| Ansoft Designer 2.2 (tm) / Nexxim 2.2 (tm) Readme.txt
----------------------------------
Ansoft Corporation
225 West Station Square Drive, Suite 200
Pittsburgh, PA USA 15219-1119
This file contains important information regarding the installation and
use of Ansoft Designer (tm) and Nexxim (tm). When appropriate, late-breaking
information is provided that we were unable to put into the documentation.
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
-------------------
Minimum*:
- PC compatible personal computer with 686 (or later) instruction
set processor
- mouse
- CD-ROM disk drive
- 256 MB of physical RAM**
- 350 MB of disk drive space (with Nexxim, all examples and
component libraries)
- Windows 2000 (SP4) or Windows XP (SP1). *While you may be able to run Ansoft Designer on systems that do not meet this
configuration, we do not recommend it, as performance will likely be poor. **We strongly recommend at least 512MB of RAM for most real-world problems.
Insufficient RAM will result in excessive disk swapping, which will impair
performance.
Recommended:
- PC compatible personal computer with 686 (or later) instruction
set processor
- mouse
- CD-ROM disk drive
- 512 MB or more of physical RAM. Simulation of larger or more
complicated designs may require more RAM to prevent excessive
disk swapping.
- 1000 MB of disk drive space
- Windows 2000 (SP4) or Windows XP (SP1). Ansoft Designer will not operate under Windows 3.1, Win32s or Windows NT
3.x. Ansoft Designer is not supported under Windows NT 4.0 (NT Workstation
or NT Server. INSTALLATION
------------ This CD contains the following installation options: - View Release Notes: View this file. - Install Software: Use this option to install Ansoft Designer on your local
machine. - Install Libraries: Use this option to install the libraries on any machine
that Ansoft Designer can see from your network. Installing the libraries on
a remote machine allows multiple users to share a common Ansoft Designer
libraries database. Note: If you want to install the Ansoft Designer libraries on your local
machine, you can do so during the Ansoft Designer software installation. - Exit: Exit the installation procedure.
ADMINISTRATOR PRIVILEGES: You MUST be logged onto the destination
PC as a user who has administrator privileges, otherwise, certain
errors will occur during installation when copying files to the
Windows system directory and the "Program Groups" in your desktop
won't be created properly.
Version 2.2 Release Notes (Fixes and Enhancements)
--------------------------------------------------
- Incorrect movement of scripted vias corrected
- Problem with wire pasting in schematic corrected
- Choosing export crashes Designer (51794)
- Designer crash when deleting probe ports and associated via (51936)
- NMF export crashes Designer (50008)
- Crash when exporting ANF4 (52453)
- Crash when de-embedding ports on certain SOD components fixed
- Crash upon export of technology file (52523)
- Problem when importing GDSII files into circuit layout corrected
- Footprint editing discards parameterized data (52565)
- N-Way Ideal Power Combiner giving incorrect insertion loss (52405)
- When editing substrate definitions default material properies
were not getting reset
- Interpolatation of GammaOpt term when computing noise figure
corrected
- Problems corrected with DC bias display on-schematic when using
Nexxim
- Designer now uses only only raw terminal data when co-simulating
with HFSS designs that contain differential terminals
- Improved HSPICE language support
- W-element and active device model improvements
- Model additions include stripline and microstrip transmission
lines, via holes, via pads, all with guaranteed causality Version 2.1 Release Notes (Major Enhancements)
---------------------------------------------- - CITI files can be imported as NPort data blocks
- Eye diagrams have been enhanced so that a user can optionally enter a time
period rather than only a number of samples
- Relative path support has been enhanced in general. Support for a
relative path to the location of the design has been added ($ProjectDir).
- Automatic and manual trace generation has been added.
- Variables can be printed from schematic and layout editors
- Interpolation used during dynamic link co-simulation with HFSS & Q3D is
faster and more accurate.
o Added advanced user options to control interpolation
- The layer and stackup dialog is now re-sizeable.
- Layout snapping speed has been improved
- Vias now snap in layout
- Cross probing of ports between layout and schematic is now supported
- Automatic naming of wires in schematic has been enhanced
- Additional models added to Spice import
- Additional scripting commands
o GetAllLayerNames
o GetStackupLayerNames
o GetLayerInfo
o AddLayer
o RemoveLayer
o ModifyLayer
- Added an option to circuit, system and Nexxim to use circuit or HF style
S-parameters
- Dynamic link with SIWave version 2.1
- Ansoft Designer layouts with edge ports that are exported to HFSS now
generate gap ports in HFSS
- Simulations involving the S element in Nexxim are generally faster and more
robust. In particular, transient analysis is much more tolerant of sparse,
noisy data.
- Added Ansoft encryption support for Nexxim model, library, and netlist files.
- Improved the streaming of Nexxim transient analysis results to the output
file to avoid memory issues for large output sets. KNOWN PROBLEMS, WORK-AROUNDS & UNDOCUMENTED FEATURES
----------------------------------------------------
Windows XP with Service Pack 2:
There is an issue with Windows XP Service Pack 2 that will cause apparent
random crashes and/or odd behavior with Ansoft software after prolonged use. The issue is that Windows XP (SP2) no longer seems to manage GDI objects
correctly and this creates fatal problems for programs that make extensive
use of GDI objects such as Ansoft Designer. Microsoft article KB319740
discusses the problem in the first release of Windows XP and notes that a
fix was included in SP1. The workaround is to switch to 揥indows Classic?
theme (via the first tab of Windows Control Panel/Desktop). The problem occurs only after prolonged use. For example, you would have
to open and close a schematic editor window in Designer approximately 50
times before seeing the problem. Please either delay installing Windows XP SP2 until the problem has been
fixed or use only 揥indows Classic?theme with SP2. The fix will most
likely come from Microsoft.
