How to realize the comparison between layout with calibre

It is believed that many inexperienced people are at a loss about how to compare layout with calibre. Therefore, this paper summarizes the causes and solutions of the problem. Through this article, I hope you can solve this problem.

We usually still have the opportunity to make minor local changes to the layout after we have gone through the film. For example, metal change eco or some level of local modification. When we modify it, we need to compare it with the previous gds to make sure that it has not moved to another level for some reason. Here's how to use calibre to compare layouts.

Command line form

Calibre provides a good tool, dbdiff, to generate drc rule for xor. The command is in the same location as calibredrv. Dbdiff will compare the layout with cell by cell.

Dbdiff can support different layout file types.

This article takes the most common comparison between GDS and GDS as an example. If the file type is different, please modify it yourself.

Dbdiff-refsystem GDS-system GDS-refdesign chip_top_ref.gds chip_top-design chip_top.gds chip_top-write_xor_rules xor.rul diff-resultformat ASCII

When the execution is complete, the "xor.rul" rule file is generated. Use this rule file for drc checking.

Calibre-drc-hier-turbo-hyper-fx xor.rul | tee xor.log &

Then check the results in RVE.

Graphical interface

The graphical interface provided by calibre can also be very convenient to do XOR comparison.

First, open any layout file with calibredrv.

And open the nmDRC interface.

Select Fast XOR

At this point, you have two layout documents to fill out.

Fill in the file name and top cell name respectively. Format selects based on the file type.

File types not only support GDSII OASIS, but also support Milkyway, LEFDEF and OPENACCESS.

By the way, remember to write xor rule.

After these are filled out, you can run DRC directly.

Similarly, after the execution is complete, check the running results in RVE.

After reading the above, have you mastered how to compare layout with calibre? If you want to learn more skills or want to know more about it, you are welcome to follow the industry information channel, thank you for reading!