calibre fundamentals performing drv-lvs.pdf

Calibre Fundamentals: Performing DRC/LVS

Lab Workbook

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Part Number: 072404

Calibre Fundamentals: Performing DRC/LVS 3

Table of Contents

Lab 1Calibre Basic Concepts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7Lab Conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7List of Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8Exercise 1:Invoke Calibre DESIGNrev . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Exercise 2:Launch Calibre Interactive - nmDRC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12Exercise 3:View a Discrepancy With Calibre RVE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17Exercise 4:Get Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20Exercise 5:Experiment With DESIGNrev (Optional) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Lab 2Calibre nmDRC Basics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45List of Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45Exercise 1:Set Up and Run Calibre nmDRC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46Exercise 2:Check the Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53Exercise 3:Correct Errors in the Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67Exercise 4:Run Calibre nmDRC on the New Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Lab 3nmDRC Job Customization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

List of Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75Exercise 1:Hierarchical versus Flat DRC Runs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76Exercise 2:Create and Use Rule Groups. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79Exercise 3:Run DRC on a Selected Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84Exercise 4:Run DRC Skipping Cells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86Exercise 5:Display Hierarchical Results in Different Ways. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87Exercise 6:Correct Errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91Exercise 7:Advanced Hierarchy in DRC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Lab 4Calibre nmDRC Additional Topics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95List of Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95Exercise 1:Select Rule Checks by Layer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96Exercise 2:Working With Fixed and Waived Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101Exercise 3:Using Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105Exercise 4:Comparing Layout Versions With dbdiff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

Table of Contents

4 Calibre Fundamentals: Performing DRC/LVS

Lab 5Calibre Incremental DRC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119List of Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119Exercise 1:Run a Calibre Incremental DRC Complete Flow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120Exercise 2:Run a Calibre Incremental DRC Previous Results Flow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127Exercise 3:Run a Calibre Incremental DRC Design Delta Flow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

Lab 6Calibre nmLVS Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

List of Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133Exercise 1:Basic LVS Run . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134Exercise 2:Investigating Nets in RVE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148Exercise 3:Investigating Layout Devices in RVE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156Exercise 4:Hierarchical LVS and Hcells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160

Lab 7Texting and Connectivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165

List of Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165Exercise 1:Find a Misspelled Layout Text Label . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166Exercise 2:Find a Badly-Placed Layout Text Label . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170Exercise 3:Find Nonfunctional Text Annotations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176Exercise 4:Find a Hard Connection Error (Not Shorts or Opens) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178Exercise 5:Use SCONNECT to Find Soft Connection Errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180Exercise 6:Fix Connectivity Errors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183

Lab 8Troubleshooting Shorts and Opens. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187

List of Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187Exercise 1:Troubleshooting an Open . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188Exercise 2:Troubleshooting a Short . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193Exercise 3:Troubleshooting a Circuit With Both Shorts and Opens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200Exercise 4:Troubleshooting a Power to Ground Short . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206

Lab 9Troubleshooting Device Problems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213

Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213List of Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213Exercise 1:Find a Pin Swap Discrepancy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214Exercise 2:Finding Malformed Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219Exercise 3:Property Tracing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222

Lab 10Calibre nmLVS Additional Topics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227

Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227List of Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227Exercise 1:Using LVS ISOLATE SHORTS Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228

Table of Contents


Exercise 2:Applying Device Reduction Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236Exercise 3:Working With Device Signatures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241

Lab 11Antennas, ERC, and Geometric Output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251

Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251List of Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251Exercise 1:Improving Antenna Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252Exercise 2:Create a GDSII Plot File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259Exercise 3:ERC. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263

Lab 12Calibre Interactive Additional Features. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265

Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265List of Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265Exercise 1:Run a Calibre nmLVS Job . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266Exercise 2:Use Calibre Interactive to Create an Hcell File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268Exercise 3:Debug a Device Problem Using the Layer Derivation Tree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272Exercise 4:Add an SVRF Statement Using the GUI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276Exercise 5:Debug a Device Problem Using the COPY Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278

Lab 13Final Exam. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287

Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287Hints:. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287

Appendix ALVS Report Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289

Report 1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289Report 2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295Report 3. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311

Appendix BSchematics for Lab Circuit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317

Answer Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322

Table of Contents

6 Calibre Fundamentals: Performing DRC/LVS


Lab 1Calibre Basic Concepts

IntroductionIn this lab you will learn how to launch the various Calibre Interactive tools from the layout editor. You will run a preset DRC job, learning how to view a discrepancy using Calibre RVE. You will also explore how to obtain help for the various Calibre tools.

Finally, you will be encouraged to experiment with polygon creation in DESIGNrev to enable you to edit layout designs in future labs.

Several concepts and procedures have not yet been thoroughly explained in the lecture, but you will be given enough information to perform the necessary tasks. You will obtain a deeper understanding of these concepts in later lectures and labs.

In this first lab, all procedural steps contain full step-by-step instructions and information. As you gain practice in performing common procedures, the labs will provide less instructions on those procedures. You will be informed in the labs when detailed step-by-step instructions for a procedure will no longer be given, and you will be provided with the most recent lab step containing those instructions.

Lab ConventionsIn order to make labs as simple and clear as possible, the instructions use the following conventions:

This class is written for DESIGNrev layout editor users.

You usually just click mouse buttons unless specifically told to do otherwise.o LMB: left mouse button (default)o RMB: right mouse button

o MMB: middle mouse button

Numbered or lettered steps indicate that you perform some action. Paragraphs without numbers only provide supplemental information or questions for you to think about

In the early exercises, all steps are provided. Once you have completed a task, you will simply be told to do it, with maybe a little reminder of how it was done.

