ngspice/NEWS

Ngspice-35, July 31st, 2021
============
- New features:
    + Version info in sharedspice.h.
    + Replace double braces {{...}} by {(...)} in netlist (PSLT mode).
    + Add plotting of graphics in SVG format.
    + Setting variable 'nounits' allows suppressing the unit in a graph.
    + Update of macOS configure script.
    + In sharedspice API, convert all boolean variables to type integer
      for C++ compatibility.
    + Add geometry scaling to diode device model (level 3).
    + In PS mode exp function is limited to exp(14).
    + Speed enhancement for using SkyWater PDK under Linux.
    + Add option Cshunt which adds a capacitor to each circuit voltage node.
    + Diode device model now has a self heating option.
    + Allow opening files with names containing ANSI special characters.
    + Enable using parameters in .options lines.
    + For C and R devices enable value tokens like 4k7 or 1u2
      in addition to 4.7k and 1.2u.
    + New XSPICE pswitch for internally replacing the vswitch.
    + Within a single run, allow multiple PS or SVG plots with different names.
    + Don't replace a device model name by a parameter,
      if both have the same names.
    + Analog delay code model 'delay'.
    + B source (ASRC) will acknowledge temp and dtemp instance parameters.
    + In CIDER printing of either ASCII or binary is supported.
    + PSP models now support NMOS and PMOS, update to parameters and examples.
    + E and G source TABLE function replaces by a B source pwl.
    + re-enable making the old help system for Linux/Cygwin
      by --enable-help --enable-oldapps.
    + Enable the m parameter in E, G, B, R behavioral source/devices.

- Bug fixes:
    + many bugs fixed and code improvements (see bugs 539 and up)
    + memory leaks removed


Ngspice-34, Jan 31st, 2021
============
- New features:
    + Improved VBIC model
    + Get the vector type automatically, if db, ph, cph are applied.
    + Enable finding 'spinit' if its path contains spaces.
    + Increase buffer size for command 'listing' to 4096 bytes.
    + Add compatibility modes for EAGLE (ea) and Spectre (spe).
    + Add parameter 'plain' to 'plot' command.
    + Add variables 'plainplot', 'plainwrite', 'plainlet'
    + Add RF bipolar model HICUM 2.4 to the ngspice C sources.
    + Add charge formulation for non-linear capacitors.
    + Remove outdated code from contrib and unsupported directories.
    + When installing ngspice executable, do not install the headers.
    + Add support for tc1, tc2, and m for behavioral resistors,
      which use the B source internally.
    + Add supporting E_constant Vconst 0 TABLE {Max(V(DP)-V(GN),0)}=((20,120)).
    + Remove the XSPICE limitation of the current source flag "current".
    + Remove the XSPICE dependency of the phase parameter for the
      independent current source.
    + Drastically reduce the memory requirements if there is a PDK with
      a lot of binning models (e.g. the SkyWater PDK).
    + Update to admst: Enhance the Verilog A compatibility.
    + Add most recent PSP102, Mextram504, BSIMBULK, and BSIMCMG models
      to the ngspice adms sources.
    + Model checking for BSIM4.5 will only write to file if an excursion
      is detected (still to be added to the other BSIM models)
    + Many code updates not visible to the user, but enhancing stability
      and efficiency

- Bug fixes:
    + many bugs fixed and code improvements (see bugs 523 and up)
    + memory leaks removed



Ngspice-33, Oct 18th, 2020
============
- New features:
    + try first storing the temporary file in user directory,
      only then in current directory.
    + Add adding the ngspice icon to the MINGW executable.
    + Do not print transient initial conditions, if uic is selected.
    + Enable node names with special characters like '/'.
    + Do not print "Units" on a graph, if unknown type or settype notype is given.
    + Unify batch mode and control mode raw file output.
    + Make PPerror message more verbose.
    + Make the pwl parameter r adjustable by .param.
    + Enable flags xdelta, ydelta for 'gnuplot' command.
    + Enable special characters for cpl model names and parameters.
    + New command 'cutout': Cut out part of each vector of the current tran plot
      and copy into a new plot
    + Compatibility switches KiCad 'ki', and Spectre 'spe'
    + Remove vceo= and icrating= from bjt model cards.
    + The tests of cmaths function will be done only on request.
    + Add alternative temperature model for certain jfet parameters.
    + Add BJT Kull Quasi-Saturation model.
    + Improve self heating tempaerature handling in VDMOS model.
    + Use W/nf for selecting binning model.
    + Add wnflag as an instance parameter.
    + Add PSPICE compatible ISWITCH.
    + Add a limit capability to the code model aswitch.
    + Add a new code model pswitch.
    + Many conde updates not visible to the user, but enhancing stability
      and efficiency

