WRspice New Features Summary

* Major cleanup/revision of the help text.

* The format of the FreeBSD and Solaris distribution files has changed.
  These distributions are now provided in the "native" format for the
  operating system, avoiding the need to install the rpm program.
 
* There is a new wr_install script supplied with the distribution
  files on the web site.  This facilitates the unpacking and
  installation of the files.
 
* Internal changes to the memory manager - better code, no visible
  changes.
 
* If the environment variable XT_SYSTEM_MALLOC is set, WRspice (and
  Xic) will use the system memory manager and not the internal memory
  manager.  This is for debugging purposes.

* The UFSOI SOI MOS model (level 10) has been updated to release 7.5.
  The new documentation is in the docs directory of the distribution
  repository.

* This release incorporates changes to the device library to improve
  the support for the HSPICE level=49 mos model.

  Level 49 is now mapped to level 7 (BSIM3v3.2) in WRspice.
  ---------------------------------------------------------

  Previously, level 49 was mapped to level 8 (BSIM3v3.2.4), however
  the earlier BSIM model is a better match to the Level 49 implemented
  in HSPICE.  Level 8 is a newer model, but does not allow backward
  compatibility in the VERSION parameter, meaning that most imported
  files will not run unless the VERSION in the .model lines is changed
  to "3.2.4" or omitted.

  The following parameter aliases are now recognized in WRspice level
  7/49 and level 8 models.  The parameter names in the first column
  are equivalent to those in the second column, in WRspice.

    HSPICE      BSIM3
    tref        tnom
    cjm         cj
    mj0         mj
    pj          pb
    php         pbsw
    n           nj

  In level 7/49 and level 8, the NQSMOD parameter is valid as a model
  parameter, as well as a device parameter.  If given in a .model line,
  devices using the model will default to using that value, but this
  can be overridden if NQSMOD is specified in the device line.
 
  Extra documentation about the level 49 parameters that are not
  supported in WRspice is now provided in the "moslevel" topic.
  In WRspice, enter "help moslevel" to view this information.

* The .tran specification has been modified to allow for separate
  print increments in different time ranges.  The full syntax is

    .tran tstep1 tstop1 [ tstart tmax [ tstep2 tstop2 ... tstepN tstopN ] ]

  This will simulate and save results from tstart through tstopN, where the
  saved time increment is

    tstep1  tstart <= t < tstop1
    tstep2  tstop1 <= t < tstop2
    ...
   tstepN   tstopN-1 <= t < tstopN

(Unix/Linux only)
* If WRspice is given the command line option "-dnone", WRspice will
  not use graphics.

* Undate to the terminal handling functions related to command line
  editing.  This was to avoid cursor motion problems on some terminal
  windows, given differences in the specifics of how line wrapping is
  performed.

  Unless WRspice can read the system terminfo/termcap data it needs,
  it will no longer allow command line editing mode, and a warning
  message will be issued.

* new command:

    mapkey [ -r [filename] | -w [filename] | keyname map... ]

  This command is used to manipulate the limited key mapping that is
  available in WRspice.  Only the keys that are used for command line
  editing are mappable.  This is to account for "strange" terminals
  that may not send the expected data when a key is pressed.

  The following keys can be mapped:

    Ctrl-A
    Ctrl-D
    Ctrl-E
    Ctrl-K
    Ctrl-U
    Ctrl-V
    Tab
    Backspace
    Delete
    LeftArrow
    RightArrow
    UpArrow
    DownArrow

  Of these, the arrow keys and Delete are most likely to need
  remapping.

* The Parker-Skellern JFET model from Macquarie University in
  Australia has been added as level=2 for JFETs.  Information on the  
  "PS model" is available in the documentation archive on the web  
  site, or from  http://www.elec.mq.edu.au/cnerf/spice/spice.html

* Added the Southampton Thermal Analogue SOI MOSFET (STAG) model
  release 2.6 as level 33.  This is a model developed under Prof.
  Bill Rudman-White at the Southampton University Microelectronics   
  Centre in the UK.  More information can be found on the STAG web
  page at http://www.micro.ecs.soton.ac.uk/stag/.  The manual is also
  provided in the documentation directory of the Whiteley Research web
  site.

* The older BSIM3v3.2 model has been returned to the device library
  as level=7.  Unlike the newer BSIM models, this model was hacked to
  accept an "M" (device multiplier) parameter.  This functionality is
  available in BSIM4 as the "NF" (number of fingers) parameter, but
  not in other MOS models with level 8 or higher.

The MOS levels available in the current device library are:

    Level  Name         Source
    1      MOS          Spice3
    2      MOS          Spice3
    3      MOS          Spice3
    4      BSIM1        Spice3
    5      BSIM2        Spice3
    6      MOS          Spice3
    7      BSIM3v2      U.C. Berkeley
    8,49   BSIM3.2.4    U.C. Berkeley
    9      B3SOI3.0     U.C. Berkeley
    10     UFS          U. Florida
    14     BSIM4.2.1    U.C. Berkeley
    33     Soi3         U. Southampton
    44     EKV-2.6      *EPFL Switzerland
    60     HISIM-1.1.0  Hiroshima U.

