Known subclasses: pingspice.lib.diodes.PowerDiode, pingspice.lib.mosfets.PowerMOSFET

I am a base class for a self-heating power semiconductor subcircuit. My junction temperature node 'tj' starts at ambient temperature unless steadyState is True.

You can scale down all thermal capacitances in my package and heatsink by setting the pingspice-only simulation option timeWarp > 1 where stuff heats up x times faster. You should keep timeWarp consistent for all thermal subcircuits in a given simulation, and it's preferred to set this option (as with all pingspice-only simulation options) via a Netlist constructor keyword.

The sole subcircuit param is ambient, the ambient temperature of the air surrounding the package. Default: 25 deg C.

You must define my nodes list in your subclass. It must end with the temperature nodes 'tc', 'tj', and 'tca0', representing my die and case temperatures and an input node 'tca0' that specifies an initial case-ambient temperature. The 'tca0' node is a high-impedance input that floats to zero, so if you'll never want the case to start out with a higher temperature than ambient, just leave it disconnected.

The other items must match the nodes expected by the Die subclass you specify.

So, unless you specify an initial case-ambient temperature difference with attribute tca0, your nodes list pattern must match the following:

   [<Die, without 'tj'>] + ['tj', 'tc', 'tca0']

For the semiconductor device models provide by pingspice, the patterns are as follows:

   ['drain', 'gate', 'source', 'pdiss', 'tj', 'tc', 'tca0']
   ['anode', 'cathode', 'pdiss', 'tj', 'tc', 'tca0']

Class Variable	Die	The subclass of `analysis.mosfet.MOSFET` that models your device's semiconductor die. (Technically not just a die since it also models lead impedances. But not package thermal behavior.)
Class Variable	package	The name (not FQN) of the package subcircuit in `lib.thermal`, a subclass of `lib.thermal.Package`. (type: str)
Instance Variable	heatsink	A 2-sequence (or callable that returns a 2-sequence) containing values for rth_ca and cth_c of a heatsink attached to my package.
Instance Variable	rth_ca	Thermal resistance, case (package) to ambient. Should only be defined if heatsink is not.
Instance Variable	cth_c	Thermal capacitance of case (package). Should only be defined if heatsink is not.
Instance Variable	tca0	Set this to an initial case-ambient temperature difference. I will set up an extra node internally with that "voltage" for its thermal capacitance to be fast-charged to so you don't have to supply the node. (If tca0 is set to something, supplying the 'tca0' node will raise an exception.)
Instance Variable	ignoreL	Set this `True` to ignore lead inductance. Inductors cause convergence errors in SPICE because they create ringing that needs to be tracked by the stepwise simulation, often at much higher frequencies than you're really interested in. That's been mitigated by the use of simulation-friendly inductors, though, so you probably won't need to set this.
Method	checkNodes	Raises an exception if the supplied list of nodes isn't appropriate.
Method	setup	Subcircuit definition.

Inherited from NodeStuff (via Subcircuit):

Instance Variable	shunts	A dict of current sensing V elements with the pairs of nodes they connect.
Class Variable	debug	A `Bag` that gets set `True` for all instances to log info about each `setup` call.
Class Method	autoName	Undocumented
Method	setupResults	Undocumented
Method	fill	Undocumented
Method	nodeCheck	Call with the circuit building tool f and a sequence of nodes provided to this `Include` or `Subcircuit`.
Method	rawNetlist	Get lines of a raw netlist from a search hierarchy of possible sources.
Method	shunt	Call to insert a current-measuring shunt and add an entry to my `Elements` baton's dict of shunts.
Method	raw	See `Elements.raw`.
Method	iNode	See `Elements.iNode`.
Method	ground	See `Elements.ground`.
Method	sca	See `Elements.sca`.
Method	sca6	See `Elements.sca6`.
Class Method	_libDir	Undocumented
Method	_strippedLines	Undocumented
Method	_call_setup	Calls my `setup` method (almost always your override of that method, actually) and processes any return value.

Inherited from NodeStuff (via Subcircuit):

Instance Variable	shunts	A dict of current sensing V elements with the pairs of nodes they connect.
Class Variable	debug	A `Bag` that gets set `True` for all instances to log info about each `setup` call.
Class Method	autoName	Undocumented
Method	setupResults	Undocumented
Method	fill	Undocumented
Method	nodeCheck	Call with the circuit building tool f and a sequence of nodes provided to this `Include` or `Subcircuit`.
Method	rawNetlist	Get lines of a raw netlist from a search hierarchy of possible sources.
Method	shunt	Call to insert a current-measuring shunt and add an entry to my `Elements` baton's dict of shunts.
Method	raw	See `Elements.raw`.
Method	iNode	See `Elements.iNode`.
Method	ground	See `Elements.ground`.
Method	sca	See `Elements.sca`.
Method	sca6	See `Elements.sca6`.
Class Method	_libDir	Undocumented
Method	_strippedLines	Undocumented
Method	_call_setup	Calls my `setup` method (almost always your override of that method, actually) and processes any return value.

Die =

The subclass of analysis.mosfet.MOSFET that models your device's semiconductor die. (Technically not just a die since it also models lead impedances. But not package thermal behavior.)

package =

The name (not FQN) of the package subcircuit in lib.thermal, a subclass of lib.thermal.Package. (type: str)

heatsink =

A 2-sequence (or callable that returns a 2-sequence) containing values for rth_ca and cth_c of a heatsink attached to my package.

rth_ca =

Thermal resistance, case (package) to ambient. Should only be defined if heatsink is not.

cth_c =

Thermal capacitance of case (package). Should only be defined if heatsink is not.

tca0 =

Set this to an initial case-ambient temperature difference. I will set up an extra node internally with that "voltage" for its thermal capacitance to be fast-charged to so you don't have to supply the node. (If tca0 is set to something, supplying the 'tca0' node will raise an exception.)

ignoreL =

Set this True to ignore lead inductance. Inductors cause convergence errors in SPICE because they create ringing that needs to be tracked by the stepwise simulation, often at much higher frequencies than you're really interested in. That's been mitigated by the use of simulation-friendly inductors, though, so you probably won't need to set this.

def checkNodes(self, nodes):

Raises an exception if the supplied list of nodes isn't appropriate.

def setup(self, f):

overrides pingspice.circuit.netlist.Subcircuit.setup

Subcircuit definition.

Why use f? Because it's short and a conveniently typed letter on the keyboard.

Override this if your subclass does not reference a param.ParameterFinder subclass via the Finder class attribute. As with Include.setup, your override method can return a dict of attribute names and values to set in my instance.

API Documentation for pingspice, generated by pydoctor at 2021-09-18 08:41:11.

pingspice.lib.semiconductor.PowerSemiconductor(Subcircuit) class documentation

`pingspice.lib.semiconductor.PowerSemiconductor(Subcircuit)` class documentation