- Bug fixes:
    + many bugs fixed and code improvements (see bugs 484 and up)
    + memory leaks removed


Ngspice-32, Apr 25th, 2020
============

- New features:
    + Add resource info on memory used and available for macOS
    + redesign of memory monitoring
    + Replace B source pwl by XSPICE PWL Controlled Source that has smooth rounded and 
      stepless differentiable corners.
    + Get a variable directly from an input file with i/o redirection
    + Make 64 bit compilation the standard
    + On Windows VisualStudio compilation we support only VS2019
    + Add function 'conj'
    + Improved error messages for 'meas' command
    + Improved PSPICE compatibility
    + VDMOS model now allows electro-thermal simulation
      Optionally (instance flag 'thermal') 2 thermal nodes tj and tcase are added
      to the device instance
    + Enable utf-8 and UNICODE for string handling (maybe switch off by --disable-utf8)
    + Vastly redisigned plotting capability: vertical text for labeling y axis,
      independent color selection for background, grid/text and graphs,
      independent width selection for grid and graph, access to UNICODE fonts,
      characters may become ticmarks (variable 'ticchar'), RGB color tables included,
      variable 'nolegend' switches off the legend
    + Add variables 'oscompiled'
    + Command 'let' to allow default low and high indices
    + Upon calculating the operating point, true gmin stepping added
    + Free the internal control structure memory by sending ngSpice_Command(NULL)
    + No interrupt handling (SIGINT) in shared ngspice
    + Limit the exp function to exp(14)
    + Event simulation output data may be selected by command 'setplot'
    + Many code updates not directly visible to the user, enhancing stability
      and efficiency

- Bug fixes:
    + many bugs fixed and code improvements (see bugs 427 and up)
    + memory leaks removed


Ngspice-31, Sep 22nd, 2019
============

- New features:
    + if a subcircuit is defined more than once, only read the first one and discard the others
    + vbic model implementation including self-heating effect
    + Enable the file input as additional search path for .include files also for non-Windows OSs
    + add scope to decks and subcircuits (not yet fully implemented)
    + enable 'res' as valid resistor model identifier
    + Add variable 'nostepsizelimit' to relieve step size limit defined by TSTEP of the .tran command
    + Windows GUI: make GUI more responsive
    + if the comaptibility mode is PS, LTPS or LTPSA, '$' is treated as a valid character, not as
      end-of-line comment delimiter
    + allow very short version information with new options -v and -d to 'version' command
    + the PSPICE area token for a device instance may be not only a number, but also a parametrized
      token like {tok}
    + Windows GUI: New history buffering
    + Windows GUI: Added scrolling to input window
    + update to hicum version 2.40
    + allow " around netnames for .plot and .print commands
    + command 'setcs': like command 'set' but case sensitive
    + linearized cutout of an original vector by defining the vectors lin-tstart, lin-tstop,
      and lin-tstep before sending the 'linearize' command
    + new examples: inverters and ring oscillator using SOI
    + 'option norefvalue' to suppress printing the reference value

- Bug fixes:
    + many bugs fixed and code improvements (patches 33 - 64, bug tracker nos. 390,
      394, 395, 403, 404, 408)
    + memory leaks removed

Ngspice-30, Jan 1st, 2019
============

- New features:
    + VDMOS device model has been overhauled extensively
    + Making the manual is now much more flexible and comfortable,
      xhtml manual added.
    + Add pre-defined variable controlswait to enable running .control sections
      after the simulation has finished (shared ngspice only)
    + Add an icon to the MS Windows GUI build
    + Enable more reliable memory usage data
    + Support libtinfo
    + add rotation angle to text output, vertcally aligned text for Postscript
      and Windows y-axis plot labels
    + enable postscript output for extended ascii. Currently only Western
      European latin-1 (ISO/IEC 8859-1) encoding is supported
    + Ancient Xgraph code removed

