OrCAD

Last updated

OrCAD
Original author(s) OrCAD Systems Corporation
Developer(s) Cadence Design Systems
Initial release1985
Stable release
17.4 - 22.1 / October 20, 2022 [1]
Written inC/C++
Operating system Windows (originally DOS)
Type Electronic design automation
License Proprietary
Website www.orcad.com

OrCAD Systems Corporation was a software company that made OrCAD, a proprietary software tool suite used primarily for electronic design automation (EDA). The software is used mainly by electronic design engineers and electronic technicians to create electronic schematics, and perform mixed-signal simulation and electronic prints for manufacturing printed circuit boards (PCBs). OrCAD was taken over by Cadence Design Systems in 1999 and was integrated with Cadence Allegro in 2005.

Contents

Company

Founded in 1985 by John Durbetaki, Ken, and Keith Seymour as "OrCAD Systems Corporation" in Hillsboro, Oregon, the company became a supplier of desktop electronic design automation (EDA) software. The name OrCAD is a portmanteau, reflecting the company and its software's origins: Oregon + CAD. In 1984 Durbetaki began designing an expansion chassis for the IBM PC. Durbetaki, who had left Intel Corp. after five years as an engineer and project manager, decided, along with brothers Keith and Ken Seymour, to start his own company to develop add-on instrumentation for the PC. [2] Durbetaki began creating his schematic capture tool for his use in the PC expansion chassis project; but essentially shelved the hardware project entirely in favor of developing low-cost, PC-based CAD software. The company's first product was SDT (Schematic Design Tools) for DOS, which shipped first in late 1985.

In 1986, OrCAD hired Peter LoCascio to develop sales, and co-founder Ken Seymour left the company. The flagship SDT product was soon followed with a digital simulator, VST (Verification and Simulation Tools), and printed circuit board (PCB) layout tools. [3]

Over time, OrCAD's product line broadened to include Windows-based software products to assist electronics designers in developing field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), including complex programmable logic devices (CPLDs). In 1991, Durbetaki, then CEO and head of R&D, left the company. He was succeeded as CEO by Michael Bosworth.

In June 1995, OrCAD acquired Massteck Ltd., [4] [5] a small company that offered a printed circuit board layout tool and a sophisticated autoroute, [6] and Intelligent Systems Japan, KK, OrCAD's distributor in Japan. In 1996, OrCAD made a public offering. [7] [8]

In late 1997 and early 1998, OrCAD and MicroSim Corporation merged, a business combination that ultimately proved to be disappointing. MicroSim has been a supplier of PC-based analog and mixed-signal simulation software for designing printed circuit board systems (PSpice). [9] [10]

On 16 July 1999, the company and its products were acquired by a former competitor Cadence Design Systems. [11] [12] [13]

OrCAD Layout has been replaced by PCB Designer, sometimes called Allegro PCB Designer. The latest iteration of OrCAD CIS schematic capture software has the ability to maintain a database of available integrated circuits. This database may be updated by the user by downloading packages from component manufacturers, such as Analog Devices [14] and others. Another announcement was that ST Microelectronics will offer OrCAD PSpice models for all the power and logic semiconductors. [15] Intel offers reference PCBs designed with Cadence PCB Tools in the OrCAD Capture format for embedded and personal computers.

Products

OrCAD is a suite of products for PCB Design and analysis that includes a schematic editor (Capture), an analog/mixed-signal circuit simulator (PSpice), and a PCB board layout solution (PCB Designer Professional).

OrCAD Capture

OrCAD Capture is a schematic capture application and part of the OrCAD circuit design suite. [16]

Unlike NI Multisim, Capture does not contain in-built simulation features, but exports netlist data to the simulator, OrCAD EE. Capture can also export a hardware description of the circuit schematic to Verilog or VHDL, and netlists to circuit board designers such as OrCAD Layout, Allegro, and others. [17]

Capture includes a component information system (CIS), that links component package footprint data or simulation behavior data, with the circuit symbol in the schematic. [17]

Capture includes a Tcl/Tk scripting functionality that allows users to write scripts, that allow customization and automation. Scripts may automate any task performed via the GUI. [17]

The OrCAD Capture Marketplace enables customers to share and sell add-ons and design resources. Such add-ons can customize the design environment and add features and capabilities. [17]

Capture can interface with any database which complies with Microsoft's ODBC standard etc. Data in an MRP, ERP, or PDM system can be directly accessed for use during the component decision-making process.

