Hardware Podcasts

An Interview with Mike Engelhardt - SPICE Simulator Synteresis

The Amp Hour · 30 Apr 2014 · 1h 32m · Episode 196

What this episode covers

Mike Engelhardt, creator of LTspice at Linear Technology Corporation, explains how he built the world's fastest SPICE simulator by implementing self-authoring assembly code to run the CPU pipeline hot, bypassing the overhead of dynamic memory allocation. He details the technical differences between LTspice and Berkeley Spice, noting that LTspice’s half-million lines of code correct numerous convergence bugs and discontinuities found in the academic original. Engelhardt also discusses the challenges of modeling power MOSFETs, the development of specialized macro models for switch-mode controllers, and the strategic decision to keep LTspice proprietary to maintain Linear Technology's competitive advantage in IC design.

Most relevant to

early-stage companies

Topics

Mentioned

Companies
Linear Technology Corporation, International Rectifier, Infineon, NXP
Products
LM3780, LM741
Tools
LTspice, Berkeley Spice, P-Spice, H-Spice, KiCad

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