CIRSIUM: a circuit simulator in MATLAB® with object oriented design

Abstract

We present CIRSIUM, a CIRcuit SImulator Using MATLAB ® and its object oriented programming language. CIRSIUM has been developed as a flexible and modular framework in order to enable the rapid development of new device models and prototyping of new circuit analysis paradigms and algorithms. The modular core code includes the PSP MOSFET compact model and uses SUNDIALS for the solution of dynamical circuit equations. New device models can be added by supplying their stamps in vector/matrix form, and existing models can be translated from the Verilog-A hardware description language using ADMS that automatically computes the necessary Jacobians. CIRSIUM has been initially developed for the analysis of random telegraph signal (RTS) noise in nano-scale integrated circuits. For this purpose, the PSP MOSFET compact model has been expanded with a detailed, non-stationary RTS noise model, that includes a physical description of gate oxide defects and the calculation of their voltage and position dependent capture/emission time constants. Future applications of CIRSIUM will include non-electronic systems, such as noise modeling and analysis for biological neurons, neuronal networks and the nervous system.