Spectre Circuit Simulator

Spectre is a SPICE-class circuit simulator owned and distributed by the software company Cadence Design Systems. It provides the basic SPICE analyses and component models. It also supports the Verilog-A modeling language. Spectre comes in enhanced versions that also support RF simulation (SpectreRF) and mixed-signal simulation (AMS Designer). A massively parallel version, Spectre X, was also released to provide performance gains while maintaining the same accuracy as previous Spectre versions.

Specifications

List of supported device models

Language and Netlist support

The netlist formats, behavioral modeling languages, parasitic netlist formats, and stimulus files are common across the Spectre Simulation Platform. Supported formats include:

  1. Spectre and SPICE netlist formats
  2. Spectre, SPICE, and PSpice models
  3. Verilog-A 2.0 LRM-compliant behavioral models and structural netlists
  4. DSPF/SPEF parasitic formats
  5. S-parameter data files in Touchstone, CITI-file, and Spectre formats
  6. SST2, PSF, PSF XL, and FSDB waveform formats
  7. Digital vector (VEC), Verilog-Value Change Dump (VCD), Extended Verilog-Value Change Dump (EVCD), and digital stimulus

History

Spectre was developed at Cadence Design Systems by Ken Kundert and Jacob K. White.

References

  1. ↑ "Cadence Introduces the Spectre X Simulator, a Massively Parallel Circuit Simulator Delivering Up to 10X Faster Simulation with the Same Golden Accuracy". www.design-reuse.com. Retrieved 2025-06-05.