Questions tagged [eda]
Electronic design automation (EDA) tools are software packages to assist with electronic design. Common examples include schematic capture, PCB design, circuit anaylsis and chip level design tools.
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I can't find component “S” in Pspice
I'm reading Learning Pspice document in Pspice(Orcad 22.1), when I reading the part ...
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Implementing Swap in PCB Project Using Altium
I’m currently adapting an electronic project based on a schematic that was provided to me. Unfortunately, I cannot share parts of the schematic due to confidentiality reasons. However, I have created ...
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Why doesn't clock transition time affect my timing analysis (PrimeTime)?
This is a somewhat tool-specific question, so if it's not permitted here please feel free to delete.
I am simulating the circuit attached with cells from the lsi_10k.lib built-in library (though I ...
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How can I determine how much power is in a frequency range via FFT in LTspice?
When using LTspice, I can see the FFT of a voltage. How can I see how much power is in a particular frequency band, and what portion of the total power it is?
The FFT in LTspice is in dB, but it's ...
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How to best use Micro-Cap?
Several users of this site recommended I switch to Micro-Cap for simulation. I'm having trouble with their schematic capture:
First, the symbols are very small compared to the text. Is there a way ...
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Questa instantiation during testbench issues
I'm new to EDA and trying to get the hang of simulations in Questa. I wrote the Verilog code "clock_divider" and the testbench "tb_clock_divider". They both compile successfully ...
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Help on LM324 SUBCKT model [closed]
I'm newbie in ngspice and having a hard time to understand the LM324 models downloaded from various sources.
Made an example with 4 different instances to demonstrate my doubt.
The idealOpAmp works as ...
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What is this weird split circle symbol in a schematic?
I saw this weird symbol in a schematic and I couldn't find what it means.
It was connected from one side to the shield and ground of a USB port.
From the other side it was connected to the ground of a ...
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PCB Design Question - Power Plane or Fat Traces for High Current
I have designed my first pcb (4 layer) and I have a question about power planes versus power traces. I am using KiCad 7. I have tested the circuitry on a proto-board.
I have a high current section (12-...
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Can I Import a Netlist Into Kicad?
I'm a VHDL guy for work, and new to Kicad, so please forgive if this question is dumb.
I find it tedious to copy and paste a lot of circuit chunks to get the large matrices of diodes, IGBT's, etc for ...
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Why do PCB designers opt for serpentine tuning and switchback tuning over spiral patterns when addressing length matching in their designs?
I am currently researching the length matching problem in the PCB EDA domain and am curious as to why tools such as Allegro and Altium primarily use accordion, trombone, and sawtooth patterns to ...
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Fatal Error during SPICE Simulation of CMOS inverter on Tanner-EDA S-EDIT
I am trying to simulate the CMOS inverter (on the Tanner EDA S-edit tool). I am getting an error as follows -
Error: Simulation file "C:\Users\Carl\AppData\Local\Temp\inv_layout_tb.tsim" ...
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How can I set two different clearances on two different layers in KiCad 6?
I have a four-layer board with a substantial 48 V section. According to IPC-2221, I can use a clearance of less than 6 mil between tracks on inner layers, but I need 24 mil clearance on the outer ...
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Trouble finding/creating footprint for a specific switch (SP10T) in KiCAD
Well, I feel that time has passed me by (guess I'm old), as the local makerspace I've been visiting don't even do chemical etching anymore & the process of manufacturing a PCB from schematic to ...
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Transferring SPICE models into Eagle
I am conscious that EDA questions may be off-topic, but I think this is a general use and operation question.
I wrote this in the context of using Fusion 360/Eagle in circuit design. I am trying to ...
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PCB design for air quality measurements
I want to make a simple PCB with the following components:
1x CO₂, humidity and temperature sensor - SCD40 (Qwiic) from Sparkfun
1x 1.3 inch OLED display I2C SSH1106 from AZDelivery
1x TinyS3 (ESP32-...
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ISO/IEC Power/Ground Symbol in schematics?
Yet again, we are debating with colleagues to choose the correct power symbols in our schematics.
Some argue that using the horizontal 4-lines symbol for GND is a misunderstanding because this is not ...
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Syntax Help: VHDL Syntax Error at *.vhd near text ["process", "behave"] expecting "if"
Problem
I'm developing a simple LED blinking system in Quartus Prime Lite 18.1 to be instantiated on a DE0-Nano development board that makes use of the Cyclone IV E generation of Intel FPGAs. To do so ...
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Old EDA software for Mac called "EDS"
So we have some old schematics at work that were ostensibly made by an EDA software called "RUN" "EDS" probably sometime in the early 90s. Supposedly this software ran under the ...
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In KiCad (new user) I can no longer create a netlist file. It aborts with an error loading board file: Unknown token "export"
My “Multi-Edit” notes on the first line "export:" See text immediately below:
...
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What software has been used to make this circuit diagram [closed]
I am new to EDA tools, I use xcircuit to draw circuits but that is very time consuming. I see these diagram a lot on internet with green wires and blue labels that look nicer than xcircuit:
What EDA ...
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How to check if all the signals used have been reset in a VHDL process?
I sometimes make mistake when changing VHDL code to add new functionality that, the new signals added into the VHDL process are not reset when the reset state is asserted. This mistake could be quite ...
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What is the meaning of the term "schematic capture"?
I have been trying to understand what the term "schematic capture" means, what it involves and what it doesn't involve.
Does it mean being capable of understanding or perhaps drawing some ...
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How to store a configuration on an FPGA
I have a question about Nexys A7-100T development board that I want to use as a debugging tool for another project. I will provide some background info below:
I have a sensor that is sending square ...