You should leave the tools up and running as you move from exercise to exercise. The exercises usually build on each other. On the other hand, you can close the tools after a

Calibre Fundamentals: Performing DRC/LVS8

Calibre Basic Concepts

lab (full block of exercises). If you are specifically told to close a tool or application between exercises, you should do so.

If you ever have any problems or questions about a lab, feel free to ask your instructor for help.

List of ExercisesExercise 1: Invoke DESIGNrev and Launch Calibre

Exercise 2: Launch Calibre Interactive - nmDRC

Exercise 3: View a Discrepancy With Calibre RVE

Exercise 4: Get Help

Exercise 5: Experiment With DESIGNrev (Optional)

Calibre Basic ConceptsInvoke Calibre DESIGNrev


Exercise 1: Invoke Calibre DESIGNrevIn this exercise you will invoke DESIGNrev from the command line, load a GDSII design, and load the layer palette.

1. From a UNIX shell, change your directory to lab1.cd $HOME/calibre_drc_lvs/lab1

2. Launch DESIGNrev.$MGC_HOME/bin/calibredrv

CautionDo not launch DESIGNrev as a background process! Also do not type in the DESIGNrev shell window once the application is invoked until after you close it. Iconize this shell window to minimize any chance of typing in it.

This command opens the initial DESIGNrev window.

Now you will load the GSDII file.

3. Choose Menu: File > Open Layout Files.

4. Select lab1.gds, by double-clicking.

These steps open the layout design you will be using for the first parts of this lab.

Next you load the layer properties file. This file names the layers (rather than just using numbers) and gives the layers their expected colors.

5. Load the layer properties by clicking Menu: Layer > Load Layer Properties.

This step opens the Load Layer Properties dialog box.

6. Select the process.layerprops file.

7. Click Open to load the layer properties.

The DESIGNrev window should look similar to the following:



If the background color you see is black rather than white, change it to white by clicking the white color sample in the Layers pane using the MMB (middle mouse button). In a later exercise, you will review how to work in the DESIGNrev environment. For now, you are ready to launch Calibre Interactive.

Calibre Interactive helps the user select which Calibre tool to launch. In this class, we are covering DRC.

The last section of this lab covers Calibre RVE. For most of this class, we will allow RVE to launch automatically after a DRC run, so we will not select it at this point.

8. From DESIGNrev, choose Menu: Verification > RVE/CI Setup.

This opens the RVE / CI Setup dialog box.



In the RVE Specific area, the Highlight Base Layer is the layer number of the first RVE highlight layer. The Count is the default number of RVE highlight layers allowed. You will leave these two numbers as the defaults.

The socket number is specified in the Server area. The socket number determines which TCP-IP socket DESIGNrev will use to communicate with Calibre Interactive and Calibre RVE. In general, the socket number should not require editing. Leave the socket as the default number (unless the instructor tells you otherwise).

Additional socket information: Sharing data between Calibre DESIGNrev and any other application requiresestablishing a connection between them using sockets and TCP-IP protocol. Sockets are essentially addressesto which messages and data can be sent. One application, the server, owns the address. The other, the client,sends messages to that address. The Calibre DESIGNrev revision tool selects a default socket forcommunicating with other applications. If that socket is busy, it finds an available one. However, if you intendto share data with another application that is already running, you must know the socket number thatapplication is using.

9. Click Cancel to close the RVE / CI setup dialog box.


Calibre Basic ConceptsLaunch Calibre Interactive - nmDRC

Exercise 2: Launch Calibre Interactive - nmDRCIn this exercise you will open Calibre Interactive - nmDRC and load a runset containing all the information required for a DRC run. You will then review all the various menus and options available from Calibre Interactive - nmDRC.

Initially, Calibre Interactive - nmDRC asks you to choose a runset. A runset is a file containing saved settings of and entries in Calibre Interactive so you can have consistency between Calibre runs.

1. Invoke Calibre Interactive - nmDRC.

Choose Menu: Verification > Run nmDRC

The Calibre Interactive - nmDRC window and Load Runset File dialog box should now be displayed, similar to the ones shown below:

2. Click the Browse button in the Load Runset File dialog box.



This button opens the Choose Runset dialog box.

3. Making sure you are in the lab1 directory, select lab1_runset.txt.

4. Click OK in the Choose Runset dialog box.

This step returns you to the Load Runset File dialog box with lab1_runset.txt entered in the text box. The text should be green, indicating a valid (existing) file.

5. Click OK in the Load Runset File dialog box.

This will make the Calibre Interactive - nmDRC window active and load all preset information into the dialog box. Inputs should be the active Menu Button.

You now have all the information loaded required to perform a DRC run.

6. Click Outputs.

This window displays the information you want Calibre to output from this run and the proper format for RVE. Notice the Show results in RVE is selected causing RVE to start with the DRC results shown automatically.

The DRC Summary Report will be written to the file lab1.drc.summary at the end the DRC run.



7. Click Transcript.

This window will display the transcript while Calibre nmDRC runs.

8. Click Run DRC.

NoteIf the Welcome to Calibre RVE dialog box opens, click OK to close the dialog box.

At the end of the DRC run, two new windows open, The DRC Summary Report window and Calibre RVE. In Calibre Interactive, the Transcript window will look similar to below:

Note the last few of lines in the transcript window. They tell you that the DRC-H run completed.