- Bug fixes:
    + many bugs fixed (bug tracker nos. 253, 332, 337, 368, 374, 375, 376, 377, 378,
      379, 380, 381, 384, 385, 386)
    + ancient bug removed that led to spurious heap corruption of shared ngspice
      under (very sensitive) Windows 10
    + memory leaks removed

Ngspice-29, Sept 30th, 2018
============

- New features:
    + new variable no_auto_gnd. If set, the automatic replacing of gnd by 0
      is disabled
    + new compatibility modes for 'set behavior=??'. ps sets PSPICE, lt sets
      LTSPICE compatibility, ltps is both for a file added by .include command,
      psa, lta, and ltpsa are the same for the whole netlist
    + .if, .elseif, .endif is now evaluated recursively, nested .if are thus
      enabled
    + new code model sidiode, that is a simple diode, linear breakdown, reverse
      and forward regions with smooth overlapp, and optional current limits
    + configure flag --with-fftw3. If set to 'no', internal fast fourier is used
      instead of fftw
    + command setseed to set the seed value for the random number generator
    + option seed=[val|random]
    + variable inputdir to remeber and retrieve the last input file directory
    + example directory 'digital' with analog, behavioral and digital example input files
    + new XSPICE filesource, d_source, and state-machine examples
    + + or - maybe part of instance name
    + Quasi-saturation VDMOS example
    + add environmental variable SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH to allow reproducible executables
    + new parameters to command setplot: setplot next, setplot previous
    + updates to commands cd, rusage, print
    + introduce diode recombination current part (ISR, NR)
    + update to bipolar and diode temperature equations

- Bug fixes:
    + several bug fixes
    + lots of memory leaks removed, especially when XSPICE circuits are called several
      times in a loop.


Ngspice-28, May 27th, 2018
============

- New features:
    + Licenses for ngspice distribution are DFSG compatible
    + VDMOS power MOS model added
    + if 'set ngbehavior=ps' is given in .spiceinit, device libraries loaded
      via .include may have PSPICE syntax
    + --enable-oldapps configure flag to compile the old, seldom used apps
      ngnutmeg, ngmakeidx, ngmultidec, ngproc2mod, ngsconvert
    + add command mc_source to internally re-load the circuit
    + add command alterparam to alter the value of a parameter xxx given in .param xxx=value
    + add the function i(xyz) to measure the current in node 1 of device xyz, to be
      used in behavioral models.
    + new label 'noretraceplot' for the 'plot' command, if graphs in a plot show unwanted
      retracing lines.
    + The hyphen '-' is a valid character in model, device and subcircuit names
    + add noise for behavioral resistor
    + add a new vector type "temperature"
    + support instance parameter defaults on .model lines
    + New functions for XSPICE event node data export from shared ngspice:
      ngGet_Evt_NodeInfo(char*) and ngSpice_AllEvtNodes(void)
    + 'edisplay' command now showing node name, node type and number of events per node
    + add flag 'none' to the 'save' command for shared ngspice.
      Output data will not be stored, but are available via callback function ng_data.
    + add a function cm_get_circuit to allow accessing the circuit structure ckt
      from within an XSPICE code model.
    + add variable 'sim_status' to indicate if a simulation has been aborted
    + add pkg-config file

