Kicad~7~ SPICE simulation

xutong

Kicad~7~ SPICE simulation [Copy link]

Kicad~7~ SPICE simulation

Hey, everyone knows that I am a simulation enthusiast. I am familiar with various simulation software. I am familiar with LTspice mainly because it is open source and free, and I am familiar with Simplis mainly for digital circuit and analog mixed simulation. Kicad is mainly for Mac, but it is really not very convenient to use LTspice. Hey, it just so happens that I have started to use Kicad instead of Altium for drawing, so of course I use Kicad for simulation.

First, build a simple schematic:

Figure 1: Simple RC circuit

Figure 2: Editing R's simulation properties

The power supply is in the component library, just search for the keyword SPICE

Figure 3: Power supply SPICE model

Figure 4: Setting power properties

Figure 5: Setting the simulation type

Figure 6: Adding a signal to observe

Click Run to see your simulation signal.

You can also run AC simulation, all the functions are available

Figure 7: Kicad AC simulation

Kicad is compatible with many SPICE models, as shown in Figure 8.

Figure 8: Kicad-compatible SPICE model

In addition, Kicad's simulation engine is based on ngspice, so it may be more compatible with ngspice. Kicad also provides some simulation demos, which we can run to see. Figure 9 is an introduction to Kicad simulation. (Official page of ngspice: https://ngspice.sourceforge.io/docs.html )

Figure 9: Introduction to Kicad simulation

In Kicad, the simulation format units are the same as LTspice, so they are basically universal.

Figure 10: Units of Kicad simulation

Let’s stop here for today~

Reference Documents:

Kicad help file

wdliming

This software can actually simulate, that's better than AD

xutong

wdliming posted on 2024-2-23 15:03 This software can actually simulate, which is better than ad

AD can also simulate, using the simetrix kernel, but AD is a bit disgusting and I don't want to use AD