1. Introduction to Elementary Circuit Simulations with PSpice
Circuit Laboratory
EE. Dept., National Taiwan University
September 2013

2. Outline Where can you access PSpice?
To Get PSpice via Cadence OrCAD Site
Introduction to OrCAD Demo
Drawing Circuits with Capture CIS
Bias Point Analysis with PSpice
DC Analysis with PSpice
Transient Analysis with PSpice
AC Analysis with PSpice
FAQ

3. Where can you access PSpice?
Two way to get PSpice
You can find OrCAD 16.6 Demo here.
Your disc in Sedra/Smith
You can find OrCAD 9.2 Lite here.
Which one to use?
They are almost the same.
You can choose one of them.
The following shows the use of OrCAD 16.6 Demo.

6. Example for Filling the Form
First Name: (Yours)
Last Name: (Yours)
Company/University: National Taiwan University
Address: No. 1, Sec. 4, Roosevelt Road
City: Taipei
Country: Taiwan
State/Province: 00-TW
Postal Code: 10617
Telephone:
Job Title: Student

11. Introduction to OrCAD Demo (1)
Free version? No free meal, of course!
Limits exist since it is a lite version or a demo The following limits apply to the Demo/Lite Version of the products:
PSpice A/D Circuit simulation is limited to circuits with up to:
64 nodes
10 transistors
65 digital primitive devices
10 transmission lines in total (ideal or non-ideal)
4 pairwise coupled transmission lines.

12. Introduction to OrCAD Demo (2)
Limits [cont'd]
PSpice A/D [cont'd]
The sample library includes 39 analog and 134 digital parts.
Device characterization in the PSpice Model Editor is limited to diodes.
Stimulus generation in the PSpice Stimulus Editor is limited to sine waves (analog) and clocks (digital).
Circuit optimization with the PSpice Optimizer is limited to one goal, one parameter, and one constraint.
You can not create CSDF format data files.
You can only display simulation data from simulations performed with the Demo/Lite Version of the simulator.

13. Introduction to OrCAD Demo (3)
Limits [cont'd]
Capture CIS
The PSpice libraries are the only ones included. The standard Capture libraries are not included.
Import facilities, netlisters, and accessories that are not relevant to PSpice are not included.
You can not save a design that contains more than 60 parts. (You can view or create larger designs, but you can not save them.)
You can not save a library that contains more than 15 parts.

14. Introduction to OrCAD Demo (4)
Minimum hardware requirements
Pentium 4 (32-bit) equivalent or faster
Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Windows 7
Minimum 512MB RAM (1GB recommended)
300MB swap space (or more)
DVD-ROM drive
65,000 color Windows display with minimum 1024x768 (1280x1024 recommanded)

15. Notes When Set OrCAD Demo Up
In the procedure installing…
Make sure you are connected to the internet.
Run “Product/Demo Installation” only.
Don’t set the control file.
Choose to install “Capture CIS” and “PSpice” only.
Keep “Footprint Viewer Options” to be “None.”
Cancel “License Client Configuration.”
For the first time execution…
Run “PSpice AD” first, close it, and then you can run “Capture CIS” and use the function of PSpice.

16. Agree, of course!

18. Check this if you feel troubled

19. Close it

21. Check this if you feel troubled

23. Drawing Circuits with Capture CIS
To simulate a circuit, we need to figure out the structure of the circuit. Capture CIS helps us to do that.
Create a new project with Analog or Mixed A/D wizard after selecting a proper folder to save.
Place the elements (even if it is the ground) that are in the PSpice libraries.
Place the tags (if needed) that are in capsym.olb .

