

9. The "damp" option actually works.

10. The diode "off" flag works correctly.

11. There is a new command "alarm" that prints a message when a
value exceeds a range.  The syntax is the same as the "plot" command.
 ------------------------------------------------------------------
ACS 0.13 release notes  (03/11/94)

Version 0.13 adds several new features and has several bug fixes
and performance improvements.

1. Fourier analysis really works.
The "Fourier" command does a transient analysis but prints the
results in the frequency domain.  It is similar to the Spice command
of the same name but not exactly the same.  It is significantly
more accurate than Spice because the transient time steps are chosen
for the best match to the Fast Fourier Transform.  Considerably
more flexibility is available than in Spice.

2. Transient time step control by truncation error (finally).

3. Several options have been added to display diagnostics.

4. Fixed the default value for idsat, issat, ad, and as in the
mos-diode.  In 0.12, the default area was 1 square meter, which
gave mosfet capacitors in the 500 uf range.  This sometimes caused
strange results.

5. Added some node probes, mostly for diagnostic use.

6. Fixed the "F" probe on linear elements.  (Capacitor charge,
inductor flux, admittance current, resistor voltage)  It used to
give an obviously bogus answer.


Other changes:

1. Some general changes in the interest of improving code quality
in general.

2. Function headers are in ANSI style, rather than K&R style.  This
version will compile as either C or C++.  Future versions will
require a C++ compiler.
 ------------------------------------------------------------------
ACS 0.12 release notes  (10/09/93)

Version 0.12 is a maintenance release.  It adds no features (except Ultrix
support) but fixes several bugs and changes some porting details.  It
should be easier to port this version than previous versions.

The bug fixes are significant enough that you should upgrade to 0.12 even
if you are not having any problems.
 ------------------------------------------------------------------
ACS 0.11 release notes  (07/26/93)

Version 0.11 fixes a few bugs in 0.10.  0.10 was supposed to be
posted on alt.sources but due to a problem with the feed it never
happened.

New features:

1. New MOSFET and diode probes.  All information available from
the Spice 2 "op" analysis is now available as probes.  For MOSFET
these include cbd, cbs, cgsovl, cgdovl, cgbovl, cgs, cgd, cgb,
vdsat, vth.  Other (non-spice) new probes include cgst, cgdt, cgbt.
(cgst = Cgs total = cgsovl + cgs.) These were available before by
probing the value of the internal element but it was less convenient.
Now it is simple and has the same name as in Spice.  These probes
are also available in transient analysis, so you can see (for
example) the dynamic variations in capacitance.

Bugs fixed:

1. Pass arguments to tr_volts and family by pointer instead of the
whole structure.  This is less likely to tickle a bug in Microsoft
C.  The MSDOS version of ACS 0.10 crashed frequently due to this
bug.  (Strictly, this is a Microsoft-C bug, not an ACS bug but the
effect is the same.)

2. The AC "Z" probes work again.  They were broken in 0.10.

3. The size of the buffer for text plots is increased allowing
support for wider screens.  The old version would crash if you did
plots with outwidth set to wider than 128.  The fix is to make it
bigger, with a new constant MAXWIDTH, and trap the width setting
bigger than MAXWIDTH.  The current max is 256 for MSDOS and 512
for unix.  The plotting code should probably be redone.

4. Width is narrower by 1 so setting width to 80 won't leave blank
lines on an 80 column screen.

5. MOSFET capacitance now matches Spice (Meyer model)

6. Level 1 model linear region gds calculation was wrong, but close
enough to often go unnoticed.  It is correct and matches Spice now.

7. The value of an AC source now is compatible with Spice.  That
is, plain value is the DC-tran value.  In old versions of ACS a
plain value applied to all analyses including AC.  You needed to
prefix the value with "DC" to make it not apply to AC.  Actually,
it worked as documented.  Now it works like Spice, which makes more
sense.  This was a major source of strange results in AC analysis.
 ------------------------------------------------------------------
 ------------------------------------------------------------------