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Element Lines and the Device Library

This and the following sections describe the devices available in the standard device library distributed with WRspice. In Unix/Linux releases, the device library is a shared library, usually installed as /usr/local/lib/libxsdev.so.2.0. The device library contains the element and model code for each device, as well as the parser for the element specification lines.

Most of the code for the device library (with the exception of restricted third-party semiconductor models) is available upon request from Whiteley Research Inc. In theory, users can build their own, customized device library for use with WRspice. In this case, devices can be added to or deleted from the library, or modified. The only device that is mandatory is the src (voltage and current source) device since this model is (uniquely) accessed by name from the main WRspice program. This provides all of the dependent and independent sources.

This format for most device lines, including the key letters, number of nodes, etc., is standard for the SPICE input language, but is set entirely by the code in the device library, and hence can be abridged in a custom device library. The descriptions below pertain to the standard library.

The following is a complete list of circuit elements available in the standard WRspice library, and the key letter (the first letter of the device name).

Passive Elements
Capacitor c
Inductor l
Mutual Inductor k
Resistor r
Current-Controlled Switch w
Voltage-Controlled Switch s
General Transmission Line t
Lossy Transmission Line o
Uniform RC Line u
Voltage and Current Sources
General Voltage Source v
General Current Source i
Arbitrary Source a
Voltage-Controlled Current Source g
Voltage-Controlled Voltage Source e
Current-Controlled Current Source f
Current-Controlled Voltage Source h
Semiconductor Devices
Junction Diode d
Bipolar Junction Transistor q
Junction Field-Effect Transistor j
MESFET z
MOSFET m
Superconductor Devices
Josephson Junction b

The models for the semiconductor and some other devices require many parameter values. Often, many devices in a circuit are defined by the same set of device model parameters. For these reasons, a set of device model parameters is defined on a separate .model line and assigned a unique model name. The device element lines in WRspice then refer to the model name. This scheme alleviates the need to specify all of the model parameters on each device element line.

The show command with the -D option is useful for printing a list of the parameters names that can be used on a device instance line. Only the parameters not listed as ``RO'' (read-only) can be specified on the line.


next up previous contents index
Next: Passive Element Lines Up: WRspice Input Format Previous: Current-Controlled Voltage Sources   Contents   Index
Stephen R. Whiteley 2006-10-23