Mike Engelhardt: The Mind Behind Qorvo’s QSPICE® Simulator
Qorvo’s Mike Engelhardt stands out. He stands out in a crowd, in conversations and in the industry.
In his signature wide-brimmed hat and bow tie, Mike is the innovative mind behind Qorvo’s simulator, QSPICE. He’s well-known not just for his technical acumen but also for what some might call an unconventional approach to engineering. “I grew up in a very rural part of Michigan,” he said. “Our area was outside of any town or village. Until I was 18, I probably only knew about 30 people. I just didn’t see how I was going to survive on the kinds of jobs out there.”
He says his career turning point came when his family got a television. Seeing respected scientists in lab coats on TV inspired him to pursue a career in technology, envisioning it as his ticket to more.
“That's my meal ticket, I thought. I can do what those guys do. That's why I was interested in technology. I was most interested in physics because I thought that was the center of everything. I followed that line of thinking all the way to grad school.”
While earning his undergraduate degree at the University of Michigan and graduate degree at the University of California, Berkeley, his early work involved designing electronics for physics experiments. It all required creating sophisticated, custom-built equipment. “The electronics in physics experiments is not off-the-shelf equipment,” he said. “You have to design and make a lot of fairly fancy stuff, and that's how I learned electronics. I was also very interested in simulation from a very early age because I just thought it was really fascinating as a way of solving technical problems that couldn’t be solved by any other means.”
Engineer, Trust Thy Self
Mike says the role of simulation in engineering is often misunderstood. He emphasizes that simulation should be used to gain insight into circuit behavior rather than just verifying designs. "The point of simulation is to nurture your intuition, to develop your understanding of a circuit," he explained. Mike believes that relying solely on simulation as a final check doesn’t take advantage of what it has to offer. “You start with simulation; you develop your understanding of a circuit. A design evolves out of the process." He advocates for starting with simulation to guide the design process and refine understanding.
Mike is critical of the two extremes of thought regarding simulation. On one end, some believe that simulation is merely a sanity check, which Mike dismisses with characteristic candor, "If you're concerned about your sanity, you should see a therapist. Simulation isn't going to help you." On the other end, some see simulation as the ultimate verification tool, a view he considers equally misguided. According to Mike, true understanding and innovation come from using simulation as a tool to enhance one's intuition and insights into circuit behavior.
The journey in developing QSPICE was driven by a desire to correct past imperfections and create a superior simulation program. Mike predicts that QSPICE will become the most popular simulation tool, surpassing all others combined.
Can’t Miss ‘em
Mike's personal philosophy and unique style extend beyond his work. Known for his distinctive hat and bowtie, he says that the hat became his trademark after a particularly frustrating day at work. Mike says to clear his head, he drove to Bolinas Beach north of San Francisco, a place known for its local charm and ended up buying a straw hat “just so that I don't take myself so seriously. Turns out hats are amazingly addictive. Once you start wearing a hat, you won't stop wearing hats."
“The bow tie, I'm not so sure. I did a lot of seminars several years ago. I was on a perpetual lecture tour for about 15 years, and I would wear a tie. But my coworkers would tell me, you know, people don't wear ties anymore. I explained, ‘Look, I'm not wearing the tie for them; I'm wearing it for me—so I remember to watch my language while I'm talking, okay?"’
“There are three aspects that elevate QSPICE above prior SPICE simulators,” Mike said. “First, improved SPICE basics. That means QSPICE solves traditional SPICE problems more accurately and faster because it has corrected device equations and completely rearchitected timestep control. Secondly, QSPICE has phenomenal mixed-mode simulation performance—outperforming even typical dedicated digital simulators. And third, utilizing the GPU allows QSPICE to plot waveforms 100,000 times faster while rendering all CAD drawings and waveforms in true desktop publishing quality.”
Mike is always interested in hearing from others who may be interested in seeing QSPICE at mike.engelhardt@qorvo.com. To download QSPICE or browse training materials, visit the QSPICE website.