    * Not yet validated, use at your own risk.
 
* Added a new command to WRspice:
 
    spec start_freq stop_freq step_freq vector ...
 
  This is based on a Spice3 spec command by Anthony Parker of
  Macquarie University in Sydney Australia, which is available as part
  of the patch set from
  http://www.elec.mq.edu.au/cnerf/spice/spice.html.

* There are two new buttons in the main toolbar:  Run (green arrow)
  and Stop (red X).  Pressing the Run button is equivalent to giving
  the "run" command without arguments.  Pressing Stop is equivalent to
  pressing Ctrl-C, i.e., any running simulation is halted.

  The first line of the toolbar display is a little different.  There
  now is an indication of status:  "idle", "running" and "stopped".
  The elapsed time is now measured from the last status change.

* When running WRspice from Xic, the WRspice toolbar is now visible by
  default when WRspice is running on the local machine.  This gives
  access to the WRspice graphical tools, for more control and
  flexibility.  It is possible to prevent display of the WRspice
  toolbar by setting the NoSpiceTools variable in Xic.

* The show command will now accept wildcard "globbing" (using ?, *,  
  [], {}) in both the device/model name and parameter fields.
  Previously, globbing was supported only in the name field, and {}  
  constructs weren't recognized.

* The code for the Enz-Krummenacher-Vittoz (EKV) MOS model was added
  to the device library as level 44.  This has not yet been certified
  by EPFL, so should not be considered as "The" EKV model.

* Added a .elif line to the WRspice input syntax, for use with
  .if/.else/.endif.

* Major changes to the device library

  o  The BSIM3v1 model (level 7) has been removed.

  o  The BSIM3v2 model (level 8 and 49) has been updated to release
     3.2.4
    
  o  The BSIM3SOI model has been updated to release 3.0

  o  The BSIM4.2.1 model has been added as level 14.

  o  The HiSIM mos model from Hiroshima University has been added as
     level 60.
    
  o  The transmission line device (Txxxx) has been replaced with a new,
     more comprehensive version.

    The currently supported MOS levels are

    Level    Name       Description
    1        MOS        Spice3 mos1
    2        MOS        Spice3 mos2
    3        MOS        Spice3 mos3
    4        BSIM1      Spice3 bsim1
    5        BSIM2      Spice3 bsim2
    6        MOS        Spice3 mos6
    7        not used
    8,49     BSIM3.2.4  U.C. Berkeley bsim3.2.4
    9        B3SOI3.0   U.C. Berkeley bsim3soi-3.0
    10       UFS        U. Florida soi model release 7.0
    14       BSIM4.2.1  U.C. Berkeley bsim4.2.1
    60       HiSIM-1.1  Hiroshima University hisim-1.1
 
  Documentation for the third-party MOS models can be found on the web
  site, in the docs directory of the distribution repository.
 
  The new transmission line device will support any existing WRspice
  circuit file which calls the TRA or LTRA device.  Extensions to the
  basic TRA device now enable simulation of lossy as well as lossless
  lines.  The full description is provided in the help system (type
  "help tra").
 
* New utility: printtoraw
 
  This is a new stand-alone utility provided with the WRspice
  distribution.  This converts the data in files produced by the print
  command into the rawfile format, which can be plotted.  This works
  only for print files in the standard columnar form.

* In expressions, if a string starts with a backslash ('\') character,
  it will not be replaced with a value, should the name happen to
  match one of the named constants, or other potential substitutions.
  This will be needed, for example, if a node name matches one of the
  predefined constant names, and you need to reference that node in a
  source.

  For example, suppose there is a node named "c", which is also the
  name of the speed-of-light constant.  A source specification like

    vcon 1 2 5*v(c)

  will not be accepted.  The correct form is

    vcon 1 2 5*v("\c")

* One can now use curly brackets as delimiters for shell variable
  references, in the manner of the C-shell.  That is, a reference to a
  shell variable can take the form $var or ${var}.

  For example:
    
    set plot = $curplot
    let n = ${plot}.v(10)
    
  Without the curly brackets, the variable substitution would fail
  bacause of the adjacent characters.  Note that one could also use
    
    let n = $plot{.v(10)}

  which works due to global expansion.  This form was available in
  prior releases.

* Folded in the latest version (1.2) of the Verilog simulator.

    vl-1.2  8/9/02

    Updates to the configuration system.

    New command line option:  -v
    If given, the parser will be more verbose in emitting warning
    messages about questionable constructs in the input.  This is
    largely unimplemented at present.

    Previously, if a function was defined with no type or range
    specifier, the return type would default to integer, and there
    would be no warning or error message.  In the present release, the
    return type defaults to register [1:0], and if the -v command line
    option is given, a warning message is shown.

* The device library now contains ufsoi-7.0 as MOS level 10.  The
  documentation for this model can be found in the docs directory in
  the distribution site.

* MOS level 49 is now recognized as bsim3 (same as level 8) for Hspice
  compatabiity.