- Bug fixes:
    + many, many ... as always


Ngspice-27, Aug 28th, 2017
============

- New features:
    + check for correct inductor coefficients
    + add variable 'win_console'
    + --enable-relpath configure flag to set preprocessor flag HAS_RELPATH
    +    sets search path for spinit relativ to current directory
    + The search path for .spiceinit is: current dir, HOME dir, USERPROFILE dir
    + new function stddev to calculate the standard deviation of all elements of a vector
    + xspice digital n-input x m-output look-up table gate
    + xspice digital model d_lut (digital n-input look-up table gate)
    + add variable $sharedmode (if shared ngspice is running), to be used in scripts
    + enable msys2 for mingw compilation
    + OMP support for bsim3v3.24 model
    + bsim3v3.24: add model parameter lmlt (Channel length scaling)
    + OMP support for BSIM4.5 model
    + update and extension of command 'wrdata'
    + option xmu to set damping in trapezoid integration
    + command 'linearize' will take time data from transient analysis vector if no circuit is loaded
    + two new commands: edisplay and eprvcd
    +     'edisplay' will show a list of all event nodes
    +     'eprvcd' will print all event nodes in vcd format
    + XSPICE 2D and 3D table models
    + add variable 'batchmode' which is set when command line option `-b' is active
    + enable backquote substitution for Visual Studio console apps
    + update how-to-ngspice-vstudio.txt
    + update visualc directory and project files, add XSPICE code model generation by VS2015
    + allow access to 4 GB memory of 32 bit ngspice on 64 bit Windows, 8 TB for 64 bit ngspice
    + new variable `interactive'
    + xspice, introduce cm_message_printf()
    + add variable `width' to command "print line ..."
    + support msys2
    + favor exponential temperatur equation if all parameters tc1, tc2 and tce are given for R
    + move libfftw3 sideways out of the ngspice tree
    + remove visual studio 2008 .vcproj files
    + visualc/sharedspice.vcxproj, updated and migrated with visual studio 2015
    + `E..table {expr} {pairs}', `G..', allow an optional `=' after `table'
    + `E..value=', `G..value=', allow `=' being optional
    + introduce TCE, exponential temperature coefficient for R
    + allow `temper' to be recognised when preceded by '='
    + allow cross-compilation, especially for MinGW-w64
    + allow "plot xlog ylog" (equiv to "plot loglog")
    + extend qa test to hisimhv version 2
    + update hisimhv model to version 2.2.0
    + update hisim model to version 2.8.0
    + .control variable "sqrnoise" to deliver noise data in squared representation
    + noise analysis, deliver results in V/sqrt(Hz) and A/sqrt(Hz)
    + add delvt0 for bsim4 models
    + bug fixes for diode model
    + allow a xspice circuit with exclusively xspice event nodes
    + man pages for cmpp ngmakeidx and ngproc2mod
    + implement `nint()'
    + everywhere: ln to the base e, log to the base e, log10 to the base 10
    + allow an optional '=' in ".func foo() = {expr}"
    + bsim4, update to version 4.8
    + update hisimhv to version 1.2.4
    + cmc quality check for bsim3 model
    + nested indexing for vectors
    + option savecurrents to save current through all devices
    + option interp to plot interpolated raw file data
    + MS VS 2010 project file added for compatibility
    + XSPICE: new callback function cm_get_path

- Bug fixes:
    + many, many ... as always

Ngspice-26, Jan 4th, 2014
============

- New features:
    + fft command may (optionally) use fftw3 library
    + add nint() rounding function
    + usage of 'temper' in behavioral devices
    + check for soa (safe operating area) in several device models
    + library processing rewritten completely to enhance ngspice
      compatibility (.lib)
    + include file processing rewritten to allow nesting and various
      absolute and relative path names (.inc)
    + asinh, acosh, atanh functions
    + shared ngspice option added: ngspice optionally compiles as
      a shared object or dynamic link library
    + use a hash table to massively speed up parsing the netlist
    + implement a very basic .if/.else block
    + implement a signed power function `pwr' for controlled sources
    + implement multiplier `m' in F, G source
    + apply Area Calculation Method (ACM) to the bsim3v3.3 model
    + implement `tc1', `tc2' instance parameters

- Bug fixes:
    + many, many ... please see
      http://sourceforge.net/p/ngspice/ngspice/ci/master/tree/
      and check the 'history' button on the upper right.
    + removed memory leaks


Ngspice-25, Jan 4th, 2013
============

- New features:
    + add temperature coefficients for B source
    + commands "mdump", "mrdump" to dump matrix to file
    + allow `time', `temper', and `hertz' in expressions with behavioral R, L, C
    + Enable ctrl-c to interrupt a simulation also for Windows GUI
    + tests/bsim4: use the standard CMC model qa check
    + implement exit code for command "quit"
    + .nodeset all = value
    + memristor code model in extradev
    + new scalable diode model including tunnel component
    + variable xtrtol may override the XSPICE reduction of trtol
    + XSPICE example: delta-sigma converter
    + XSPICE: new d_source model
    + new option noopac
    + bsim3: make additonal parameters accessible with @mxx[par]
    + enable Mac OS X compilation
    + option reseries = val
    + commands "snsave", "snload"
    + update hisim to version 2.7.0, new qa tests
    + hisimhv update to version 1.2.3, new qa tests
    + allow Ctrl-d to quit
    + jfet model temperature extension, tcv and bex parameter
    + speed up vector handling by hash table for vector address storage and retrieval
    + update PSS code


