United Arab Emirates University Faculty of Engineering Department of Electrical Engineering Second Semester 2006-2007 Electronics I ELEC-3322

Basic OrCAD Tutorial

Introduction:PSpice is a very powerful circuit simulation program that can assist a circuit designer in the process of solving multi element circuits and predict circuits behavior in a small amount of time. PSpice is a derivative of the original SPICE program. SPICE stands for Simulation Program with Integrated Circuit Emphasis. OrCAD is a software that uses a graphical version of PSpice. This tutorial is an introduction to the OrCAD Family Release 9.2 Lite Edition. It first guides you to know how to start the software and how to create a new project, then gives you three examples to teach you how to make DC analysis, follow it by another three examples to teach you to make some Time Domain analysis, then finally two examples to teach you some of the Frequency Domain analysis. It ends with some useful comments that cover some common mistakes and some useful tips.

Starting OrCAD:1) Start the OrCAD Capture program by clicking Start All Programs Capture CIS Lite Edition 2) OrCAD Family Release 9.2 Lite Edition

After starting the OrCAD window click on File New Project

This will open the OrCAD Capture window, as seen in Fig-1.

Fig-1 3) Type Example 1 in the area labeled Name. This will be the name used to identify the project in subsequent simulation windows and data files that are generated by OrCAD or PSpice.

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Click on the radio button next to Analog or Mixed A/D. This will cause the OrCAD Capture program to prepare a simulation file that can be used by PSpice. Specify the location where you want the files associated with this simulation project to be placed in the area labeled Location, and then press the OK button. The Capture software will then bring up the window shown in Fig-2, which asks you to choose a template around which this Capture process will function. Click on the radio button next to Create a blank project, and then press the OK button.

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Fig-2 7) The next screen that appears is the one shown in Fig-3 (next page) which contains the window in which you will enter the schematic diagram along with a window that contains information about the files that are part of this Capture project. To start entering the circuit components on the schematic, click on the Place Element icon (second from the top right hand side). A window similar to the one in Fig-4 (next page) will appear asking you to choose the part that must be placed in the drawing area. Note: Depending on the installation of OrCAD and whether or not anyone else has already used the software, there may or may not be a string of part names in the Part List area or a set of parts library names in the Libraries area. Libraries may be added to the list by clicking on the button Add Library. Make sure that the ANALOG Library and the SOURCE Library exist in the Libraries area as shown in Fig-5 (page 5); otherwise you have to add them to the Libraries area.

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Fig-3

Fig-4 Eng. Eyad Kamal Shams 4

Fig-5

Now you are ready to start the first circuit simulation. Do not change any thing, you will need the steps you have done up to this point to start your first practice.

Eng. Eyad Kamal Shams

Simple DC circuits
Example 1: The goal of this example is to simulate the circuit shown in Fig-6 to find
the voltage value across R2.

Fig-6 1) While the Place Part window is running, click on the part labeled R in the Part List (at the ANALOG Library). A symbol for a resistor will appear in the lower right side of the window, as shown in Fig-7.

Fig-7

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Click on the OK button in the Place Part window. You will notice that the Place Part window will disappear and that the cursor has the diagram of a resistor tracking along its movement path. Place the resistor in a position just above the center of the schematic window by clicking on the left mouse button. Notice that the cursor is still having the resistor diagram, indicating that it is ready to place another resistor once you click another left mouse button. Place another resistor lower and to the right of the first resistor, and then hit the ESC key to end the parts placement operation. With the last resistor still selected following its placement, click the right mouse button. This action will bring up a menu of operations, as shown in Fig-8. Rotate the R2 resistor so that it is placed vertically using the Rotate instruction.

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Fig-8

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Double click on the label indicating the default value of 1k for any one of the two resistors (Not the symbol of the resistor). A Display Properties dialog box like the one shown in Fig-9 will appear.

Fig-9 7) Change the value of the resistor to meet the value given in the circuit shown in Fig-6, and then click the OK button. Repeat steps (7) and (8) to change the value of the other resistor.

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Note: You may also change the name of the resistor by double-clicking on the R1 or R2 characters next to the resistors symbols (as you did with the 1k label). A display Properties dialog box similar to the one in Fig-9 will be shown, the difference being that this dialog allows you to change the Part Reference, which is the name displayed on the schematic. Other parts such as voltage sources, capacitors, inductors, etc., will have adjustable properties similar to those shown in Fig-9. Note: Numbers placed in the value field of the different parts must either be integers or real numbers. Integers can be either positive or negative (14 or -95). Real numbers can be numbers containing decimal points (9.807), numbers containing integer exponents (1.6E-19), or numbers containing a symbolic exponent (0.123G), where G symbolizes an exponent of 109. A list of acceptable symbolic scale factors for PSpice is shown in Table-1 (next page).