OrCAD PSpice

OrCAD EE PSpice is a SPICE circuit simulator application for the simulation and verification of analog and mixed-signal circuits. [18] PSpice is an acronym for Personal Simulation Program with Integrated Circuit Emphasis.

OrCAD EE typically runs simulations for circuits defined in OrCAD Capture, and can optionally integrate with MATLAB/Simulink, using the Simulink to PSpice Interface (SLPS). [19] OrCAD Capture and PSpice Designer [20] together provide a complete circuit simulation and verification solution with schematic entry, native analog, mixed-signal, and analysis engines.

PSpice was a modified version of the academically developed SPICE and was commercialized by MicroSim in 1984. MicroSim was purchased by OrCAD a decade later in 1998.

OrCAD PSpice Designer is available in two options: PSpice Designer and PSpice Designer Plus.

OrCAD PSpice Designer includes OrCAD Capture and OrCAD PSpice solution. An upgrade option to PSpice Designer Plus provides the PSpice Advanced Analysis [21] simulation engine for functional simulation and improvement in design yield and reliability.

The PSpice Advanced Analysis simulation capabilities cover various analyses- Sensitivity, Monte Carlo, Smoke (Stress), Optimizer, and Parametric Plotter providing a depth understanding of circuit performance beyond basic validation.

The OrCAD PSpice Simulink - PSpice Integration(SLPS) [22] provides co-simulation and helps verify system-level behavior.

A circuit to be analyzed using PSpice is described by a circuit description file, which is processed by PSpice and executed as a simulation. PSpice creates an output file to store the simulation results, and such results are also graphically displayed within the OrCAD EE interface.

OrCAD EE is an upgraded version of the PSpice simulator, and includes automatic circuit optimization and support for waveform recording, viewing, analysis, curve-fitting, and post-processing. [18] [23] OrCAD EE contains an extensive library of models for physical components, including around 33,000 analog and mixed-signal devices and mathematical functions. [18] OrCAD EE also includes a model editor, support for parameterized models, auto-convergence and checkpoint restart, several internal solvers, and a magnetic part editor.

History

SPICE was first developed at the University of California, Berkeley, in the early 1970s. Subsequently, an improved version of SPICE 2 was available in the mid-1970s especially to support computer-aided design.

PSpice was released in January 1984 and was the first version of UC Berkeley SPICE available on an IBM Personal Computer. PSpice later included a waveform viewer and analyzer program called Probe. Subsequent versions improved on performance and moved to DEC/VAX minicomputers, Sun workstations, Apple Macintosh, and Microsoft Windows. Version 3.06 was released in 1988, and had a "Student Version" available which would allow a maximum of up to ten transistors to be inserted. PSpice (even the student version) increases the students' abilities to understand the behavior of electronic components and circuits. [24] [25]

Analyses

The type of simulation performed by PSpice depends on the source specifications and control statements. PSpice supports the following types of analyses:

  • DC Analysis - for circuits with time–invariant sources (e.g. steady-state DC sources). It calculates all nodal voltages and branch currents over a range of values. Supported types include Linear sweep, Logarithmic sweep, and Sweep over a List of values.
  • Transient Analysis - for circuits with time-variant sources (e.g., sinusoidal sources/switched DC sources). It calculates all nodal voltages and branch currents over a time interval and their instantaneous values are the outputs.
  • AC Analysis - for small signal analysis of circuits with sources of varying frequencies. It calculates the magnitudes and phase angles of all nodal voltages and branch currents over a range of frequencies.

The operating temperature of analysis can be set to any desired value, and nodal parameters are assumed to be measured at a nominal temperature, by default 27 °C.

