( ESNUG 389 Item 10 ) -------------------------------------------- [03/06/02]
From: Tim Colton <colton@mondes.com>
Subject: "L" Shaped Blocks In Monterey (Aristo) IC Wizard With Cadence SE
Hi John,
I am in the application engineering group supporting the (Aristo) IC Wizard
here at Monterey. The most common question that comes up from our
customers recently is how to support an 'L' shape block created in (Aristo)
IC Wizard when they export the block to Cadence Silicon Ensemble.
If you create a non-rectangular block in IC Wizard, you still can output
this to Silicon Ensemble for placement and routing. However, because the
DEF syntax doesn't provide direct support for this, we had to implement a
work-around. First, you need to set a hidden parameter in IC Wizard.
set parameter -key PIP_EXP_BARRIERS -integer 1
I know this is ugly but I'm told they're going to move this into the GUI
next release.
When this parameter is set, the DEF writer will output a special net called
"_BLOCKAGE_RESERVED" which defines the routing keepout for Silicon Ensemble.
IC Wizard will generate standard cell rows that fill the entire bounding box
specified by "DIEAREA" in DEF, however ROWS that cross any placed macros
will be trimmed automatically by SE using the CUT ROW command.
Unfortunately, this doesn't help with the _BLOCKAGE_RESERVED area. However,
IC Wizard will also write out a macro file that deletes the rows in the
appropriate area when the PIP_EXP_BARRIERS parameter is set. Note that any
user specified blockages in IC Wizard are handled in the same way.
If you are using the TCL interface to Dolphin instead of the DEF interface
to SE, there is no need to set this parameter as this is all handled
directly by the TCL interface.
I hope this helps prevent some problems ESNUG readers might encounter.
- Tim Colton
Monterey Design Systems Sunnyvale, CA
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