9. Scroll through the transcript to take note of the type of information available.

10. Make the DRC Summary Report window active by selecting it.



This window displays the results of the DRC check in text format. In later modules, you will cover how to read the report, for now you may want to just skim the report to see the type of information available.

11. When you are finished viewing the report, close the report window. (Choose Menu: File > Close.)

Calibre Basic ConceptsView a Discrepancy With Calibre RVE


Exercise 3: View a Discrepancy With Calibre RVEIn the exercise, you will learn how to use RVE to view discrepancies and highlight them in the layout.

1. Make the RVE window active.

2. In RVE, choose Menu: View > Tree Options and unselect the Show Empty Checks option if it is selected.

3. In RVE, choose Menu: View > Tree Options > Group By > Cell/Check.

The RVE window will now look similar to this (you may need to re-size the window or some of its frames to see all of the information):

This window has pulldown menus that are similar to any application.

It also has a toolbar for the commands used most frequently. The icons from left to right are:



The Tree View contains a tree structure of the DRC results. This view provides a summary of the rule checks and cells involved in the DRC run.

The Results Window, located to the right of the Tree View, displays the list of results associated with the currently-selected check.

Below the Results View is the Details area. This area provides the layout coordinates for the discrepancies (useful when you manually track the location in the layout).The Check Text Pane is located at the bottom of the RVE window. This area displays the information provided from the rule file about the current discrepancy.

4. Look in the Tree View.

Q. What is the name of the rule with the discrepancy? _________________________________________________________________________________

5. Click on result number, 1, in the Results View.

Open database

Clear all highlights

Highlight previous result

Highlight current result

Choose layout window viewing options

Highlight in cell context

Open RVE setup options tab

Highlight next result



Q. What do you see now? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________

This is the type of information you will find for each discrepancy.

In future labs, you will trace the error back to the layout. For now you are finished using RVE.

6. Close the RVE window (Menu: File > Exit).


Calibre Basic ConceptsGet Help

Exercise 4: Get HelpIn this exercise, you will learn the basics of where and how to find help on the various Calibre applications you will be using in this class. There are basically two types of help documentation available for Calibre. Tool Tips provide a brief description of a particular button or field while the Help menu offers access to all the printed documentation.

1. Make the Calibre Interactive - nmDRC window active again.

2. Choose Menu: Setup > Show Tool Tips.

(Make sure the selection box is highlighted.)This button enables Tool Tips.

When you place the cursor over a button or field that has a Tool Tip available, a brief description of the button or field is displayed after about two seconds.

3. Make the Inputs window active.

4. Display the Tool Tip for the File field.

Q. What does this Tool Tip tell you to do?___________________________________________________________________________________________

Q. What interesting piece of information did you learn about this field from the Tool Tip? _________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

5. Try the Tool Tip for the browse button at the end of the File field.

Q. What is the Tool Tip? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________

You can leave the Tool Tips on, or turn them off for the rest of the labs.

6. Choose Menu: Help > Help and Manuals.



7. Click Physical Verification. This action brings up the infoHub specific to Physical Verification.



a. As shown in the picture above, there are many tabs in this InfoHub. Click each of these tabs to view the functions available:

i. Help & Manuals: Displays the content of the manuals available with your Calibre installation.

ii. Support & Training: Provides access to the Mentor Graphics SupportNet and Training websites, if the internet is available on your workstation.

iii. System Admin: Displays the notes of the specific release of Calibre plus installation information.

b. To continue with this exercise, return to the Help & Manuals tab.

8. Select the Calibre Verification User's Manual. The InfoHub lets you open either HTML or PDF. The content is the same in either format.



9. Click the Open HTML button.

This step opens the content of the Calibre Verification User's Manual, as shown below:

10. Click the Search tab, which is the third tab from the left in the top-left hand corner of the browser window containing the users manual.

11. Enter drc database in the search text box.



12. Click the arrow button: .

If the security warning dialog box comes up, select continue. InfoHub will search through the document until it finds that particular string of words.

13. In the left-hand pane of the InfoHub window and under the Topic heading, click the DRC Results Database entry. The right-hand pane of InfoHub presents it findings as shown below:



If time permits, perform more searches until you are comfortable with this function.

14. Close all InfoHub windows.

15. Close all Calibre windows.

(You do not need to save the runset.)Proceed to the next exercise if you would like to get some practice using the Calibre DESIGNrev layout viewer. Otherwise, this concludes Lab1. Do not proceed to Lab2 until your instructor directs you to.


Calibre Basic ConceptsExperiment With DESIGNrev (Optional)

Exercise 5: Experiment With DESIGNrev (Optional)In this exercise, you will learn how to perform some very simple operations in Calibre DESIGNrev. There are multiple ways to perform any task in DESIGNrev. In this lab, most tasks will be performed using the Toolbar or mouse button (RMB or LMB) commands whenever possible.

In this exercise, nothing you are going to do is exacting. You are just to experiment with the tool. You may view any area, select any polygon, change or move any shape. All illustrations are just references to how your layout might look. Anything you do in this exercise will have no bearing on future labs.