PSpice User Community

An open web-based platform dedicated to PSpice Spice circuit simulation discussions. It provides access to resources for all things related to the PSpice circuit simulator. Users can find datasheets, application notes, tutorials, videos, and also information about regional PSpice training events and webinars. The PSpice web portal provides an extensive model library of more than 33,000 PSpice models which are also easily available with the PSpice Lite Download.

PSpice Lite version, which can be used by students comes with full software functionality, limited only by size and complexity.

OrCAD PCB Designer

OrCAD PCB Designer is a printed circuit board designer application, and part of the OrCAD circuit design suite. [26] PCB Designer includes various automation features for PCB design, board-level analysis and design rule checks (DRC).

The PCB design may be accomplished by manually tracing PCB tracks, or using the Auto-Router provided. Such designs may include curved PCB tracks, geometric shapes, and ground planes. [27]

PCB Designer integrates with OrCAD Capture, using the component information system (CIS) to store information about a certain circuit symbol and its matching PCB footprint. [17] [26]

PCB Designer file formats references

As of 2019 the following format files are used:

File extensionDescription
.brdPCB board file
.mddPlace replicate module file
.dra and .psmPackage symbol
.dra and .bsmMechanical symbol
.dra and .osmFormat symbol
.dra and .ssmShape symbol
.dra and .fsmFlash symbol
.pad Padstack (vias)
pstxchip.dat and pstxnet.dat and pstxprt.dat Netlist files
pstdedb.cdsz Netlist If you use constraint manager in the front end
.dsnSchematic file
.opjSchematic project file but can be re-created so you may not need this
.olbSchematic library file.

OrCAD Library Builder

IPC-7351 specification-compliant symbol and footprints library designer software. It also supports automatic generation of the STEP from footprint data. [28]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mentor Graphics</span> Electronic design automation company

Mentor Graphics Corporation was a US-based electronic design automation (EDA) multinational corporation for electrical engineering and electronics, headquartered in Wilsonville, Oregon. Founded in 1981, the company distributed products that assist in electronic design automation, simulation tools for analog mixed-signal design, VPN solutions, and fluid dynamics and heat transfer tools. The company leveraged Apollo Computer workstations to differentiate itself within the computer-aided engineering (CAE) market with its software and hardware.

Electronic design automation (EDA), also referred to as electronic computer-aided design (ECAD), is a category of software tools for designing electronic systems such as integrated circuits and printed circuit boards. The tools work together in a design flow that chip designers use to design and analyze entire semiconductor chips. Since a modern semiconductor chip can have billions of components, EDA tools are essential for their design; this article in particular describes EDA specifically with respect to integrated circuits (ICs).

Schematic capture or schematic entry is a step in the design cycle of electronic design automation (EDA) at which the electronic diagram, or electronic schematic of the designed electronic circuit, is created by a designer. This is done interactively with the help of a schematic capture tool also known as schematic editor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TARGET (CAD software)</span>

TARGET 3001! is a CAD computer program for EDA and PCB design, developed by Ing.-Büro Friedrich in Germany. This software application has been available since 1992 and operates on Microsoft Windows. It supports the design of electronic schematics, PCBs, and device front panels. The software is available in English, German and French.

gEDA

The term gEDA refers to two things:

  1. A set of software applications used for electronic design released under the GPL. As such, gEDA is an ECAD or EDA application suite. gEDA is mostly oriented towards printed circuit board design. The gEDA applications are often referred to collectively as "the gEDA Suite".
  2. The collaboration of free software/open-source developers who work to develop and maintain the gEDA toolkit. The developers communicate via gEDA mailing lists, and have participated in the annual "Google Summer of Code" event as a single project. This collaboration is often referred to as "the gEDA Project".

