Models for discrete devices and for integrated circuit processes come from a variety of sources and are often designed for particular simulators, in particular, PSpice and Hspice. These simulators are not generally compatible with each other so it is not easy for SIMetrix to be simultaneously compatible with both. Further, SIMetrix itself needs to retain backward compatibility with its own earlier versions.
An example of conflict can be found with the standard diode. The SIMetrix diode with no level parameter specified is mainly compatible with PSpice. But the standard Hspice diode is quite different and not compatible. The SIMetrix Level=3 diode is however compatible with Hspice both for level=1 and level=3. To use Hspice level=1 diode models the user has to edit the model so that level is changed to 3.
It is not always convenient to modify model files and for this reason SIMetrix provides two methods to globally change level numbers and model names needed to select a particular device model. These are:
Both methods work the same way; the difference is the scope and lifetime of the changes. .MAP works only for the netlist in which it appears, whereas the device configuration file is a permanent setting and works for all simulations.
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