Computer design for power electronics: Tracing the evolution of computer usage in a specialized area

The computer aided design and analysis (CADA) field was initiated around 1965 with the introduction of the ECAP computer program. For the first time, design engineers could analyze circuits without having to write the defining equations. Both analog and digital computers had long been used to solve equations, but with ECAP a breakthrough was established: a computer program able to both write and solve system equations automatically, requiring only a listing of the circuit components as the input. After several years, other CADA programs including SPECTRE, TRAC, NET, and CIRCUS became available, many offering improvements and additional features. Still more sophisticated programs and features became available during the years 1970–75. These programs included SPICE 2 and SUPER^∗SCEPTRE.