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Symbol (capital or lower case) F P N U M K MEG G T

Mnemonic Femto Pico Nano Micro Milli Kilo Mega Giga Tera

Exponential Form 1E-15 1E-12 1E-9 1E-6 1E-3 1E3 1E6 1E9 1E12

Value 10-15 10-12 10-9 10-6 10-3 103 106 109 1012

Table-1 9) Click on the place part icon and choose the SOURCE library in the Libraries area, then choose VDC in the Part List area and click the OK button, as shown in Fig-10. Then place the DC voltage source in the left part of the schematic, as shown in Fig-11 (next page).

Fig-10

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Fig-11 10) Change the value of the voltage source to be 12, in the same manner that you changed the values of the resistors. From the buttons menu on the right side of the Capture screen, click on the Place Wire button . You will notice that the drawing cursor will change to a crosshair which allows you to stretch wires between component nodes. Wire all three parts together so that the schematic looks like the one shown in Fig-12.

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Fig-12

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Click on the GND button in the button menu on the right of the Capture screen. A Place Ground dialog box will appear, as shown in Fig-13. Choose the GND/CAPSYM ground.

Fig-13 13) Change the GND letters in the Name area to 0 (zero) as shown in Fig-14, and then click on the OK button. If you do not specify the name of the ground node to be 0 the simulation will fail and will give an error. Changing this field is a must.

Fig-14

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Connect the ground to your circuit, as shown in Fig-15.

Fig-15 15) In the menu option click PSpice New Simulation Profile

This action generates a dialog box in which you are asked to enter a name for this particular simulation run. Type Simulation For Example 1 in the Name area as shown in Fig-16, and then click the Create button.

Fig-16

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Once you click on the Create button, a secondary dialog box appears in which you are asked to choose the analysis type for this simulation. Fig-17 shows the Simulation Settings dialog box. Notice that the Analysis Type was chosen to be Bias Point.

Fig-17 Note: It is possible to know the location of the output file, where the OrCAD is going to save the simulation results, by just choosing the General tab, as shown in Fig-18.

Fig-18 Eng. Eyad Kamal Shams 13

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In the Capture window click PSpice Run .

Or just click on the run icon, which have this symbol

This will start the simulation and will result in displaying a window similar to the one shown in Fig-19. In the lower left side of the window, you will find information on the simulation process including whether or not any errors occurred during the process. To the right is an area that has multiple purposes depending on which tab is selected. The upper part of the window shown in black or dark gray will be used later to display printed and plotted results.

Fig-19 18) button The last step is to display the voltages of the nodes by clicking on the near the top-center of the schematic Capture window. The voltages will appear on the circuit as shown in Fig-20 (next page). Note that it is also possible to find different currents and powers by clicking the icons and .

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Fig-20 Table-2 contains a sample list of identifiers letters and the corresponding component types available in PSpice. You will need the information in this table in your next example.

Component Identifier Letter C E F G H I K L M R T V

Component Type Capacitor Voltage-Controlled Voltage Source Current-Controlled Current Source Voltage-Controlled Current Source Current-Controlled Voltage Source Independent Current Source Inductor Coupling (Transformer) Inductor MOSFET Transistor Resistor Transmission Line Independent Voltage Source Table-2

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Example 2: The goal of this example is to simulate the circuit shown in Fig-21 to find
all voltages and currents through all elements of the circuit.

Fig-21 1) Create a new project and call it Example 2. Then start placing the resistors and the independent voltage source in the schematic entry window as you did in Example 1. Assign the different values for the resistors and the independent voltage source as you learnt in Example 1. You can place the voltage-controlled current source from the ANALOG library and it is the part called G as shown in Fig-22.

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Connect the components of the circuit together using the Place Wire tool as shown in Fig-23.

Fig-23 Note: The voltage-controlled current source has its current source oriented in the opposite direction from the current source specified in Fig-21. Therefore, after the G part is placed in the circuit, the value of the current source must be adjusted to correspond to the polarity indicated in Fig-21. 5) Double click in the center of the G1 symbol to open the Property Editor window for the G1 part as shown in Fig-24. Make sure to place the cursor in the GAIN field and click to be able to edit the value of the current source gain to be -0.7. Notice that making the gain multiplier negative reverses the current source direction to match the direction of the dependent current source in Fig-21.