You will cover the following topics in this lab:

Displaying the Contents of a Cell

Displaying Lower/Higher levels of hierarchy detail

Zooming Out of an Area

Centering the Display

Selecting Polygons

Unselecting Polygon(s) Selecting more than one Polygon

Unselecting just one Polygon from a group Moving Polygons

Making a Box

Making a Polygon

Adding a New Vertex

Change a Shape By Moving a Segment (Edge) of a Polygon Notching an Existing Shape

Changing the Grid

Changing the Ruler

Finding Instances using RVE

You will start the lab by re-launching DESIGNrev and loading a layout file.

1. Launch DESIGNrev.



$MGC_HOME/bin/calibredrv -m lab1.gds -l process.layerprops

This single command line launches DESIGNrev, opens the layout file and loads the layer properties file in one step, instead of multiple steps as shown in previous exercises.

2. To fit the entire layout into the window, click the Z All toolbar icon. This step also puts you at a good starting point.

Displaying the Contents of a Cell1. Notice the Cells pane on the left side of the tool. This pane controls which cell in the

design is currently displayed. The two tabs let you choose between seeing the cells in the design listed alphabetically, or displayed as hierarchical tree structure.

Notice the text entry field just below the tabs. This field lets you navigate to a specific cell in a large design by entering a partial cell name. Press Tab to complete a partial cell name or Enter (or Return) to select the cell. If the string you type in is ambiguous, the tool responds with the first cell it encounters that matches the string.

2. If cells are not yet displayed as a hierarchical tree structure, click the Tree tab.

3. Expand the tree if it is not already expanded, by click the + by lab1 in the Cells tree to expand the hierarchy list of all the cells in the lab1 cell.

4. Click a1720 in the cell hierarchy list.



This action drops you into cell a1720, where you can both view and edit the internal layout of the cell.

If the background color you see is black rather than white, change it to white by click the white color sample in the Layers pane using the MMB (middle mouse button).

5. Click lab1 in the cell hierarchy list to return to the full design.



Displaying Lower/Higher Levels of Hierarchy Detail1. Choose Menu: View > Change Hierarchy Depth > Increment To Depth

This displays the layout structures one level lower in the hierarchy. You cannot edit the contents of cells at this level, but you can see the underlying structure and avoid creating shorts, and so on.

2. Choose Menu: View > Change Hierarchy Depth > Decrement To Depth.

This returns to only displaying the structures at the upper level of the hierarchy.

Default Depth [0 0]

Depth Increase Depth [0 1]



NoteGo directly to a level in the hierarchy by typing the desired level number. For example, 0 is the top level and 1 is the level just below the top level. >Another trick that works very well for this design (since it only has two levels of hierarchy), is to use > for the lower level and



Zooming Out of an Area:1. Press and hold down the RMB.

2. Draw a rectangle from the lower-right to the upper-left, centering on the area that you would like centered in the new display.

3. Release the RMB.

The size of the rectangle will determine how far the display zooms out. The smaller the rectangle, the more the display will zoom out.

The results may be similar to the following:



Centering the Display1. Place the cursor over the area you want to be the new center of the display.

2. Click the middle mouse button (MMB).NoteIf you only have a two-button mouse, click both buttons at the same time

The layout display recenters itself around the new center.



Selecting Polygons1. Choose the Select icon from the Toolbar Menu. (Make sure the Select icon is selected.)

2. Unselect all selection types except Polygon.

3. Select any single item in the layout by clicking on it with the LMB.

The selected polygon will highlight.

Unselecting Polygon(s)1. Choose the Select icon from the Toolbar Menu. (Make sure the Select icon is selected.)2. Click the LMB in an empty area of the layout.

The unselected polygon will lose its highlight.

Selecting More Than One Polygon1. Choose the Select icon from the Toolbar Menu. (Make sure the Select icon is selected.)2. Hold down the Shift key and click the LMB on the desired polygon.

The selected polygon will be highlighted.

3. Repeat step 2 above until you have selected all the desired polygons.

The selected polygons will highlight as they are selected.

Unselecting Just One Polygon From a Group1. Choose the Select icon from the Toolbar Menu. (Make sure the Select icon is selected.)2. Hold down the Ctrl key and click the LMB on the undesired polygon.

The unselected polygon will lose its highlight.



Moving Polygons1. Select the polygon(s).2. Choose the Move icon from the Toolbar Menu.

3. Press and hold down the LMB.

4. Drag the polygon(s) to their new location.NoteYou do need to have the cursor directly over one of the selected items to move them. The selected items will move relative to the cursor. Please experiment with this feature, so you understand how the move function operates.

5. Release the LMB.

Notice that your polygon(s) are still selected after the move operation.6. Undo the move by selecting Menu: Edit > Undo: Move.

NoteUndo is available from this menu for almost any action. The default Undo/redo stack is 25 actions deep.

For the rest of the steps in this exercise, you may want to work in an empty area of the layout

Making a Box1. Choose the Box icon from the Toolbar Menu.

2. Select a layer from the layer palette at the upper, right-hand pane of DESIGNrev.

(The layer number highlights when selected.)



3. Click at a starting point for the box.

4. Click at the ending point. (Opposite diagonal)

Making a Polygon1. Choose the Poly icon from the Toolbar Menu.

2. Select the desired layer from the layer palette. (The layer number highlights when selected.)

3. Click at the starting point.

4. Click at each vertex.

5. Double-click to complete the polygon.

Adding a New Vertex1. Choose the Select icon.

Clicks

End Here

Start Here



2. Select the polygon.

3. Choose the Vertex icon from the Toolbar Menu.

4. Click to select the desired segment.

This highlights a segment of the polygon.

