Using This Manual

This manual describes the Star-Hspice circuit and device simulation software and how to use it.

Audience

This manual is intended for design engineers who use Star-Hspice to develop, test, analyze, and modify circuit designs.

How this Manual is Organized

The manual set is divided into four volumes as follows:

Volume I (Chapters 1 through 13) describes how to run simulations with Star-Hspice and evaluate the results.
Volume II (Chapters 14 through 19) describes how Star-Hspice models passive circuit elements and active devices of all types.
Volume III (Chapters 20 through 23) describes MOSFET models.
Volume IV contains detailed applications and examples of how to use
Star-Hspice for a wide variety of circuit simulations (Chapters 24 through 31). Volume IV also contains reference material (Appendices A through F).

Conventions

Avant! documents use the following conventions, unless otherwise specified:

Convention	Description
menuName > commandName	Indicates the name of the menu and the command name. For example: Cell > Open refers to the Open command in the Cell menu.
Tool: menuName > commandName	Indicates that a command is accessible only through an application tool. Tool is the tool through which you access the command, menuName is the name of the menu, and commandName is the name of the command. For example: Data Prep: Pin Solution > Via refers to the Via command on the Pin Solution menu, which you access by selecting Data Prep from the Tools menu in Apollo.
`courier`	In text, this font indicates a function or keyword that you must type exactly as shown. In examples, this font indicates system prompts, text from files, and messages printed by the system.
courier italic	Arguments appear in this font when the value of an argument is a string. The string must be enclosed with quotation marks.
times italic	Indicates commands, functions, arguments, file names, and variables within a line of text. When a variable is included in italicized text, the variable is enclosed by angle brackets (<>). For example, "the name of the technology file is <libraryName>.tf, where <libraryName> is the name of the library."
[ ]	Denotes optional arguments, such as: pin1 [ pin2 , ... pinN ] In this example, you must enter at least one pin name, the other arguments are optional.
({instanceName orientation} ...)	Indicates that you can repeat the construction enclosed in braces.
. . .	Indicates that text was omitted.
'(item1 item2)	An apostrophe followed by parentheses indicate that the text within the parentheses enclose a list. When the list contains multiple items, the items are separated by spaces. Type this information exactly as it appears in the syntax.
\|	Separates items in a list of choices. For example, on \| off.
\	Indicates the continuation of a command line.

Obtaining Customer Support

If you have a maintenance contract with Avant!, you can obtain customer support by:

Contacting your local Application Engineer (AE)
Calling the Avant! Corporate office from 8:00 AM through 5:00 PM Pacific Standard Time (PST) at:

1-800-346-5953

Ask the receptionist for customer support.

Emailing a description of the problem to the Hspice Support Center at:

hspice_nw@avanticorp.com

Other Sources of Information

The Avant! external web site provides information for various products. You can access our web site at:

http://www.avanticorp.com

From our web site, you can register to become a member of the Avant! Users Research Organization for Real Applications (AURORA) user's group. By participating, you can share and exchange information pertaining to Integrated Circuit Design Automation (ICDA).