Fig-24

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Note: Be sure to click the Apply button in the upper left of the window before closing the Property Editor with the window. close button in the upper right corner of the

Note: Be sure to close the inner Property Editor window and not the overall OrCAD Capture window. 6) Finally, create a simulation profile and run it as you learnt in Example 1. The results will be shown on the circuit as shown in Fig-25. Do not forget to press the and the buttons to show the desired voltages and currents.

Fig-25

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Example 3: The goal of this example is to simulate the circuit shown in Fig-26 to
determine the voltage drop across the nodes labeled Vout along with the current through the 5 resistor, when the voltage produced by the source labeled Vin varies from 0 to 12 volts. Finally, it is required to find the point of intersect of both curves representing the voltage and current of the 5 resistor.

Fig-26 1) Create a new project and call it Example 3. Then start placing the resistors, the current source (IDC), and the known voltage source (VDC) in the schematic entry window. Assign the different values for the resistors, the 2 A source, and the 19 V source. Place Vin from the SOURCE library as shown in Fig-27 (next page). Notice that you are using VSRC this time, not VDC.

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Note: Notice that the designator + Vout - in the schematic in Fig-27 is simply a label that does not have a connection to the nodes in the circuit. This label can be added by clicking Place Text

This action will open a text box where you can write any text you want. You can place this text box anywhere, write + Vout - inside it, and then move it to the location shown in the Fig-26.

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Fig-27 4) Connect the components of the circuit together using the Place Wire tool as shown in Fig-28.

Fig-28

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Create a simulation profile and give it a name, then click on the Create button. In the Simulation Settings window, choose DC Sweep as the Analysis Type. Click the OK button when you finish.

Fig-29 Note: Sweep Variable represents the X-axis of your future plot. And it is clear here that our variable is V1 (Vin) and this is why it is a must to click the radio beside the Voltage source, and it is a must to identify this source in the area labeled by Name as shown in Fig-29. Note: Sweep Type gives information about the variable chosen to represent the X-axis of your future plot. Make sure to click the radio next to Linear. Start Value and End Value give the range of readings, while Increment gives the minimum step between each two readings. It is clear from Fig-29 that you are going vary Vin from 0 to 12V in steps of 0.1V. 6) The voltage across the 5 resistor can be plotted by clicking on the Voltage Difference Marker button and then placing the marker symbols at the nodes of interest as shown in Fig-30 (next page).

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Note: The symbols labeled V+ and V- are generated by the Voltage Difference Marker button and indicate to PSpice that the voltage drop across R2, in the direction indicated by the + and signs, will be plotted. 7) The current through the 5 resistor can be plotted by clicking on the Current and then placing the marker symbols on the branch of interest Marker button as shown in Fig-30.

Fig-30 8) Run the simulation by clicking the run icon button. This will create the plot shown in Fig-31 (next page). You should recognize that the output curves are straight lines as would be expected for both voltage and current in this simple linear circuit. Since our point of intersect does not appear then it is important to edit the range of the plot to find this point. This goal can be reached by clicking PSpice Edit Simulation Profile

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Then edit the End Value to be 18 instead of 12. This action will increase the range of the X-axis and will give the opportunity to see the point of intersect, as shown in Fig-32 (next page).

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Fig-31

Fig-32

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To find the data of the point of intersect click on the Toggle Cursor button and notice that a dashed line cursor appears in the plot area and that a Probe Cursor data box appears in the bottom right of the PSpice output window as shown in Fig-33.

Fig-33 Note: In the lower left portion of the plot is a legend showing the color and symbol used in the curve representing the voltage and the current in your plot. You should also notice that there is a dashed box around one of the two symbols (which is V in Fig-33). This indicates that the cursor being shown is tracking that particular output value. If you want to get similar information about the current, you just have to click on the symbol representing the current.

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Time Domain Analysis

Example 1: The goal of this example is to simulate the circuit shown in Fig-34 to
determine the natural response of this simple RL circuit by plotting the loop current, and to determine the time at which the current has reached half of its original value. The initial current of the inductor is 10 mA flowing in the inductor at t = 0.