25. Remember to select a proper folder (no Chinese!!) to save
C:\OrCAD_Data is welcome to be used

29. %OrCAD%\tools\capture\library\pspice\demo
Add all of them

31. Frequently Used Elements
R (resistor) / L (inductor) / C (capacitor)
D (diode)
D1N4002
D1N750
MBreakN / MBreakN4D (NMOS)
MBreakP / MBreakP4D (PMOS)
QBreakN (NPN BJT)
Q2N2222

32. Frequently Used Elements
QBreakP (PNP BJT)
Q2N2097A
uA741
VDC / VPULSE / VSin / VSRC
IDC / IPULSE / ISin / ISRC
GND

35. Bias Point Analysis with PSpice
Where to find elements?
Place → Part or find the “Place Part” button on the toolbar
Pick the element you want
Click OK button
How to link the elements?
Find Place Wire button on the toolbar
Link the elements you want
NOTE: wire crossing without big dot → open wire crossing with big dot → short

36. Place Wire

37. Bias Point Analysis with PSpice
How to simulate?
PSpice → New Simulation Profile
Fill out the profile name
Select Bias Point in Analysis Type
Click OK
PSpice → Run

39. profile name as your wish

42. DC Analysis with PSpice
Note: VSRC or ISRC used!
How to simulate?
PSpice → New Simulation Profile
Fill out the profile name
Select DC Sweep in Analysis Type
Fill out Name, Start Value, End Value and Increment
Never forget to check the type of the Sweep variable!
PSpice → Run
A/D window

47. DC Analysis with PSpice
Add Trace?
Trace → Add Trace...
Special Functions
Node Variable

49. Transient analysis with PSpice
NOTE: VSRC and ISRC not used!
Usually VSin/ISin/VPULSE/IPULSE used
How to simulate?
PSpice → New Simulation Profile
Fill out the profile name
Select Time Domain(Transient) in Analysis Type
Set Run to time, Start saving data after, and Maximum Step Size
PSpice → Run

52. TR TF PW V2 V1 TD
PER

53. Transient Analysis with PSpice
Trick: Axis Settings
example: Lissajous Figures Method
Plot → Axis Settings...
Data Range
Scale
Fourier Analysis
Axis Variable

55. AC Analysis with Pspice (1)
NOTE: VSRC or ISRC used!
How to simulate?
PSpice → New Simulation Profile
Fill out the profile name
Select AC Sweep/Noise in Analysis Type
Select the frequency scale (linear or logarithmic Decade/Octave)
Fill out Start frequency, End frequency, and the information about sampling rate
PSpice → Run

59. AC Analysis with PSpice (2)
Trick: Multiple plots in one window
example: Bode plot
Plot → Add Plot to Window
Trick: Y-Axis scale switch (linear or logarithmic)
Log Y Axis button on the toolbar

61. FAQ
I faced the dialogs as follows and cannot create or edit any PSpice simulation profile.
If you are a WinXP user, you must forget to run “PSpice AD” first in the first-time execution. Close Capture CIS, run PSpice AD, close it, then try to run Capture CIS again.
If you are a WinVista user, there are some OS options you need to modify. See another slides discussing the troubleshooting of installation on Windows Vista.

62. FAQ How do I represent 10-3, 10-6 ,etc., by letter in PSpice? Scale
Symbol
Name
10-15
F; f
femto-
10-12
P; p
pico-
10-9
N; n
nano-
10-6
U; u
micro-
10-3
M; m
milli-
103
K; k
kilo-
106
MEG; meg
mega-
109
G; g
giga-
1012
T; t
tera-

63. FAQ
How do I change axis scale quickly?
Try these buttons:

64. FAQ What's the difference between C1:1 and C1:2?
They represent the different pins of your element. Distinguish the pins very carefully.

65. FAQ
I tried my PSpice, and saved my circuit file upon the desktop, and when I try to simulate the circuit, I get some simulation error about "file not exist" or so on. What's up?
It is a tricky bug of PSpice. A filename or folder / directory name with Chinese is not accepted in PSpice. Try creating a new file, copying the original circuit to the new file, and save it in a folder not containing Chinese or spaces, such as C:\temp . Hope this works. Of course, files saved upon the desktop, which is at C:\Documents and Settings\eeuser\桌面 if you use Windows in Chinese version, are not accepted.
In Version 16.6, you are suggested to save your design files in OrCAD_Data folder. This helps.