- Bug fixes:
    + many, many ... please see
      http://ngspice.git.sourceforge.net/git/gitweb.cgi?p=ngspice/ngspice;a=shortlog;pg=0
    + remove memory leaks
    + update tclspice for MS Windows
    + adms3 removed due to licensing issues


Ngspice-24, Jan 29th, 2012
============

- New features:
    + .csparam allows to tranfer a param into a vector in .control ... .endc
    + functions floor and ceil
    + syntax Gxxx n1 n2 TABLE {expression} = (x0, y0) (x1, y1) (x2, y2)
    + syntax Gxxx n1 n2 value={equation} or Exxx n1 n2 value={equation}
    + variable strict_errorhandling to exit ngspice with exit code 1
      if any error occurs during circuit parsing
    + command altermod allows reading from file
    + command "devhelp" to show available devices and describe device parameters
    + command "inventory" to print the number of istances of each device.
    + function cph(vec) delivers phase from a vector without jumps at +-PI
    + enable 64 bit compilation in MS Visual Studio
    + --adms3 flag to compile with (experimental) adms code
    + still very experimental pss code
    + command 'remcirc' to remove a circuit from the list
    + command 'wrdata' aknowledges appendwrite and prints complex variables
    + allow comment lines inside of command files
    + path variable NGSPICE_INPUT
    + 'Filesource' code model

- Bug fixes:
    + More on prototypes, type casts, reordering of functions, compiler warnings
    + fix a numerical problem in the hisim2 and hisimhv models
    + plot i(vdd) from a loaded rawfile
    + fix the guard for device generated internal nodes (via CKTmkVolt())
    + reduce memory leaks for command 'reset'
    + parameter processing for nested .subckt
    + bsim4/b4noi.c: correct init the correlated noise slot in noiseDens and lnNdens vector
    + Many small bugs

Ngspice-23, June 5th, 2011
============

- New features:
    + Reduction of trtol to 1 only if 'A' devices in the circuit and xspice is enabled
    + command wrs2p to write a s-parameter file using Touchstone vers. 1 format
    + d_source d_state d_ram, test cases for those xspice codemodels
    + transient noise simulation added to independent voltage and current sources
    + Random telegraph noise added to independent voltage and current sources
    + 'time = nnn' in stop command added
    + random voltage generator option trrandom to independent voltage and current sources
    + ngspice build possible in a separate directory (e.g. in ng-spice-rework/release)
    + update FIND .. WHEN measurements
    + diode & bjt temperature model update with tlev and tlevc
    + merge bsim3v1a code with bsim3v0 and bsim3v1s code with bsim3v1
    + bjt2: removed - all GP extensions of this model are now in the bjt model
    + HiSIM_HV model vers. 1.2.1 added
    + bsim3v32: delvto and mulu0 as instance parameters
    + Replace HiSIM1 by HiSIM_2.5.1_Release_20110407

- Bug fixes:
    + More on prototypes, type casts, reordering of functions, compiler warnings
    + allow models like 2N2904 or 2SK136 also in subcircuits
    + fix sensitvity calculation (for the dc-2+.cir testcase)
    + allow multiple call to setup w/ correct node collapsing
    + Many small bugs

Ngspice-22, Sept 26th, 2010
============

- New features:
    + OpenMP multicore support for BSIM3, BSIM4, and BSIMSOI4
    + reinstate {$var} expansion in interactive interpreter
    + .TITLE line added
    + update to 'spectrum' script
    + par('expression') in .four, .plot, .print, .meas, .save commands
    + command 'option' for use in spinit, .spiceinit, and in scripts
    + adms procedure updated
    + new random number generator, random functions sunif() and sgauss()
    + ngspice manual updated

- Bug fixes:
    + Major code cleanup to reduce compiler/linker warnings: ansi function prototypes,
      void/char pointers to named pointers, explicit type casts and many more
    + Many small bugs


Ng-spice-rework-21, Jun3, 13th 2010
============

- Updated Devices: BSIMSOI 4.3.1

- New features:
    + Compatibility: C, L, R, devices and E, G sources with expressions
      Variables HERTZ, TIME, TEMPER added
    + E, G sources with pwl function
    + New manual
    + Plotting with Gnuplot,
    + Writing wrdata for simple text table to file
    + .measure improved
    + transmission line models improved

- Bug fixes:
    + Many small bugs, memory leaks, memory overflows

Ng-spice-rework-20, November, 16th 2009
============

Ngspice release 20 is the second release of the simulator in 2009.

