Daily Series #3: Geeking out → Monte Carlo Simulations

Taking lead from @salt, extending the applications of Monte-Carlo(MC) to silicon circuits simulations.

I am trying to pick stuff from BTech, 1st year Basic Electronics which most engineers (irrespective of branch) would have studied (or at least heard in class 🤪). Below we have a picture of a very basic Resistor-Capacitor (RC) circuit connected to a battery (Voltage). For theoretical simplifications, we assumed the resistor to have a single, whole-number value (for example, a 5-ohm resistance). In real when we manufacture such resistance (or capacitors), due to complexities associated with manufacturing processes, exhibit a tolerance range around the base value. The resistor we took might exhibit a value between 4.95 ohm to 5.05 ohm. Such range variations lead to changes in currents flowing through these circuits.

Now imagine, a simple home device having millions of such resistors. All these devices would exhibit different resistance values (some might show 4.95, others might show 5.025, rest 5.05). All these variations make the life of an electronics designer much more complicated. They use Monte-Carlo simulations to explore the range of output current variations and define downstream parameters accordingly. MC makes life bit deterministic in an otherwise uncertain electronics world!

I hope, I am able to add some value to “geeking-out” series. Shoot your queries, if any🤓

(Image - spice simulation tutorial from Google)