Fig-34 1) Create a new project and call it Time Domain Example 1. Then start placing the parts of the circuit, the resistor R, the inductor L and the ground 0 in the Capture schematic window, and finally connect the components together using the Place Wire tool as shown in Fig-35.

Fig-35 2) Double click on the 10uH label of L1 and change the value of the inductance to be 10 mA then click the OK button as shown in Fig-36 (next page).

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Fig-36 3) Double click on the inductor symbol to open the Property Editor window for the inductor, and then specify the initial current in the inductor in the field labeled IC to be 10m (10mA), as shown in Fig-37. Notice that IC stands for Initial Condition of current.

Fig-37 Note: It is very important to click the Apply button after changing any property in the Property Editor window before you end working with this window, otherwise the changes will not be done. This is why it is very important to click the Apply button after you change IC to be 10m. 26

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To display the initial current of the inductor on the Capture schematic window from the Property Editor window of the inductor Select IC click OK click Display click Apply select the radio next to Name and Value close the Property Editor window

The Display Property window will look like the window shown in Fig-38.

Fig-38 5) Add a current marker to the circuit to plot the loop current, then rotate the marker as shown in Fig-39.

Fig-39

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Create a simulation profile and give it a name, then click on the Create button. In the Simulation Settings window, choose Time Domain (Transient) as the Analysis Type. Click the OK button when you finish.

Fig-40 Note: Run to time represents the X-axis of your future plot. It represents the time at which the plot will stop, and from Fig-40 it is clear that our plot will end at 60us. So, the circuit will be analyzed from t = 0 until t = TSTOP = 60us. Note: Since the initial conditions for the circuit are specified as part of the inductor parameters, it is necessary to check the box Skip the initial transient bias point calculations (SKIPBP). This saves simulation time by omitting unnecessary attempts at recalculating the state of the circuit at t = 0. 7) Run the simulation by clicking on the run icon button in the Capture schematic window. This will create the plot shown in Fig-41 (next page).

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Fig-41 8) To find the time at which the current reduced to half of its value click on the Toggle Cursor button and notice that a dashed line cursor appears in the plot area and that a Probe Cursor data box appears in the bottom right of the PSpice output window showing you the desired time as shown in Fig-42. Eng. Eyad Kamal Shams 29

Fig-42

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Example 2: The goal of this example is to simulate the circuit shown in Fig-43 to
determine the voltage across the capacitor and the current through the resistor as a function of time. The capacitor is initially charged to 5 V and will be connected to the resistor at time t = 10 ms.

Fig-43 1) Create a new project and call it Time Domain Example 2. Then start placing the parts of the circuit, the resistor R, the capacitor C and the ground 0 in the Capture schematic window. In the Place Part window, add the library EVAL using the Add Library button. Then choose the Sw_tClose part (the switch) and press the OK button as shown in Fig-44. Finally, place the switch in the circuit in the Capture schematic window.

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Fig-44 Eng. Eyad Kamal Shams 31

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Connect all the components of the circuit using the Place Wire tool as shown in Fig-45.

Fig-45 4) Change the default value of the capacitor to be 10 uF, then change the initial voltage of the capacitor to be 5 V in the same manner as you did in the previous example with the inductor, then finally, change the resistor value to be 5 k as shown in Fig-46.

Fig-46 5) Double click on the symbol of the switch to use the Property Editor window of it, and then make the necessary modifications to the parameters as shown in Fig-47 (next page). Do not forget to display the TCLOSE value through the Display button and do not forget to click the Apply button before you close the Property Editor window.

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Fig-47 Note: TCLOSE represents the time at which this switch starts closing, which is 10 ms in this example. TTRAN represents the transition time for the switch, that is, the time it takes the switch to close, which is 10 ps in this example. This is a very fast switch closure especially when considered in relation to other circuit time constants. ROPEN represents the open-circuit resistance of the switch, which is 100 Mega in this example. RCLOSED represents the closed-circuit resistance of the switch, which is 0.001 in this example. 6) Add a voltage marker to the circuit as shown in Fig-48 to be able to plot the voltage of the capacitor.

Fig- 48 Eng. Eyad Kamal Shams 33

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Create a simulation profile and give it a name, then click on the Create button. In the Simulation Settings window, choose Time Domain (Transient) as the Analysis Type. Finally, make sure that TSTOP = 300 ms, and that (SKIPBP) is checked before you click the OK button as shown in Fig-49.