5. Click in the location for the new vertex.

Change a Shape by Moving a Segment (Edge) of a Polygon1. Unselect everything. (Type u.)2. Set the Select Mode Options so only Edge is selected.

3. Select the Move icon from the Toolbar Menu.

4. Click the LMB on the desired edge.

The edge will be highlighted.

5. Click and hold down the LMB.

6. Drag the segment to the new location.



7. Release the mouse button.

8. Type u to unselect the edge

Notching an Existing Shape

1. Click the Select icon.

2. Set the select mode to polygon.

3. Select the polygon.

4. Choose the Notch icon from the Toolbar Menu.

5. Press and hold down the left mouse button and draw a rectangle from RIGHT TO LEFT.




7. Unselect everything.

Notching Out an Existing Shape1. Select the polygon.

2. Choose the Notch icon from the Toolbar Menu. (Should already be selected from the previous step.)

3. Press and hold down the left mouse button, and draw a rectangle from LEFT TO RIGHT.




5. Unselect everything. (Type u.)

Changing the Grid1. Choose Menu: Options > Grid Setting.

2. Change the grid spacing to 0.001.

3. Click Apply.

4. Click OK.

Changing the Ruler1. Choose Menu: Options > Ruler.

2. Select Manhattan.

3. Select Snapping: Vertex/Edge.

These settings will cause the ruler to snap to edges and make it easier to measure polygons. You may want to change it to snap to grids for other types of editing.

4. Click Apply.

5. Click OK.

Finding an Instance With RVE1. Display the entire layout (Z all).2. Choose Menu: Tools > Scan with RVE > Scan References with RVE.

This act opens the Scan References with RVE dialog box.

3. Type a2311 in the text box, or click the down arrow to the right of the Cell Name field, and select a2311 from the dropdown list.



4. Click OK.

This action launches RVE.

You will see that there are 10 instances of the a2311 cell in lab1.



5. Click the RMB over cell a2311 and choose Popup: Highlight > Highlight All to highlight all the instances of a2311 in lab1.



All the instances are now highlighted in DESIGNrev.

Close all Calibre windows, so you will be ready for the next lab.

(Do not save any files.)This concludes Lab 1. Do not proceed to the next lab until your instructor directs you to.


Lab 2Calibre nmDRC Basics

IntroductionThis lab contains simplified instructions for some of the steps because you have performed similar ones in the previous lab. New procedures will be fully explained.

In this lab, you will run a Calibre nmDRC verification of a layout. At this time, Calibre nmDRC will find several results (errors). When the verification completes, you will view the results by reading the ASCII DRC Summary Report file and using Calibre RVE to highlight the error in a layout tool.

After you find all the errors in the layout, you will correct at least one of the errors, run Calibre nmDRC on the modified layout, and again check the results with Calibre RVE.

By doing this lab, you perform an entire iteration of checking a layout, making corrections, and verifying the corrections

List of ExercisesExercise 1: Setup and Run Calibre nmDRC

Exercise 2: Check the Results

Exercise 3: Correct Errors in the Layout

Exercise 4: Run Calibre nmDRC on the New Layout


Calibre nmDRC BasicsSet Up and Run Calibre nmDRC

Exercise 1: Set Up and Run Calibre nmDRCIn this exercise you will set up a DRC run without help from a runset.

1. Make sure you are still logged in to the workstation.

2. Open a UNIX shell and change your directory to the location of the lab 2 training files as follows:

cd $HOME/calibre_drc_lvs/lab2

3. Launch the layout tool and load lab2.gds.

a. Launch DESIGNrev.

calibredrv -m lab2.gds

b. Launch Calibre Interactive - nmDRC for cell lab2.

(Menu: Verification > Run nmDRC)

These actions launch Calibre Interactive - nmDRC, displaying the Load Runset dialog box.

In the previous lab, you used a runset to load all the required information. In this lab you will create your own runset by entering all the information by hand first.

4. Choose Cancel in the Load Runset File dialog box.

This step makes the Calibre Interactive - nmDRC dialog box active with the Inputs Menu button selected.



Notice that the Layout file name and the Inputs button both are green. But lab2.calibre.db is NOT the name of your layout file.

Q. Why is the Inputs button green? ________________________________________________________________________________________________

5. Unselect Export from layout viewer.

NoteWhen Export from layout viewer was selected, you were instructing Calibre to create the layout file specified in the File text box, writing the current layout in the layout viewer to this file. If the GSDII file already exists, Calibre will ask your permission to overwrite the existing file.When you unselect this option, you are telling Calibre to read the layout from the file you provided in the File text box, ignoring the layout in the layout viewer.

Q. Now what color is the Inputs button? ____________________________________________________________________________________________

6. In the Run field, select DRC (Hierarchical).7. Type lab2.gds in the File text box.

Q. Is the Inputs button now green?____________________________________



_____________________________________________________________

If it is not green, try reentering the GDSII file name using the Browse button.

8. Make sure the file format is GDSII.

9. Check the name of the Top cell.

Is it lab2?

If not, correct it, so lab2 is in the Top Cell text box.

The dialog box should look similar to the following screen shot. (You may have the full path for the GDSII file.)

You now have all the required input information. It is time to load the rule information.

10. Click the Rules menu button.

This displays the Rules information needed for a DRC run.

11. Type golden_rules in the Calibre nmDRC Rules File text box.

Make sure the text turns green, indicating this is an existing file.

