Patent ID: 8886508

Claim:
A method implemented by a semiconductor design system for simulating a circuit, the method comprising: generating, from a schematic description of a semiconductor device, a first set of data comprising descriptions of circuit elements in the semiconductor device and connectivity of the circuit elements in the semiconductor device; calculating, by an analysis engine of the semiconductor design system, using the first set of data, a set of approximate input values for a set of actual input values of one of the circuit elements in the semiconductor device; determining, by the analysis engine, a hash value for the set of approximate input values; and if a model cache entry in a model cache stored in a first memory coupled to the analysis engine and associated with the one of the circuit elements and the hash value comprises values matching the approximate input values, then determining, by the analysis engine, previously calculated output values corresponding to the model cache entry, and calculating, by the analysis engine, output values for the one of the circuit elements using the previously calculated output values, stored in a second memory coupled to the analysis engine, corresponding to the model cache entry and the set of actual input values of the circuit element.