Fig-49 7) run icon button in the Capture Run the simulation by clicking on the schematic window. This will create the plot shown in Fig-50 (next page), which represents the voltage across the capacitor as a function of time. In the Probe window (where it shows Fig-50) click Trace Delete All Traces

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This will delete the plot of the voltage, and then click Trace Add Trace

This action will open the Add Trace window shown in Fig-51 (next page). Choose I(R1) from the Simulation Output Variable field to plot the current through the resistor. Finally, click the OK button to find the current plot through the resistor as a function of time as shown in Fig- 52 (page 36).

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Fig-50

Fig-51 Eng. Eyad Kamal Shams 35

Note: Notice that you may need to rotate the resistor three times instead of one time from its original position in the schematic window. This is because PSpice uses a convention to designate one of the terminals as the positive node and then reports I(R1) as the current into the positive node. This is needed to make the legend I(R1) instead of I(R1). You may need to do the same procedure of rotation to any other circuit component like the capacitors or inductors.

Fig-52

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Example 3: The goal of this example is to simulate the circuit shown in Fig-53 to
determine the voltage across the resistor and the current through the resistor as a function of time. The capacitor is initially charged to 10 V and the inductor has 1 A flowing in it at t = 0.

Fig-53 1) Create a new project and call it Time Domain Example 3. Then start placing the parts of the circuit, the resistor R, the capacitor C, the inductor L, and the ground 0 in the Capture schematic window. Then, change the values of the circuits elements to meet the desired values in Fig-53, taking into consideration to change the initial conditions of both the capacitor and the inductor. Finally, connect the elements with the Place Wire tool. Add a Voltage marker and a current marker to the circuit to plot the desired voltage and current as a function of time as shown in Fig-54. Make sure to rotate both markers as shown in Fig-54.

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Fig-54

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Create a simulation profile and give it a name, then click on the Create button. In the Simulation Settings window, choose Time Domain (Transient) as the Analysis Type. Finally, make sure that TSTOP = 5 s, and that (SKIPBP) is checked before you click the OK button as shown in Fig-55.

Fig-55 4) run button in the Capture schematic Run the simulation by clicking on the window. This will create the plot shown in Fig-56 (next page), which represents the voltage across and the current through the resistor as a function of time. It is clear that the waveforms of Fig-56 are not as smooth as the waveforms that would be observed on the oscilloscope for an actual circuit. So, to modify the waveforms, return to the Capture schematic window then click PSpice Edit Simulation Profile

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This action will re-open the Simulation Settings window. This time add the value 0.001 in the filed labeled by Maximum step size to increase the sample times, as shown in Fig-57 (next page).

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Fig-56

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Re-run the simulation by clicking on the run button in the Capture schematic window. This will create the plot shown in Fig-58, which represents the smooth waveforms for the voltage across and the current through the resistor.

Fig-58

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Frequency Domain Analysis

Example 1: The goal of this example is to simulate the circuit shown in Fig-59 to
determine the frequency response of a simple filter circuit by plotting both the magnitude and phase of the voltage across C2. The source is a steady state sinusoidal signal generator with an input waveform having a magnitude of 1 V.

Fig-59 1) Create a new project and call it Frequency Domain Example 1. Then start placing the parts of the circuit, the two resistors R1 & R2, the two capacitors C1 & C2 and the ground 0 in the Capture schematic window, and finally change their values to meet the values seen in Fig-59. In the Place Part window, choose the VAC part from the SOURCE Library, as shown in Fig-60 (next page). This is the sinusoidal source you are going to use in your circuit. Then click the OK button and place it in the Capture schematic window. Make sure that the amplitude of the input voltage is 1 V (Vac), while the DC offset of it is zero (Vdc). Connect all the components of the circuit using the wire tool. Add a voltage marker to the circuit as shown in Fig-61 (next page) to plot the voltage across the capacitor C2. Do not forget to rotate the voltage marker to be as seen in Fig-61.

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Fig-60

Fig-61

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Create a simulation profile and give it a name, then click on the Create button. In the Simulation Settings window, choose AC Sweep/Noise as the Analysis Type. Make sure that the AC Sweep Type is Linear, the Start Frequency is 1 Hz, the End Frequency is 1300 Hz, and the Total Points is 300 before you click the OK button as shown in Fig-62.