12. Click Load to load the rule file.



It is not required at this point to load the rule file. Calibre will automatically load the rule file when it runs. The advantage of loading the rule file at this point is that Calibre will parse the file and notify you of any problems (for example, syntax) before you do any more set up work.

While you are entering the rule file information, now is a good time to take a brief look at the rule file.

13. Click View.

This displays the golden_rules file in a text window.

Take a second and review the file contents. Notice that this is a very simple rule file and only contains layer definitions and a handful of DRC rules. Also notice the red Edit button in the lower right-hand corner of the window. It indicates that the file is not available for edit. (It is a safety feature so you do not accidentally make edits to a golden rule file.)

14. When you are finished reviewing the rule file, close the window.

(Menu: File > Close.)



Return to the Calibre Interactive window

15. Note the value in the Calibre nmDRC Run Directory.

It should either be . or //calibre_drc_lvs/lab2 (omitting the quotes). This will place all the resulting files either in the current directory (.) or in $HOME/calibre_drc_lvs/lab2. The dialog box should now look similar to the one illustrated below. (Again, you may have the full path names in the text boxes.)

16. Click the Outputs menu button.

This displays the dialog box where you will set the names of the output files.



Accept the defaults for all the fields and buttons in the pane.

In summary, you are creating files lab2.drc.results (the DRC Results Database) and lab2.drc.summary (the DRC Summary Report). As soon as Calibre produces a result, RVE will start. Also a window will be launched to display the content of the summary report file when the run finishes.

17. Click the Transcript menu button.

This displays the Transcript during the DRC run. From here you can quickly note any problems that may occur during the run. This step is not required. The transcript will display automatically during a DRC run.

18. Click Run DRC to start the run.

When the run completes: RVE launches, the DRC Summary Report displays, and the Transcript Window should look similar to below:



You will analyze the results in the next exercise.

Calibre nmDRC BasicsCheck the Results


Exercise 2: Check the ResultsIn this exercise, you will review the error messages found in the transcript, summary report, and RVE. You will also highlight the errors in the layout.

1. Look at the transcript window and answer the following questions:

Q. How many rules were executed? ________________________________________________________________________________________________

Q. How many discrepancies (results) were found? ____________________________________________________________________________________

Q. What does the number in parentheses () mean? ____________________________________________________________________________________

2. Scan the Summary Report and answer the following questions:

(Hint: This information is towards the bottom of the report.)Q. Which rules have discrepancies?

________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________

Q. How many of these rules would have produced more results for a flat run because the discrepancies occurred in cells that are instantiated several times in the layout?

Q. Which cell(s) have discrepancies?_______________________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

Notice that you can get increasing details as you step through the various output files available.

3. Close the DRC Summary Report Window.

4. Make the RVE window active (you may need to re-size the RVE window to see all of the information shown in the following screen shot).



5. Modify the display of results in Calibre RVE by selecting Menu: View > Tree Options > Check/Cell. This will prioritize the display by check first and then by cell.

NoteThe above step may not be necessary and the initial RVE display you see may be different from the previous screen shot if you had chosen Menu: View > Tree Options > Check/Cell in an earlier RVE session. RVE remembers these settings from run to run.



6. Display the details for each of the results by clicking on the +'s in front of the rulechecks until fully expanded.



Q. Does the information in this display correspond with the knowledge you already gained from the transcript and the Summary Report?

Q. Why or why not? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Next, you will set up the highlight options for displaying the discrepancies in the layout.

7. Set up highlighting:

a. Choose Menu: Setup > Options.

This opens the Options tab in Calibre RVE.



b. Make sure the Highlighting category is displayed.

c. Enable Zoom to highlights by.

d. Enter 0.4 in the text box. (This zoom works well for the errors in the current layout.)e. Enable the Clear existing highlights before showing new highlights.

f. Enable the Clear highlights in design tools when RVE exits.

g. Click Apply.

8. Click the lab2.drc.results tab to return to the result display.

Next, you will find out a little more information about one of the discrepancies.

9. Click on the RuleCheck min_spacing_metal2.



This displays additional information about the rule.

10. Read the contents of the Check Text pane.

Q. What is the rule specification?__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Q. Interesting side note: What is the name of the rule file? ______________________________________________________________________________

Q. Is that the name of the rule file you specified? _____________________________________________________________________________________

Q. Why do you think Calibre Interactive changed the name of your rule file? _______________________________________________________________

Tip: This is not obvious! You may need to look this up in the documentation. Look in the Calibre Interactive User's Manual and search for control filenames.

Next, you will highlight the error in the layout.

11. Adjust the layout window so you can view both RVE and the Layout Viewer at the same time.



12. Select result 4. (This is the only result for this check.)13. Click the highlight icon in the toolbar.

The layout viewer pans and zooms into the display to highlight the discrepancy.

Notice that the error is centered in the display.

Q. What is the problem with this part of the layout? ______________________



_____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

Q. If you had multiple errors highlighted, how would you know which rulecheck had been violated?

_____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

Before looking at another error, you will make sure Calibre RVE is configured to display the rulecheck name and Result number when you highlight a result.

14. In RVE, click on the Options tab.

15. Make sure the Highlighting category is displayed.

16. Click DRC/DFM Highlighting to display DRC highlighting controls.

17. Select Show Check Names and Show Result IDs.

18. Click Apply.

19. In RVE, click the lab2.drc.restults tab.



20. Click on the RuleCheck min_ext_oxide_poly.

21. Select result 8. (This is the only result for this check.)22. Click the highlight icon in the toolbar.

The layout viewer pans and zooms into the display to highlight the discrepancy.