Spectrum Software was a software company based in California, whose main focus is electrical simulation and analysis tools, most notably the circuit simulator Micro-Cap. It was founded in February 1980 by Andy Thompson. Initially, the company concentrated on providing software for Apple II systems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Quite Universal Circuit Simulator</span>

Quite Universal Circuit Simulator (Qucs) is a free-software electronics circuit simulator software application released under GPL. It offers the ability to set up a circuit with a graphical user interface and simulate the large-signal, small-signal and noise behaviour of the circuit. Pure digital simulations are also supported using VHDL and/or Verilog. Only a small set of digital devices like flip flops and logic gates can be used with analog circuits. Qucs uses its own SPICE-incompatible backend simulator Qucsator, however the Qucs-S fork supports some SPICE backends.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NI Multisim</span> Electronic Software

NI Multisim is an electronic schematic capture and simulation program which is part of a suite of circuit design programs, along with NI Ultiboard. Multisim is one of the few circuit design programs to employ the original Berkeley SPICE based software simulation. Multisim was originally created by a company named Electronics Workbench Group, which is now a division of National Instruments. Multisim includes microcontroller simulation, as well as integrated import and export features to the printed circuit board layout software in the suite, NI Ultiboard.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KiCad</span> Free software suite for electronic design automation

KiCad is a free software suite for electronic design automation (EDA). It facilitates the design and simulation of electronic hardware for PCB manufacturing. It features an integrated environment for schematic capture, PCB layout, manufacturing file viewing, ngspice-provided SPICE simulation, and engineering calculation. Tools exist within the package to create bill of materials, artwork, Gerber files, and 3D models of the PCB and its components.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cadence Design Systems</span> American multinational computational software company

Cadence Design Systems, Inc. is an American multinational technology and computational software company. Headquartered in San Jose, California, Cadence was formed in 1988 through the merger of SDA Systems and ECAD. Initially specialized in electronic design automation (EDA) software for the semiconductor industry, currently the company makes software and hardware for designing products such as integrated circuits, systems on chips (SoCs), printed circuit boards, and pharmaceutical drugs, also licensing intellectual property for the electronics, aerospace, defense and automotive industries, among others.

This page is a comparison of electronic design automation (EDA) software which is used today to design the near totality of electronic devices. Modern electronic devices are too complex to be designed without the help of a computer. Electronic devices may consist of integrated circuits (ICs), printed circuit boards (PCBs), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) or a combination of them. Integrated circuits may consist of a combination of digital and analog circuits. These circuits can contain a combination of transistors, resistors, capacitors or specialized components such as analog neural networks, antennas or fuses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Altium Designer</span> Electronic Design Automation Software

Altium Designer (AD) is a PCB and electronic design automation software package for printed circuit boards. It is developed by Australian software company Altium Limited. Altium Designer was previously named under the "Protel" brand.

LTspice is a SPICE-based analog electronic circuit simulator computer software, produced by semiconductor manufacturer Analog Devices. It is the most widely distributed and used SPICE software in the industry. Though it is freeware, LTspice is not artificially restricted to limit its capabilities. It ships with a library of SPICE models from Analog Devices, Linear Technology, Maxim Integrated, and third-party sources.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PSIM Software</span>

PSIM is an Electronic circuit simulation software package, designed specifically for use in power electronics and motor drive simulations but can be used to simulate any electronic circuit. Developed by Powersim, PSIM uses nodal analysis and the trapezoidal rule integration as the basis of its simulation algorithm. PSIM provides a schematic capture interface and a waveform viewer Simview. PSIM has several modules that extend its functionality into specific areas of circuit simulation and design including: control theory, electric motors, photovoltaics and wind turbines PSIM is used by industry for research and product development and it is used by educational institutions for research and teaching and was acquired by Altair Engineering in March 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pulsonix</span>

Pulsonix is an electronic design automation (EDA) software suite for schematic capture and PCB design. It is produced by WestDev, which is headquartered in Gloucestershire, England, with additional sales and distribution offices overseas. It was first released in 2001, and runs on Windows.

Toolkit for Interactive Network Analysis (TINA) is a SPICE-based electronics design and training software by DesignSoft of Budapest. Its features include analog, digital, and mixed circuit simulations, and printed circuit board (PCB) design.

CircuitMaker is electronic design automation software for printed circuit board designs targeted at the hobby, hacker, and maker community. CircuitMaker is available as freeware, and the hardware designed with it may be used for commercial and non-commercial purposes without limitations. It is currently available publicly as version 2.0 by Altium Limited, with the first non-beta release on January 17, 2016.

