Question: I have been experimenting with some of the display options that are
available in the Attribute dialog box. There are three options that refer to the pins
of the component: Pin Markers, Pin Names, and Pin Numbers. What is the purpose of each
of these?
Answer: Each of these options will either enable or disable the display of a
particular pin specification. They work as follows:
Pin Markers: This display option controls the display of markers showing the
location of the pin connection points. The markers show the actual point where any
components or wires must connect to in order to be electrically wired to the component
for the simulation. When enabled, the pin connection points will be marked by small
filled circles.
Pin Names: This display option controls the display of the pin names that have
been assigned to the component. The names displayed are the pin names that have been
assigned to the particular component within the Component Editor. Displaying the pin
names can be useful for a number of components in the analog and digital libraries whose
shape doesn't symbolize the function of each of the pins for the component.
Pin Numbers: This display option controls the display of the package pin numbers.
The numbers displayed are the package numbers that have been assigned to each of the
component's pins within the Package Editor. The package pin numbers are only used in
Micro-Cap when performing a translation to a PCB netlist file. While the Pin Markers and
Pin Names can be displayed for any component within Micro-Cap, enabling the Pin Numbers
option will only display the pin numbers when the following qualifications have been
met.
1) At least one package has been defined for the specific component in the Package
Editor. Most of the analog and digital libraries have had packages defined in the
default installation of Micro-Cap. In the Attribute dialog box, any available packages
can be seen by highlighting the PACKAGE attribute, and then clicking on the drop down
arrow at the end of the Value field.
2) The PACKAGE attribute for the component has been assigned one of the package names that
was defined for the component within the Package Editor.
3) If after defining the PACKAGE attribute, GATE and COMPNAME attributes appear in the
Attribute dialog box, the GATE attribute must be defined also. This will occur when
multiple instances of the component are available within the package such as with the
7400 component. Highlighting the GATE attribute and clicking the drop down arrow at
the end of the Value field will display the possible definitions for the attribute.
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