Notice that the error is centered in the display. It is also in an empty area of the display. What is going on?

23. In the layout viewer, zoom out the display until you can tell which cell contains the error.

Q. Which cell contains the error? __________________________________________________________________________________________________

Q. You ran the DRC check in hierarchical mode, so why do you think the error appears in the top cell (lab2) in the reports?_____________________________________________________________

Before you view any more discrepancies, you will rerun Calibre nmDRC with a new option so you can have more useful results.



24. Close RVE. (Menu: File > Exit)Because you have configured RVE to clear highlights on exit, this also erases all highlights in the layout viewer.

25. In Calibre Interactive - DRC, choose Menu: Setup > DRC Options.

This adds an additional menu button, DRC Options, and displays the options available for a DRC run.

26. In the Output tab in this new pane, select Output cell errors in cell space.

Tip: This is also called displaying errors in context.

27. Click Run DRC to perform another DRC run.

A new RVE window opens.



28. In this new RVE window, select Menu: View > Tree Options > Group By > Cell/Check.

Calibre - RVE now displays results sorted by cell first then by check.

Q. What is different about these results? ____________________________________________________________________________________________

29. Expand the results for a1230 and select result 8.

30. Choose Menu: Highlight > Highlight in Context.

(Make sure this option is selected.)31. Highlight the error.

The Layout tool descends into the cell a1230 and zooms to the discrepancy.



Now you can see exactly where the error is and what polygons are involved.

When you are running a design in hierarchical mode and you want to display the results in the context of the cells where they are located, it is a good idea to select the Output cell errors in cell space option.

32. Zoom out at least twice so you can get a better view of the problem.



Q. What appears to be the problem?________________________________________________________________________________________________

Now that you have displayed two of the errors and have looked at the errors hierarchically, you should be able to display the rest of the errors on your own.

33. Highlight one of the errors in cell lab2, then use the Highlight Next Error and Highlight Previous Error buttons to display the rest of the errors.

Note what the problems are with each of the discrepancies.

In the next exercise, we will fix one of the discrepancies.

Calibre nmDRC BasicsCorrect Errors in the Layout


Exercise 3: Correct Errors in the Layout In this exercise, you will be given step by step instructions to correct one of the problems in the main cell, lab2. We will correct the second error for the min_spacing_metal1 problem.

1. Click the Eraser icon in RVE to erase all exiting highlights in the layout viewer.

2. In RVE, expand the error tree for cell lab2 until all the errors are displayed.

3. Select the second error for the min_spacing_metal1 RuleCheck.

4. Click the highlight icon on the toolbar to highlight the error.

The display should look similar to below:



Q. How far apart should these two metal1 shapes be? __________________________________________________________________________________

5. Zoom out and re-center the display so you can see the entire upper metal1 shape (Shift-Z).The display should look similar to below:



Looking at the illustration above, it appears that you have plenty of room to move the upper metal1 run up and away from the lower metal1 run.

Q. What else will you need to move? _______________________________________________________________________________________________

First you will add a ruler to the display to make sure you move all three components. You will want to set the ruler options first to make rulers easier to use for this application.

a. Choose Menu: Options > Ruler

b. Select 45-deg for direction.

c. Select Grid for the snap option.

d. Select Allow multiple rulers (near the bottom of the dialog box).e. Specify a color that contrasts well with the display background.

f. Click OK to execute and close the dialog box.



g. Click the Ruler icon from the toolbar.

6. Draw two rulers beginning from the lower metal1 polygon, one at 1.00um and one at 2.00um.

The display in should look similar to below:

These two rulers will give an idea if you are far enough away from the lower metal1 polygon.

7. Click the Move icon from the toolbar, and make sure the Polygon selection filter is selected.

8. Select the upper metal1 polygon.

9. Move the polygon up until it is even with the top of the right metal2 run.

Your layout should look similar to below:



Q. Using your rulers as a guide should this polygon pass the RuleCheck now? ______________________________________________________________

10. Select and move the two a9500 via cells so they are properly centered over the metal1/metal2 intersections.

a. Press the 0 key to display only the top level of the hierarchy.

The tool displays the cell outlines. (You cannot move a cell if you are viewing its contents.)

b. In the selection filters portion of the toolbar, enable Reference.

c. Click the cell reference and drag it into position.



Your layout should look similar to below:

You may want to view down the hierarchy to make sure the contacts of the a9500 vias are centered properly.

Tip: To change the view to only display the contents of the next cell down in the hierarchy you can type: >. Conversely, to display one step higher in the hierarchy, type:

Calibre nmDRC BasicsRun Calibre nmDRC on the New Layout


Exercise 4: Run Calibre nmDRC on the New LayoutIn this exercise, you will run DRC on the new layout and check your fixes. You will use the Calibre feature that reads the layout directly from the layout editor rather than needing to write the edited file out to GDSII before making the Calibre run.

1. Return to the Calibre Interactive - nmDRC Window. (Do not relaunch Calibre Interactive-use the existing window.)

2. Change the following information:

The Inputs tab of the Calibre Interactive - nmDRC window should look similar to the following:

You may have noticed that the File text and the Inputs tab were displayed in red at first then changed to green when you selected Export from layout viewer. This indicates that the lab2_fixed.gds file does not currently exist, but Calibre has enough information

[Outputs] DRC Results Database File lab2_fixed.db[Outputs] DRC Summary Report File drc_report_fixed[Inputs] Layout File lab2_fixed.gds[Inputs] Export from layout viewer selected


Calibre nmDRC BasicsRun Calibre nmDRC on the New Layout

to perform a DRC run because you instructed Calibre to obtain the GDSII file from the layout editor before it starts the actual verification.