EasyEDA is a web-based EDA tool suite that enables hardware engineers to design, simulate, share - publicly and privately - and discuss schematics, simulations and printed circuit boards. Other features include the creation of a bill of materials, Gerber files and pick and place files and documentary outputs in PDF, PNG and SVG formats.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Proteus Design Suite</span> Electronic design automation software

The Proteus Design Suite is a proprietary software tool suite used primarily for electronic design automation. The software is used mainly by electronic design engineers and technicians to create schematics and electronic prints for manufacturing printed circuit boards.

References

  1. ↑ "Version 17.4 - 22.1 Released". Cadence. 20 October 2022. Retrieved 9 December 2022.
  2. ↑ Paul Gerhards, "Designing software for 'real' engineers" (account required), Oregon Business, vol. 12, iss. 5, p. 69, May 1989. Also available at The Free Library.
  3. ↑ EDN, "Putting a new spin on an old approach: Software design project management at OrCAD Systems" (EDN) March 28, 1991, by Deborah Ashbrand, accessed 2012-04-01
  4. ↑ The Free Library, "ORCAD COMPLETES ACQUISITION OF MASSTECK; Company Marks Tenth Anniversary With an Expanded Design Desktop for Windows: OrCAD Capture, Layout, Layout Plus, and Simulate; OrCAD Home Page Now on Internet", accessed 2012-04-01
  5. ↑ "Orcad absorbs Massteck. (Massteck's MacEDA circuit board design tool also acquired)"
  6. ↑ EDN, "Improving on PCB design" Archived 2012-09-07 at archive.today , accessed 2012-04-01
  7. ↑ All Business, "OrCAD completes its initial public offering", accessed 2012-02-09
  8. ↑ Blog, "Ethical Capitalism", accessed 2011-01-12
  9. ↑ Electronic News, "OrCAD, MicroSim plan $26M merger", accessed 2012-04-01
  10. ↑ Electronics Weekly, "OrCad/MicroSim finish dream merger", accessed 2012-04-01
  11. ↑ Portland Business Journal, "OrCAD needed a suitor, found one in Cadence", accessed 2012-04-01
  12. ↑ Electronic News, "Cadence Buys OrCAD for $121M", accessed 2012-02-09
  13. ↑ Bloomberg Business Week, "Company Overview of OrCAD, Inc.", accessed 2012-04-01
  14. ↑ http://www.analog.com/en/design-tools/dt-symbols-footprints/design-center/index.html
  15. ↑ EETimes, "ST licenses Cadence's OrCAD PSpice", accessed 2010-09-08
  16. ↑ OrCAD Capture, OrCAD Website
  17. 1 2 3 4 5 OrCAD Features, OrCAD Website
  18. 1 2 3 OrCAD EE PSpice Designer, OrCAD Website
  19. ↑ PSpice Matlab Simulink Integration - Overview, OrCAD Website
  20. ↑ PSpice Designer
  21. ↑ PSpice Advanced Analysis
  22. ↑ OrCAD PSpice Simulink- PSpice Integration(SLPS)
  23. ↑ OrCAD EE Features Archived 2015-03-02 at the Wayback Machine , OrCAD Website
  24. ↑ Iqbal, Sajid; Sher, Hadeed; Qureshi, Suhail Aftab (2007). "Pspice in undergraduate and graduate electrical engineering courses". 57. IEEEP Journal.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  25. ↑ Azemi, Asad; Yaz, Edwin E. (1994). PSpice and MATLAB in undergraduate and graduate electrical engineering courses. Frontiers in Education Conference, 1994. IEEE Conference Proceedings.
  26. 1 2 OrCAD PCB Designer, OrCAD Website
  27. ↑ OrCAD PCB Designer Features, OrCAD Website
  28. ↑ "Schematic Symbols, Component Parts & PCB Footprints | OrCAD Library Builder". EMA Design Automation. Retrieved 2023-05-28.
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