Device Simulation a Step Closer to Real Life - Spice Models Offer Additional Thermal Characteristics

To view specs, inventory availability, pricing and delivery, please click on desired part number.

Software tools like Spice are widely used in electronics design and useful for simulation and optimization of circuits. Often the theoretical behaviour is, however, not matching to the later on real life testing, which requires in worst case a time consuming re-design. One reason for such mismatch is the lack of comprehensive thermal characteristics in Spice models, as offered by many suppliers. While e. g. the temperature behaviour of forward voltage and reverse leakage of semiconductor diodes are part of almost every Spice model, it is seldom provided for the voltage drift of Zener and TVS diodes, or the presumed constant current of CLDs (Current Limiting Diodes). And exactly that can cause an issue, when later the device is operated in the real circuit and gets unavoidable warm under load.

The Spice models provided by Diotec for its Zener and TVS diodes, CLDs but of course also all rectifiers are made with additional temperature characterisation.

Provided that Spice simulation is done with different temperature presettings, one can see the behaviour under real junction conditions and can adjust the circuit where necessary. The picture shows as an example the temperature behaviour of an uncompensated and a compensated CLD.

To view specs, inventory availability, pricing and delivery, please click on desired part number. 

ZMY18
P4SMAJ30A 
CL10MD

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