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why EDA industry has moved on from vhdl to verilog/system verilog? [closed]
And is there a chance of re-emergence of VHDL in commercial VLSI/EDA professions as an in demand skill?
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JLCPCB BOM won't work
I've been designing a board for manufacturing with JLCPCB. I've finished all the design and created gerber files etc. Now I'm at the step of creating a BOM from KiCad that works with JLCPCB (I need to ...
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How to use the dft function in Cadence Virtuoso Calculator?
I had the following setting for the dft function in Cadence Virtuoso Calculator:
But it gave me some negative values in the spectrum:
So why there are negative values? Is there anything wrong in the ...
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Facing Problem In EasyEDA
I can't find the SMT type option in EasyEDA. Is it a new update or I messed up something? And what is a paste type? Please someone help me on getting the SMT type option back. There is no resource ...
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KiCAD: addting a micro via to a footprint
I need to make a footprint in KiCAD that has a micro via. Is this possible? The footprint will sit on a 4-layer board and I need a micro via from F.Cu to In1.Cu.
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EasyEDA DRC diameter error
I'm having a DRC error for the diameter of a trace. The error:
Diameter: 0.61mm(24mil)
DRC Diameter: 0.61mm(24.016)mil
This has been discussed here and here with ...
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HSPICE command naming weirdness
I have a simple digital invert circuit using ASAP7 nmos and pmos transistors. When I use Synopsys HSPICE to simulate the below script, it throws an error ...
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Altium Designer component search
I am coming from Autodesk Eagle and I am new to Altium Designer. I just have a quick question. In Eagle I was able to have a lot of different libraries available in my library manager and whenever I ...
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Working with Mentor Graphics xPCB Planner\xPCB Layout and OrCAD
I'm working with Mentor Graphics xPCB Planner (very similar to xPCB Layout) for placement and OrCAD Capture CIS 16.5 for schematic design.
I'm interested in working with both tools in parallel, where ...
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Altium 365 - changing the default comment
Recently, our company decided to move to Altium 365 since we are starting a big project where multiple people will be working on a single project. We have a local library that is up to date and used ...
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Is there a built in program in any of the top EDA software to ease production of Technical Publications?
I have been assigned to design a PCB and now I have to create Technical Documentation for in-house use. I tried googling this information but it shows the documentation for the software which is not ...
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Is it a good idea to have a power plane and route power selectively?
Hopefully not too general of a question but: in a 4 layer design with the following stackup:
Top
GND (solid plane)
Power (solid plane)
Bottom
Is it a bad idea, given the above, to ever route power ...
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How do I EM-Extract a subcircuit and define a different em/drawing-layer than the original circuit in AWR?
I have a 4-layer project in AWR/MWOffice and have built a parameterized microstrip inductor schematic (named "spiral") with a "Line Type" of layer1 that I wish to reuse on another ...
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Difference between 'high in vhdl and $high in verilog
Is there any difference between 'high in vhdl and $high in verilog??
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What EDA do professionals use usually? [closed]
In my internship, I get to use Cadence (Allegro/OrCad) for PCB designing. I was seriously shocked how complicated it is (very specific on each components). At the same time, it feels like a very ...
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Is it okay if I undo traces in EasyEDA?
I'm new to PCB design. I am using EasyEDA. I'm currently designing a PCB with around 50 connections. I did 48 of them myself and ran the AutoRouter for the other two. The AutoRouter has made the ...
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Freerouter doesn't want to route to inside an FPGA
Prefacing this by saying I'm entirely new to designing electronics for a PCB and I've only worked with breadboards before, so if there's more that I'm doing wrong in my project besides just the PCB ...
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xcircuit: make user defined object (hit m key) doesn't give a pop-up dialog like the docs say
I'm using xcircuit v3.10 rev 12 on arch linux. When I draw a new object and press the m key (or select edit-> make user object) the docs say I should get a popup dialog prompting me for a name. ...
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Are there MOS VLSI Process Design Kits (SPICE models) for free SPICE simulators?
I want to do some proof-of-concept work in IC analogue IC design. I know that plenty of free circuit simulators exist (LTSpce, NgSpice etc.), however they are meant for PCB simulation and most perform ...
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PCB design using code instead of clicking a mouse? [closed]
I'm just getting into PCB design and I generally have trouble learning how to use GUIs with menus and mouse clicking. Do some engineers use something more like code to generate PCBs?
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Via Template option is disabled
When I'm doing the connection, and I want to switch the layers (TOP to BOTTOM via Via), Altium automatically select some default values of Via size. I made my own Via Template, but the "Via Template" ...
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What is the difference Verilog race condition, X's propagation and Metastability?
I'm trying to understand Verilog Race Condition X's propagation and Metastability with http:/...
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Schematic to PDF [closed]
I have 3 schematics files. I want to convert those to PDF format. I don't have the full version of software that can do it. Is there any other way to do the conversion? The free trial version is ...
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Kicad: Drag with left button mouse click by default when working with Eeschema
I want to change default behavior of left mouse click when working with Eeschema. Is it possible to change it from Move (M key) -> Drag (G key) when I select one/many elements?
I'm using KiCAD 5.0 on ...
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Eagle - Custom pad shape for SMT inductor
I'm trying to make the following footprint in Eagle for an SMT inductor:
I understood how to make D-shape pads and similar, but this is driving me nuts: my idea was to enclose a pad into a polygon ...
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Machine learning for floorplanning
I have an educational assignment to make an floor-planning tool.
Can I use machine learning in some part of the algorithm? For example, I was reading the book Algorithms for VLSI Physical Design ...
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