- Fixes: model names starting with a number (1n4001) are now correctly parsed.
  The .global command has been reinstated (it was previously disabled) and
  error messages now display the corresponding line numberin the input deck.
- New Features: .measure command for transient, ac and dc analyses (still not
  complete, e.g. DERIV is missing).
- Devices: Updated BISM4 model to revision 4.6.5. Added PWL (PieceWise Linear)
  functionality for B (arbitrary generator) sources.


Ng-spice-rework-19, April, 23rd 2009
============

Ngspice release 19 came early after release 18. It reveals an important work
in compile scripts, many bug fixes in memory management, interface, and work in device models.

- Compile scripts: tclspice and ADMS compiling fixes. Architecture compiling
  fixes for SunOS, MS Visual Studio, MINGW, Cygwin.
- Memory management: fixed memory leaks, modifies memory management for
  MS Windows, integration of espice bugfixes and enhancements, bug fixes in
  plots and cli interface.
- Rework of BSim models, integration of EPFL-EKV model V2.63, ADMS models
  mextram, hicum0, hicum2.


Ng-spice-rework-18
============

Rework-18 is introduces several new features into ngspice. This is a major
release that comes after more than three years. During the silent years
ngspice developers worked in CVS to stabilize and introduce new features
into the simulator.

- Tclspice simulator library has been merged with ngspice. Now you can
  compile ngapice or tclspice by asserting a configure switch. See README.tcl
- New options have been introduced: brief, listing, autostop and scale
- Support for .lib file has been introduced. This allows the use of
  third party model libraries in ngspice.
- .measure statements: avg, integ, rms, max, min, delay, param
- .global statements t support for global nodes whose name is not expanded
  when flattening the netlist.
- .func macros for inlining functions into netlists.
- Improved the numparam library to support fully parametrized netlists.
- BSIM model binning.
- new multi-input gate VCVS using XSPICE extensions.


Ng-spice-rework-17
============

This is a bug fix release. Previous release tarball did not included
an include file necessary for compiling numparam library.


Ng-spice-rework-16
============

Rework-16 comes out after almost one year of CVS development (from
15-fixedRC3). This release improves ngspice in three ways:

- Bug fixing: most of the bugs that affected rework-15 have been fixed,
    thus ngspice is more stable, especially the xspice extension, the
    subcircuit (X devices) handling and the numparam library.

- New features: netlist syntax has been expandend allowing for end-of-line
    comments. A ".global" card has beed added to define global nodes, i.e.
    nodes that are not expanded in subcircuits. It is possible to define TC
    for resistors on the instance line. The editline library can be used
    instead of readline (no more GPL license violation).

- Porting: ngspice now works (with xspice extension) on Windows using
           MINGW/MSYS.


Ng-spice-rework-15
============

Rework-15 release is a giant leap forward for ngspice. It incorporates
many (read most) of the improvements implemented in tclspice during the
two years long "sleep" of ngspice and adds many others. The incomplete
list of new features incorporated are:

  - Xspice simulator (with codemodel dynamic loading support):
     a mixed signal simulator built upon spice3.

  - Cider simulator:
     a mixed level simulator built upon spice3.

  - Numparam library:
     a library that allows for parameter substitution at netlist level.

  - Improved models:
     Diode model includes periphery effects and high level of injection effects,
     BJT and BJT2 enhanced.
     BSIM3 now includes ACM.
     BSIM4 implementation corrected.

   -New models:
     VBIC (3 Terminals, no excess phase and thermal network),
     HiSIM.

   - Frontend leaks closed.
      Now frontend works as it should.

   - Many new example file.

   - Xgraph plotting program included.


Ng-spice-rework-14
============

This is a major release in terms of bug-fixes. Some enhancements
have been included: BSIM4 model and support for EKV model. The
source code for the latter must be obtained from EKV web site
(see DEVICE for more info). To enable EKV support you have
to obtain the code first and then use the configure switch
"--enable-ekv".

The spice code contains an option to debug frontend code, now
this is available in configure as "--enable-ftedebug".



Ng-spice-rework-13
============

This is a major release in terms of fixes and enhancements.
A garbage collector support has been added. If the configuration
script detects that you have installed GC (Bohem-Weiser conservative
garbage collector), it will use it. Some memory leaks have been
fixed too.

