OrCAD is a proprietary software tool suite used primarily for electronic
design automation. The software is used mainly by electronic design engineers
and electronic technicians to create electronic schematics and electronic
prints for manufacturing printed circuit boards.
The name OrCAD is a portmanteau, reflecting the company and its
software's origins: Oregon + CAD. Company
Founded in 1985 by John Durbetaki, Ken and Keith Seymour as “OrCAD Systems
Corporation” in Hillsboro, Oregon, the company became a supplier of desktop
electronic design automation software. In 1984 Durbetaki began designing an
expansion chassis for the IBM PC. Durbetaki, who had left Intel Corp.
after five years as an engineer and project manager, decided, along with
brothers Keith and Ken Seymour, to start his own company to develop add-on
instrumentation for the PC." Durbetaki began creating his own schematic capture
tool for his use in the PC expansion chassis project; but eventually shelved
the hardware project entirely in favor of developing low-cost, PC-based CAD
software. The company's first product was SDT, which shipped first in late
1985. In 1986, OrCAD hired Peter LoCascio to
develop sales and co-founder Ken Seymour left the company. The flagship SDT
product was soon followed with a digital simulator, VST and printed circuit board
layout tools. Over time, OrCAD's product line broadened to include Windows-based
software products to assist electronics designers in developing
field-programmable gate arrays, including complex programmable logic
devices. Durbetaki, then CEO and head of R&D, left the company in the 1990s. He
was succeeded as CEO by Michael Bosworth.
In June 1995, OrCAD acquired Massteck Ltd., a small company that offered a
printed circuit board layout tool and a sophisticated autorouter, and
Intelligent Systems Japan, KK, OrCAD's distributor in Japan. In 1996, OrCAD
made a public offering. In late 1997 and early 1998, OrCAD and MicroSim
Corporation merged, a business combination that ultimately proved to be
disappointing. In 1999, the company and its products were acquired by one of its
former competitors, Cadence Design Systems.
Since 16 July 1999, OrCAD's product line has been fully owned by Cadence Design
Systems. OrCAD Layout has been discontinued. The latest iteration of
OrCAD CIS schematic capture software has the ability to maintain a database of
available integrated circuits. This database may be updated by the user by
downloading packages from component manufacturers, such as Analog Devices
and others. Another announcement was that ST Microelectronics will offer
OrCAD PSpice models for all the power and logic semiconductors, since PSpice
is the most used circuit simulator. Intel offers reference PCBs designed
with Cadence PCB Tools in the OrCAD Capture format for embedded and personal
computers. Products
OrCAD is a suite of products for EDA, and includes a schematic editor, a
circuit simulator and a PCB designer. = OrCAD Capture =
OrCAD Capture is a schematic capture application, and part of the OrCAD
circuit design suite. Unlike NI Multisim, Capture does not
contain in-built simulation features, but exports netlist data to the
simulator, OrCAD EE. Capture can also export a hardware description of the
circuit schematic to Verilog or VHDL, and netlists to circuit board designers
such as OrCAD Layout, Allegro, and others.
Capture includes a component information system, that links component package
footprint data or simulation behavior data, with the circuit symbol in the
schematic. Capture includes a TCL/TK scripting
functionality that allows users to write scripts, that allow customization and
automation. Any task performed via the GUI may be automated by scripts.
The OrCAD Capture Marketplace enables customers to share and sell add-ons and
design resources. Such add-ons can customize the design environment and add
features and capabilities. Capture can interface with any database
which complies with Microsoft's ODBC standard etc. Data in an MRP, ERP, or
PDM system can be directly accessed for use during component decision-making
process. = OrCAD EE PSpice =
OrCAD EE PSpice is a SPICE circuit simulator application for simulation and
verification of analog and mixed-signal circuits. OrCAD EE typically runs
simulations for circuits defined in OrCAD Capture, and can optionally
integrated with MATLAB/Simulink, using the Simulink to PSpice Interface.
PSpice is an acronym for Personal Simulation Program with Integrated
Circuit Emphasis. PSpice was a modified version of the
academically developed SPICE, and was commercialized by MicroSim in 1984.
MicroSim was purchased by OrCAD a decade later in 1998.
A circuit to be analyzed using PSpice is described by a circuit description file,
which is processed by PSpice and executed as a simulation. PSpice creates
an output file to store the simulation results, and such results are also
graphically displayed within the OrCAD EE interface.
OrCAD EE is an upgraded version of the PSpice simulator, and includes automatic
circuit optimization and support for waveform recording, viewing, analysis,
curve-fitting, and post-processing. OrCAD EE contains an extensive library
of models for physical components, including around 30,000 analog and
mixed-signal devices and mathematical functions. OrCAD EE also includes a
model editor, support for parameterized models, auto-convergence and checkpoint
restart, several internal solvers and a magnetic part editor.
History SPICE was first developed in the
University of California, Berkeley, in the early 1970s. Subsequently an
improved version SPICE 2 was available in the mid-1970s especially to support
computer aided design. PSpice was released in January 1984, and
was the first version of UC Berkeley SPICE available on an IBM Personal
Computer. PSpice later included a waveform viewer and analyser program
called Probe. Subsequent versions improved on performance and moved to
DEC/VAX minicomputers, Sun workstations, Apple Macintosh, and Microsoft Windows.
Version 3.06 was released in 1988, and had a "Student Version" available which
would allow a maximum of up to ten transistors to be inserted. PSpice
increases the students’ abilities to understand the behavior of electronic
components and circuits. Analyses
The type of simulation performed by PSpice depends on the source
specifications and control statements. PSpice supports the following types of
analyses: DC Analysis - for circuits with
time–invariant sources. It calculates all nodal voltages and branch currents
over a range of values. Supported types include Linear sweep, Logarithmic sweep,
and Sweep over List of values. Transient Analysis - for circuits with
time variant sources. It calculates all nodes voltages and branch currents over
a time interval and their instantaneous values are the outputs.
AC Analysis - for small signal analysis of circuits with sources of varying
frequencies. It calculates the magnitudes and phase angles of all nodal
voltages and branch currents over a range of frequencies.
The operating temperature of an analysis can be set to any desired value, and
nodal parameters are assumed to be measured at a nominal temperature, by
default 27 °C. = OrCAD PCB Designer =
OrCAD PCB Designer is a printed circuit board designer application, and part of
the OrCAD circuit design suite. PCB Designer includes various automation
features for PCB design, board-level analysis and design rule checks.
The PCB design may be accomplished by manually tracing PCB tracks, or using
the Auto-Router provided. Such designs may include curved PCB tracks, geometric
shapes, and ground planes. PCB Designer integrates with OrCAD
Capture, using the component information system to store information about a
certain circuit symbol and its matching PCB footprint.
References External links
Cadence OrCAD PCB design
OrCAD PCB Editor OrCAD Capture
Open Source OrCAD Circuits Archive Request page of the free,
limited-feature demo version of OrCAD at Cadence website.
PSpice Schematic, a product that has been discontinued with the OrCAD 10.0
release, but is still available for download.