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SPICE is a general-purpose circuit simulation program for nonlinear dc, nonlinear transient, and linear ac analysis.

It was developed at the Electronics Research Laboratory of the University of California, Berkeley by Laurence Nagel with direction from his research adviser, Prof. Donald Pederson.

The version used in DEX is version 3f5.

SPICE is a general-purpose circuit simulation program for nonlinear dc, nonlinear transient, and linear ac analysis. Circuits may contain resistors, capacitors, inductors, mutual inductors, independent voltage and current sources, four types of dependent sources, loss-less and lossy transmission lines (two separate implementations), switches, uniform distributed RC lines, and the five most common semiconductor devices: diodes, BJTs, JFETs, MESFETs, and MOSFETs.

The SPICE3 version is based directly on SPICE 2G.6. While SPICE3 is being developed to include new features, it continues to support those capabilities and models that remain in extensive use in the SPICE2 program.

SPICE has built-in models for the semiconductor devices, and the user need specify only the pertinent model parameter values. The model for the BJT is based on the integral-charge model of Gummel and Poon; however, if the Gummel- Poon parameters are not specified, the model reduces to the simpler Ebers-Moll model. In either case, charge-storage effects, ohmic resistances, and a current-dependent output conductance may be included. The diode model can be used for either junction diodes or Schottky barrier diodes. The JFET model is based on the FET model of Shichman and Hodges. Six MOSFET models are implemented: MOS1 is described by a square-law I-V characteristic, MOS2 is an analytical model, while MOS3  is a semi-empirical model; MOS6 [2] is a simple analytic model accurate in the short-channel region; MOS4 and MOS5 are the BSIM (Berkeley Short-channel IGFET Model) and BSIM2. MOS2, MOS3, and MOS4 include second-order effects such as channel-length modulation, sub threshold conduction, scattering-limited velocity saturation, small-size effects, and charge-controlled capacitance.