Enhancements to the code comes from Alan's contribute code, a
description of improvements follows (extracted form Alan's mail):

Output File Format Changes -

  (NOTE: Do not rely on this, we may revert to the old format
   in the next release).

  Text mode .OP results even though "rawfile" written.

  Internal device nodes are not saved to "rawfile" (reduces
  file size). Optionally, these internal nodes can be replaced
  by device currents and saved.


DC Convergence Enhancements -

  "Source-Stepping" algorithm modified with a "Dynamic" step size.
  After each successful step, the node voltages are saved, the
  source-factor is increased by the step-factor, and the step-factor
  is increased (for the next step). If the step fails, i.e. the
  circuit does not converge, the source-factor is set to the value
  from the previous successful step, the previously stored node
  voltages are restored, the step-factor is reduced, the source
  factor is increased by this smaller step-factor, and convergence
  is attempted again.

  Same thing done for "Gmin-stepping" algorithm.

  "Gshunt" option added. This sets the "diagGmin" variable used in
  the gmin-stepping algorithm to a non-zero value for the final
  solution. (Normally this is set to zero for the final solution).
  This helps for circuits with floating nodes (and for some others
  too).

  The Gmin implementation across the substrate diodes of MOS1, MOS2,
  MOS3, MOS6 and BSIM3 devices, and across BJT base-emitter and
  base-collector diodes, was incorrect. Correcting this dramatically
  improved DC convergence. (I think this also affects BSIM1 and 2
  but I haven't fixed them yet !)

  The gm, gmb and gds calculations in the MOS3 model were all wrong.
  The device equations were fixed, leading to much improved
  convergence.

  The Vcrit value used for diode voltage limiting was calculated
  without taking into account the device area (and in some cases
  without using the temperature corrected saturation current).
  This could cause floating point overflows, especially in device
  models designed to be scaled by a small area, e.g. 2u by 2u diodes
  (area=4e-12). This is now fixed for Diode, BJT, MOS1, MOS2, and
  MOS3 models.

  The diode voltage limiting was modified to add negative voltage
  limiting. Negative diode voltages are now limited to 3*Vdp-10,
  where Vdp is the voltage from the previous iteration. If Vdp is
  positive, then the voltage is limited to -10V. This prevents some
  more floating point overflows. (Actually, I'm still playing with
  the best values for this).

  The Spice3 "fix" for the MOS3 gds discontinuity between the
  linear and saturated regions only works if the VMAX parameter
  is non-zero. A "tweak" has been added for the VMAX=0 case.


Transient Convergence Enhancements -

  Temperature correction of various diode capacitances was implemented
  slightly incorrectly, leading to capacitance discontinuities in
  simulations at temperatures other than nominal. This affected the
  Diode and MOS3 models.

  A mistake in the implementation of the MOS3 source-bulk capacitance
  model resulted in a charge storage discontinuity. This has been fixed.

  The level 2 MOSFET model seems to calculate Von and Vth values for
  the threshold and subthreshold values respectively, but then uses
  Vbin to calculate the Vdsat voltage used to find the drain current.
  However, a jump statement uses Von to decide that the device is in
  the "cutoff" region, which means that when this jump allows the
  drain current to be calculated, Vdsat can already be well above
  zero. This leads to a discontinuity of drain current with respect
  to gate voltage. The code is now modified to use Vbin for the jump
  decision. It looks like the code should actually use Vth as the
  threshold voltage, but since other SPICE simulators follow the
  original Berkeley code, this was left alone.


New Model Parameters -

  A device multiplier instance parameter "M" (i.e. M devices in
  parallel) was added to the MOS1,2,3 and BSIM3 mosfet models.


Input Read-in and Checking -

  Numbers beginning with a + sign got the input routine confused.
  Fixed now.

  Attempts to nodeset (or .IC) non-existent nodes are flagged with a
  warning.

  PWL statements on Voltage or Current sources are now checked for
  "non-increasing" time-points at the start of the simulation.
  Previously each time-point was checked as it was reached during
  the simulation, which could be very annoying if you made a mistake
  which caused the simulation to fail after hours of run-time.

