We have seen that it does not take many components at all to create a circuit
of respectable complexity. As we continue to examine even more complex circuits, it will become obvious rather quickly that it is easy to make errors during the analysis, and verifying solutions by hand can be time-consuming. A powerful computer software package known as PSpice is commonly employed for rapid analysis of circuits, and the schematic capture tools are typically integrated with either a printed circuit board or integrated circuit layout tool. Originally developed in the early 1970s at the University of California at Berkeley, SPICE (Simulation Program with Integrated Circuit Emphasis) is now an industry standard. MicroSim Corporation introduced PSpice in 1984, which built intuitive graphical interfaces around the core SPICE program. Depending on the type of circuit application being considered, there are now several companies offering variations of the basic SPICE package.