Fig-62 Note: Start Frequency and End Frequency identifies the range of the plot on the X-axis. So, in this example the range of the plot will be from 1 Hz to 1300 Hz. Total Points represents the total number of points needed to make the plot. 7) Run the simulation by clicking on the run button in the Capture schematic window. This will create the plot shown in Fig-63 (next page), which represents the voltage across the capacitor C2. Notice that the legend at the bottom left corner of the plot says V(R2:2), which is the voltage at the right node of resistor R2, which is in the same time the magnitude of the voltage across capacitor C2.

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Fig-63 With the plot shown in Fig-63 visible in the Probe window, click on Plot Add Plot to Window

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This action will add a new set of axes to the plotting window. 9) Click on Trace Add Trace

This action will open the Add Trace window shown in Fig-64 (next page). Choose the V(C2:2) as the output variable by clicking on the line with this variable name in the left column. V(C2:2) is actually the voltage magnitude. 10) Edit the line at the bottom of the window labeled Trace Expression so that it reads VP(C2:2) as shown in Fig-64 (next page). Note that the insertion of the P is made to plot the phase angle of node 2 of the voltage across C2. Once you click on the OK button, the plot shown in Fig-65 (page 46) will appear showing both the magnitude and phase of the voltage across C2 in two different plots.

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Fig-64

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Fig-65

Note: SEL>> tells you which plot is active to make any necessary analysis to it.

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Example 2: The goal of this example is to simulate the circuit shown in Fig-66 to plot
the voltage across the inductor on a logarithmic scale, and then uses this plot to determine the corner frequencies of the band pass filter. The source is a steady state sinusoidal signal generator with an input waveform having a magnitude of 1 V.

Fig-66 1) Create a new project and call it Frequency Domain Example 2. Then start placing the parts of the circuit, the resistor R1, the capacitor C1, the inductor L1, the sinusoidal source V1 and the ground 0 in the Capture schematic window, and finally change their values to meet the values mentioned in this example. Connect all the elements of the circuit using the Place Wire tool. Then add a voltage marker and rotate it as seen in Fig-67.

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Fig-67

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Create a simulation profile and give it a name, then click on the Create button. In the Simulation Settings window, choose AC Sweep/Noise as the Analysis Type. Make sure that the AC Sweep Type is Logarithmic, the Start Frequency is 1 Hz, the End Frequency is 10 MHz, and the Total Points is 1000 before you click the OK button as shown in Fig-68.

Fig-68

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run button in the Capture schematic Run the simulation by clicking on the window. This will create the plot shown in Fig-69 (next page), which represents the voltage across the inductor L1 on a logarithmic scale. Notice that this is the shape of the band pass filter. To get a better estimate of the interesting frequencies, edit the simulation settings of this simulation profile to plot the curve over the range 3.5 KHz to 7 KHz, then re-run the simulation by clicking on the run button in the Capture schematic window. This will create the plot shown in Fig-70 (next page).

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Fig-69

Fig-70

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The two corner frequencies are shown in Fig-71 and Fig-72 (next page) respectively using the Toggle Cursor button and moving the dashed line cursor in the plot area while monitoring the Probe Cursor data box.

Fig-71

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Fig-72

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Comments
Opening Projects:
At times, for various reasons, when a project file is opened (a file of with extension .opj) the Capture schematic window is not opened, but rather a window similar to the one in Fig-73 is shown. The small window embedded in the Capture window shows the hierarchy of files used in this project.

Fig-73 To open the Capture schematic window for this project, follow the following steps: 1) 2) Double-click on the .dsn file (highlighted in Fig-73). Double-click on the folder labeled SCHEMATIC to expose the page(s) of the schematic files (usually one page). Double-click on the file named PAGE1, and the schematic will open providing the normal schematic editing view, as shown in Fig-74 (next page).

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Fig-74

Common mistakes:
1) 2) 3) 4) 5) Forgetting to insert the ground symbol. Forgetting to change the ground value to 0 instead of GND. Typing letter O instead of the number 0. Confusing M for mega instead of MEG. M or m stands for milli. Writing 1F to represent one farad of capacitance. F stands for femto (which is 10-15) not farad. Inserting wrong numbers. Creating two or more elements with the same name. Reversing the polarities of the elements, this result in reversed plots and figures.

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Tips:
1) You can write any expression in the Trace Expression filed in the Add Trace window. This helps in plotting so many useful expressions. On occasions, you may click the Run button from the Capture window and the PSpice window will pop up, but the simulation will not be running. This problem might be fixed by re-clicking the Run button in the Capture schematic window.

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