Circuit Simulation in the Dark Ages

Sometime around 1970, the way we create microwave products began to change inexorably from a kind of technological cottage industry into a complex industrial technology. That process continued through the years, and we can now design circuits and systems with a degree of accuracy and efficiency that seemed unimaginable only a couple of decades ago. Instead of tweaking in the dark, we make ICs that work; “first-pass success” is the term used, and it is regularly achieved. An essential for this success has been increased software versatility. It may be surprising to note that versatility has driven software evolution as much as computational efficiency or numerical accuracy. As time goes on, we can expect this trend to continue. It will be fun to see where it all goes.