---

Preface

---

The demand for performance, accuracy, and capacity from transistor-level simulators continues to rise at an increasing pace. On the other hand, the advancement of process nodes, the adoption of new design practices, the need for full-chip simulation, and the stronger effect of parasitic elements greatly increase the size and complexity of the designs to be simulated. Spectre® FX is the next-generation FastSPICE simulator from Cadence that addresses such simulation challenges.

The following are the highlights of the Spectre FX simulator:

• Common Spectre front-end for parsing, device models, and infrastructure support
• Built-in SPICE solver that serves as a strong foundation for accuracy in results
• FastSPICE technology innovations that provide better performance, accuracy, and higher capacity
• Out-of-the-box yet simpler use model
• Comprehensive FastSPICE analysis features including back-annotation and circuit checks

Licensing

Cadence offers both ala carte pricing plus a unique multi-mode simulation (MMSIM) license that can enable the Spectre simulation platform. Spectre circuit simulator, Spectre APS, Spectre^® XPS, Spectre^® X, and Spectre^® FX are the base products. This section lists the features of Spectre FX and the options available with this simulator.

Both Spectre FX and its options are accessible using Spectre MMSIM tokens. Contact Cadence Customer Support for details.

Table 0-1 Spectre FX Features

Unlimited element count

Circuit checks

Mixed signal CoSim

EMIR

Table 0-2 Options for Spectre FX

Spectre Option	Description
Spectre FX Multi-Core Simulation Option	Enables multi-core simulation up to 64 cores with the Spectre FX base product on a single machine. To run multi-threading on 4 cores, you need 1 Spectre FX Multi-Core Simulation Option. You need 2 Spectre FX Multi-Core Simulation Options to perform multi-threading computation on 16 cores. To run multi-threading on 64 cores, you need 3 Spectre FX Multi-Core Simulation Options.
Spectre Power option	Enables EMIR analysis with Spectre X base product. It also enables EMIR analysis with Spectre APS base product and the Spectre CPU Accelerator option. This option is not available with Spectre base product.

Related Documents for Spectre FX

The following documents provide more information about Spectre FX and related products.

• The Spectre FX circuit simulator shares the front end and infrastructure with the Spectre circuit simulator. For more information on the shared features, refer to Spectre Classic Simulator, Spectre APS, Spectre X, and Spectre XPS User Guide.
• To learn more about the specific parameters of components and analyses, refer to the Spectre Circuit Simulator Reference manual.
• To learn more about the equations used in the Spectre circuit simulator, refer to the Spectre Circuit Simulator Components and Device Models Reference manual.
• The Virtuoso Visualization and Analysis tool is used to display the simulation results. For more information about the tool, see Virtuoso Visualization and Analysis User Guide.
• For more information about using the Spectre circuit simulator with Verilog-A, see the Cadence Verilog-A Language Reference manual.
• The Spectre circuit simulator is often run within the analog circuit design environment, under the Cadence design framework II. To see how the Spectre circuit simulator is run under the analog circuit design environment, read the Virtuoso ADE Explorer User Guide.
• For more information about how you work with the design framework II interface, see Cadence Design Framework II Help.
• For more information about specific applications of the Spectre analyses, see The Designer’s Guide to SPICE & Spectre1.

Typographic and Syntax Conventions

This list describes the syntax conventions used for the Spectre circuit simulator.

literal	Nonitalic words indicate keywords that you must enter literally. These keywords represent command (function, routine) or option names, filenames and paths, and any other sort of type-in commands.
argument	Words in italics indicate user-defined arguments for which you must substitute a name or a value. (The characters before the underscore (_) in the word indicate the data types that this argument can take. Names are case sensitive.
|	Vertical bars (OR-bars) separate possible choices for a single argument. They take precedence over any other character.
[ ]	Brackets denote optional arguments. When used with OR-bars, they enclose a list of choices. You can choose one argument from the list.
{ }	Braces are used with OR-bars and enclose a list of choices. You must choose one argument from the list.
...	Three dots (...) indicate that you can repeat the previous argument. If you use them with brackets, you can specify zero or more arguments. If they are used without brackets, you must specify at least one argument, but you can specify more.

Kundert, Kenneth S. The Designer’s Guide to SPICE & Spectre. Boston: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1995.
Return to top