5/16/2023 0 Comments Qucs accelerator![]() ![]() optimization, simulation, and machine learning. QAL will fulfill the much-needed connection between scientific developments of quantum hardware and software and demand-driven solutions for e.g. Other than that, everything works great, and I’d strongly recommend that anyone looking to make schematics (with or without needing to simulate them) should take a look at Qucs.Last week the Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the six partners of the Quantum Application Lab (QAL): University of Amsterdam (UvA), the Netherlands Organization for applied scientific research (TNO), the national research institute for mathematics and computer science (CWI), the Dutch collaborative ICT Organization for Dutch higher education and research (SURF), TU Delft (on behalf of QuTech and Quantum Inspire) and the Netherlands eScience Center. It’s a minor complaint, and one that, when/if I have more time, I might submit a patch for myself. Other touchpads often support that as well, but Qucs doesn’t support it. For instance, on Mac laptops, a horizontal scroll is typically accomplished via the two-finger horizontal swipe gesture. Some of the mouse operations don’t work quite as well as I’d like better than the previously-mentioned applications, but not fully tuned. They’re working on direct SPICE integration, which will be a nice, scriptable workaround for this issue. Also also, filling out parameters for a Qucs model is very time consuming and obnoxious. Also, some of the parameters in Qucs’ model differs from those found in the SPICE parameter list. Technically, Qucs supports BSIM4 as a Verilog-A extension component (built-in), but I have not had much luck using it in a circuit. BSIM models, on the other hand, have many available models with realistic parameters to put into your circuits. Faster than the typical BSIM3/4 models found in SPICE, but unfortunately I have had a terrible time finding parameter sets for circuit design. The default MOSFET model in Qucs is Level 1, the Shichman-Hodges model. Qucs lacks SPICE-compatible parameterized MOSFETs. The way that Qucs integrates subcircuits into its project management tools is extremely convenient for larger circuits, and when scripting simulations it makes things a lot easier.ĭespite having elected to use Qucs for my master’s thesis work, there are a few pitfalls that I would like to mention: In general, Qucs provides everything needed to prototype and document circuit designs: a reasonable UI experience, a fairly comprehensive components library, project management, excellent support for subcircuits, and high-quality vector graphics exports. User interface design practices have matured a lot over the years though, and generally I want to get straight to utilizing my expertise rather than spending a lot of time learning a user interface. Again, that very well might be a lack of time invested. I found the interface to be annoying and archaic. GEDA is a free, “full GPL’d suite and toolkit of Electronic Design Automation tools.” The part that I was interested in was gschem, the schematic component of the suite. In that regard, for the novice, Qucs shines. However, I only gave it a cursory look, so it’s possible that I simply missed some better functionality that EAGLE possesses, but takes longer to learn. Additionally, it didn’t seem to have the same parametrization capabilities that Qucs presents. Strictly speaking, the software is not free, as there are restrictions on the free version. It’s what most people at my university use. This was something I needed.ĮAGLE PCB has a freeware version, and seems to have accompanying simulator. This means that if the user needs to optimize a parameter, they cannot simply write a script to automate the process. It’s pretty sleek too, but it’s online only. Your mileage may vary, so here’s a quick list of the other tools I looked at:ĭigikey has a tool, PartSim, that lets you lay out circuits and simulate them. I only spent 5-10 minutes investigating each piece of software at the end, I decided Qucs was the best fit for my habits. There are other tools, but they have downfalls as far as I am concerned. I’m not aware of any other tool that matches up with its capabilities. Qucs (also hosted on GitHub) is a “(Q)uite (u)niversal (c)ircuit (s)imulator” that lets you both layout schematics and simulate the represented circuit. ![]()
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