for use with LaTeX

Drawing schematics in consistent style

The motivation for making parametrized XCircuit libraries came out from a need to draw schematics in consistent style. Consider a simple task of drawing a schematic of RF differential amplifier, shown in the figure below.

Differential RF amplifier schematic

Drawing such schematic should not take more than few minutes in XCircuit. Drawing the schematic is fast, but placing text labels can require few iterations to get it right. If the schematic is a part of a report, book, lecture notes, etc., it would be desirable that all schematics are drawn in a consistent style. One of the things that define the style is placement of labels. Besides placement of labels, it would be good to have a library with blocks which are commonly used in reports or scientific papers.

Provided libraries contain symbols of commonly used instruments, such as power supply, signal generator etc. An example of measurement setup drawn by using symbols from instruments_latex.lps is given in the figure below. Chip probes and pads are used from microwave_latex.lps library.

Chip measurement setup

Library rfblocks_latex.lps contains symbols of commonly used RF blocks. An example of direct conversion transmitter block diagram drawn with provided components is given in the figure below.

Direct conversion transmitter block diagram

Usage

Symbols in provided libraries have text labels as parameters. In order for XCircuit to preserve LaTeX commands as parameters, commands should be put in double curly braces. For example, LaTeX expression

$V_\mathrm{DD}$

should be typed as

{{$V_\mathrm{DD}$}}

Python script x2pdf.py produces PDF file from XCircuit postscript and LaTeX files. To produce PDF from amp1.ps and amp1.tex one should execute:

./x2eps amp1

The script defines macro \mr as shorthand to \mathrm, so the previous example could be typed as:

{{$V_\mr{DD}$}}

Download

Components in provided libraries

Arrows in analog_latex.lps

Lumped components in analog_latex.lps

Sources in analog_latex.lps

Transformers in analog_latex.lps

Transistors in analog_latex.lps

Instuments in instruments_latex.lps

Components in microwave_latex.lps

RF blocks in rfblocks_latex.lps