Graphics:
Graphics problems can often be fixed by updating both your video drivers
AND operating system. Work-arounds to graphics problems include changing
display settings (primarily the number of colors) on your machine and turning
off hardware acceleration. If you are using the NVIDIA Quadro2 MXR/EX video
card, you should download a Version 40.41 or greater video driver at
http://www.nvidia.com.
Dynamic link with HFSS:
If you are using complex port impedances with the dynamic link with HFSS
be sure to see the detailed information in the on-line help. Circuit and
EM tools often use different, conjugate definitions of the port impedance
and this may yield unexpected results. Version 2.1 includes a user option
to choose which definition to employ. Circuit transient simulation with EM field solver components does not
properly sweep parameter values. Please use Nexxim transient simulation
if you want to sweep parameter values.
Nexxim Models:
Ansoft's goal is to provide all the useful elements and models that
are available in other SPICE-like simulators. As of Designer 2.0, we have
implemented the most important and commonly-available models. If there are
any specific models you would like us to provide soon, or if you find
specific incompatibilities between our version of a model and others that
you would like us to address, please contact Technical Support or your
account representative. Nexxim circuits containing the Voltage-Controlled Current Source, Laplace
component in the Controlled Sources section will occasionally fail to simulate.
(This component is the Laplace G element in netlists.) Please contact
Technical Support if you encounter this problem.
Nexxim Netlist Language:
If you wish to use netlists from other SPICE-like simulators in Nexxim, please
read the documentation section "Netlist File Format" under "Netlist Editor
User's Guide". In general, you should not expect netlists from other SPICE-like
simulators to run in Nexxim without some modification. If your netlist uses
a statement that we do not support, or specific syntax for a statement that we
do not support, you will generally see an error message explaining the problem.
One exception to this is the .OPTION statement. Please review the Nexxim Netlist
documentation carefully for the .OPTION values that we do support. Other
.OPTION values will be ignored without generating an error or warning message. In the .OPTION statement
.OPTION opt1[=val1] [opt2[=val2]] [opt3[=val3]] ...
the values val1, val2, val3, ... are either numeric or string values. Specifically,
if you try to use an expression, it will not work as you expect -- it will be taken
literally as a string rather than as an expression. Expressions used in netlists are generally constrained to have real-valued
inputs and outputs. Certain simulation results are complex-valued, but
arithmetic performed in expressions in netlists is real.
Nexxim Schematic:
Please do not provide units for component or model parameter values in Nexxim
schematic designs. For example, if your circuit contains a sinusoidal voltage
source, one of the component properties is 'phase angle'. If you type '90deg'
into the value field, it will appear that the value "90 degrees" has been
accepted. But this will actually simulate incorrectly. Angle measure and
temperature are the two types of variables that are known to yield incorrect
simulation results when the units are given. But please do not get into the
habit of using units for any Nexxim Schematic design parameters until we
devise a general solution. If you have a project that contains more Nexxim netlist and/or schematic projects
than the number of Nexxim licenses you have, and you attempt to do "analyze all"
at the project level, you may see some "failed to check out license" errors from
the license manager. In general, Designer will then go back and run those
simulation(s) again after the others have finished. Most values that can be set in an .OPTION statement in a Nexxim netlist, can
also be set for a Nexxim schematic under "Nexxim Circuit"::"Add Analysis Options".
One exception is the RESMIN value. We intend to make this available for
Nexxim schematics in Designer 2.5. Filter Design tool: When using the Filter Design wizard, you generally select a type of filter and
then click 'Next' to get to the second page of the wizard. At this point, the
"Specifications" values fill in with defaults. In general, if you select a
value of any of those specifications that is far away from the default value,
the resulting filter may be of poor quality. Library Encryption: Ansoft Designer uses an extremely strong method to encrypt libraries and model
data. However, no encryption algorithm is completely secure against a dedicated
attack. Please contact Ansoft technical support for further details. The encryption algorithm used in Ansoft Designer 2.1 cannot be used to generate
encrypted libraries compatible with Ansoft Designer 2.0. Libraries encrypted
in Ansoft Designer 2.0, however, can be read by Ansoft Designer 2.1.
Import SPICE Components:
The 'Import SPICE Components...' function in the Tools menu works best when the
file being imported contains .subckt definitions and is intended to be included
in the top level circuit with the .inc directive. If the file being included has
.lib blocks or .model cards, then 'Import SPICE Components...' may appear to
parse the file, but using the resulting components in a circuit will run into
problems later.
TECHNICAL SUPPORT
-----------------
To contact Ansoft technical support staff in your geographical area please
log on to the Ansoft corporate website, http://www.ansoft.com and select
"Contact". Your Ansoft sales engineer may also be contacted in order to
obtain this information.
Ansoft Designer project files (ADSN) are ASCII text and can be sent
by e-mail. Please provide the following information when you contact us:
- Your name and affiliation
- Version number of Ansoft Designer
- The type of hardware and operating system you are using
- A description of what happened and what you were doing when the
problem occurred
- The exact wording of any messages that appeared on the screen
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