( ESNUG 441 Item 1 ) -------------------------------------------- [03/09/05]
From: Savino Grillo <savino.grillo=user domain=synopsys spot calm>
Subject: DC XG Means Scripts, Database, DFT, and Floorplan Manager Changes
Hi, John,
I'd like to bring your readers attention to the new XG mode available in
DC/PhysOpt 2004.06 and 2004.12.
"I am desperately looking forward using DC 2004.06 (Nighthawk2), and
get the area savings. I could not try 2003.12 because the area savings
are meant to happen if you use XG-mode, but this mode is in limited
availability, and we don't have license keys for it in my company."
- from http://www.deepchip.com/items/snug04-04.html
XG mode has a much higher gate capacity. On average, we expect 2X the
capacity relative to DC 2003.12. This increase in capacity also translates
to faster run-times for designs of the same size. The XG mode speeds up
several non-compile portions of the flow. Expect timing reports to run 30%
faster. More complex scripts which include design queries, collection
handling and netlist editing commands should be 2X as fast.
The benefits of XG-mode extend to all tools which use the DC infrastructure
including tools like DFT and Power Compiler. The read/merge/report_saif is
around 10X faster.
So what's the catch to take advantage of XG mode?
1. Turn it on (-xg_mode)
2. Use a TCL shell
3. Use new DDC database format. The old .db database is gone.
4. Floorplan Manager is no longer supported.
To enable XG mode use the following commands.
For Design Compiler:
dc_shell tcl_mode -xg_mode
design_vision -xg_mode
For PhysOpt:
psyn_shell -xg_mode
psyn_gui -xg_mode
To use DDC, you just substitute read/write db commands with read_ddc and
write -f ddc. To convert an existing db into the new DDC database:
1) read_db design.db
write -format ddc design.ddc
2) Exit the dc_shell session. Then start a new dc_shell session.
3) read_ddc design.ddc
4) continue operations as before...
And now the fine print for our esteemed DFT users:
For DFT users we have good news and bad news. First, the good news. We
took the opportunity to enhance the DFT user interface to make it more
consistent and intuitive. The bad news is DFT scripts need to be changed.
There is an automatic conversion utility, "db2xg", which will do this for
you. You can find it at:
$SYNOPSYS/auxx/syn/dftc/db2xg
For all the users of custom wireload models, Floorplan Manager is no longer
supported under XG mode in DC.
Although we will continue to support the non-XG mode, I would encourage
users to move to XG mode. XG mode will become the default in the 2005.09
synthesis release.
- Savino Grillo
Synopsys, Inc. Sunnyvalle, CA
Index
Next->Item
|
|