  A check which was performed at the end of each sub-circuit expansion
  was moved to the top level. This check makes sure that all sub-circuits
  have been defined, but in its original position, it meant that if a
  sub-circuit included ANY .MODEL statements at all, then ALL the models
  called in that sub-circuit must also be defined within that
  sub-circuit. Now SPICE behaves as expected, i.e. a subcircuit may
  define its own models, but may also use models defined at any level
  above.


Miscellaneous Fixes/Enhancements -

  MOS devices reported only half of the Meyer capacitances, and did not
  include overlap capacitances, when reporting to the .OP printout, or
  when storing device capacitances to the "rawfile".

  The ideal switch devices had no time-step control to stop their
  controlling voltages/currents overshooting the switching thresholds.
  The time-step control has been modified to use the last two time
  points to estimate if the next one will move the controlling
  voltage/current past a switching threshold. If this looks likely,
  then the time-step is reduced.

  The "rawfile" writing routines have been modified to print the
  "reference value" to the console during the simulation. This lets
  the user see exactly how far and how fast the simulation is
  proceeding.

  .OP printout tidied up a lot to make the printout clearer.

  Analysis order changed to fix a "feature" where, if you ask for
  a .OP and a .TRAN in the same simulation, the node voltages
  printed out correspond to the .OP, but the device data was from
  the last timepoint of the .TRAN


Etc. -

  There are other minor bug fixes, and changes to reduce compiler
  warnings. There are probably some more significant fixes which
  I've forgotten :-)


Ng-spice-rework-12
============
Arno did a great work this summer!
The pole-zero analysis has been corrected. The error was introduced
in an attempt to eliminate compiler warnings. The source has been
reworked and info file have been updated. As you may see, a new dir
called "spicelib" has been created, another step toward the separation
of the simulator from the frontend.

Ng-spice-rework-11
============

Resistor code (device) has been modified to conform to spice3 device
coding standard.
A new step function (U2) has been introduced.
Documentation updated.

Ng-spice-rework-10
============

Added BSIM4 model and closed a couple of serious bugs. Added DEVICES
file to distribution. This file contains the status of device models
in this simulator. Read it, this file can save you a lot of time.

Ng-spice-rework-9
============

Thanks to Arno Peters now all device models are dynamically loaded on
demand.  They are linked as shared libraries. The next step is the
dlopen() one which will make possible to link devices without any
recompilation.



Ng-spice-rework-8
============

Applied Arno's patch.

From his mail message:

Hi Paolo,

I have prepared a source cleaning patch.

Features:

  + patches don't get polluted with differences between automatically
  generated Makefile.am files.  Usually these make up the biggest part
  of the patches.  This allows me to read the patch on the mailing
  list instead of sifting through 90% redundant and irrelevant changes.

  + the shell script autogen.sh automatically regenerates the required
  files if the user has automake, autoconf and libtool installed.

  + this feature is only valuable to developers, not to end users.


Usage of this patch, once incorporated:

  # create a working tree to work from
  cp -a ng-spice-rework-x ng-spice

  [ Changes made to ng-spice ]

  # clean up all the automatically generated files
  cd ng-spice; make maintainer-clean

  # extract the differences
  diff -ruN ng-spice-rework-x ng-spice > my.patch

  [ Patch sent to ng-spice mailing list or you ]

  # incorporate changes into the tree
  cd ng-spice-rework-x; patch -p1 < my.patch

  # update the automatically generated files
  cd ng-spice-rework-x; sh autogen.sh




Ng-spice-rework-7 (22 Mar 2000)
============

Bug fix release



Ng-spice-rework-6 (29 Jan 2000)
============

This porting includes:

1) BSIM3V3.1 model as level 49. This is the version modified by Serban
Popescu which understands the M parameter and implements HDIF.

2) BSIM3V3.2 model al Level 50. This is the standard Berkeley version.

3) Now the resistor model can accepts two different values for DC and
AC resistance.



Ng-spice-rework-5 and 5_2  (Jan 2000)
============

Internal development release, buggy and not working.

Ng-spice-rework-4  (22/12/99)
============

This porting includes a new feature:

1) dynamically loading of some device code as an experimental feature
for the future GPL simulator. Thanks to Arno Peters and Manu Rouat.

2) Patched the following bug (thanks to Andrew Tuckey for having
supplied the patch).

    * Wsw (current controlled switch) in subckt, parsing bug.
    * scale factor in arbitrary source.
    * bug in noise analysis.
    * save segmentation faults.