In this next section we will look at using and including models into a working simulation. This was one of the big mysteries to me when I first used LT and so I hope that these examples will clarify things a little. We will use our basic one transistor amplifier from the start of this tutorial (and a tidied up version is included at the end of this post).
Why do we need to use different models in our simulations ? The most obvious one is simply that LT's component library is in practice pretty limited. If your designing a power amplifier for example, you will find that there are no really suitable drivers or output devices available... so we have to add our own models that hopefully represent the devices we wish to use.
So how do we include a model into the simulation ? Well there are several ways of doing this and the following examples should show the advantages and disadvantages of the different approaches.
First, you need your model and these are available from various sources. Bob Cordell has a notepad file of devices useful in audio listed on his website. I'm including as an attachment to this post a file that I came across that lists many devices. Its a notepad file but it had to be zipped to attach it to the forum (over forum limit for notepad file size)
So what does a "model" look like and how do we use it. Here is a typical example that I've lifted from the attached file (just copy and paste).
.model 2N4124 NPN(Is=6.734f Xti=3 Eg=1.11 Vaf=74.03 Bf=495 Ne=1.28 Ise=6.734f Ikf=69.35m Xtb=1.5 Br=.7214 Nc=2 Isc=0 Ikr=0 Rc=1 Cjc=3.638p
+ Mjc=.3085 Vjc=.75 Fc=.5 Cje=4.493p Mje=.2593 Vje=.75 Tr=238.3n Tf=301.3p Itf=.4 Vtf=4 Xtf=2 Rb=10 Vceo=25 Icrating=200m mfg=Fairchild)
So how do we use it ?
One method is just "include" the file within the simulation as follows.
1/ Open the simulation file you want to include that device into.
2/ Copy and paste the full model details onto the diagram using the "text" Spice directive.