You are now ready to run DRC on the new data.

3. Click Run DRC.

Q. What results do you expect? ___________________________________________________________________________________________________

4. Use the Transcript, Summary Report, and RVE to check your results.

Q. What results did you get?______________________________________________________________________________________________________

5. View the remaining errors using RVE.

If you have any errors, other than the expected ones, you may want to go back and try to fix the discrepancies again. If this is the case, you will get a message asking if it is OK to overwrite the lab2_fixed.gds file when you re-run DRC to check your results. Click OK.You may try to fix the other errors on your own and re-run DRC.

6. In RVE, click on the Options tab.

7. Make sure the Highlighting category is displayed.

8. Reset the highlighting options before exiting the tool:

a. Uncheck clear existing highlights before showing new highlights.

b. Click DRC/DFM Highlighting to display DRC highlighting controls.

c. Unselecat Show Check Names and Show Results IDs.

9. Click Apply.

10. When you are finished, please exit all Calibre windows and the layout viewer application so you will be ready to begin the next lab.

Do not begin the next lab until instructed to do so.


Lab 3nmDRC Job Customization

In this lab you will experiment with various advanced DRC skills. These skills range from observing the value of hierarchical vs. flat DRC runs to learning the mechanics of creating and using Rule Groups to applying DRC checking to only certain areas of the cell.

Since you have made several DRC runs, the instructions for this lab assume you know the basics. While new concepts will be completely described, you will simply be told to perform tasks you have encountered several times before. If you cannot remember exactly how to perform a task, look back at previous labs.

List of ExercisesExercise 1: Hierarchical versus Flat DRC Runs

Exercise 2: Create and Use Rule Groups

Exercise 3: Run DRC on a Selected Area

Exercise 4: Run DRC Skipping Cells

Exercise 5: Display Hierarchical Results in Different Ways

Exercise 6: Correct Errors

Exercise 7: Advanced Hierarchy in DRC


nmDRC Job CustomizationHierarchical versus Flat DRC Runs

Exercise 1: Hierarchical versus Flat DRC RunsIn all the previous labs, there have only been a few errors inside cells with only one instance in the design. In this lab, you will clearly see the benefits of running hierarchical DRC for tracking down where the discrepancies are really happening.

1. Change to the lab3 directory.cd $HOME/calibre_drc_lvs/lab3

2. Launch the layout viewer and Calibre nmDRC.

a. Launch Calibre DESIGNrev.

calibredrv -m lab3.gds

b. From Calibre DESIGNrev, choose Menu: Verification > Run nmDRC.

3. Choose Cancel in the Load Runset File dialog box.

You will create a new runset.

You should now have the layout viewer open displaying lab3.gds and the Calibre Interactive - nmDRC window open with the default data loaded.

4. Enter the following data on the Inputs pane:

5. Enter the following data on the Rules pane:

Run DRC (Flat)

Layout File lab3.gds

Format GDSII

Export from layout viewer unselected

Top Cell lab3

Area unselected



6. Enter the following data on the Outputs pane:

7. Click Run DRC.

Q. How many discrepancies did you have? __________________________________________________________________________________________

This layout has quite a few errors.

Q. Do you think running in Hierarchical mode would help? _____________________________________________________________________________

Calibre - DRC Rules File golden_rules

Calibre - DRC Run Directory .

DRC Results Database File lab3_flat.db

Format ASCII

Show results in RVE selected

Write DRC Summary Report File selected

File lab3_flat_report

Replace file / Append to file Replace file

Annotate hierarchical ASCII results databases with flat results counts

(no effect since this run is flat)

View summary report after DRC finishes selected



Q. Is this the type of design where you could gain benefits from hierarchy? ________________________________________________________________

8. Close the RVE and Summary Report windows.

9. Change the following DRC parameters:

10. Run DRC again.

Q. How many errors do you have this time? _________________________________________________________________________________________

Q. What happened to the rest of the errors? __________________________________________________________________________________________

This seems like a much more fixable amount of discrepancies than your first run.

Now that you have seen the value of hierarchy, you are ready to learn how to use additional debugging concepts.


12. Leave Calibre Interactive - nmDRC open.

[Inputs] Run DRC (Hierarchical)[Outputs] DRC Results Database File lab3_hier.db[Outputs] DRC Summary Report File lab3_hier_report[Outputs] Annotate hierarchical ASCIIresults databases with flat result counts

selected

[DRC Options> Output] Output cell errors in cell space

selected

nmDRC Job CustomizationCreate and Use Rule Groups


Exercise 2: Create and Use Rule GroupsIn this exercise you will edit a rule file to create groups of rules. You will then use these groups to aid in categorizing the type of discrepancies you are encountering.

1. Return to the Rules pane of the Calibre Interactive - nmDRC window.

2. View the golden_rules file.

Q. Notice the rule file naturally organizes the rules into three categories. What are they?_____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

Q. What rules are under each category?Category 1 (Minimum width rules):_____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

Category 2 (Minimum spacing rules):_____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

Category 3 (Minimum extension rules):_____________________________________________________________

Since it is a good practice to never edit your golden rule file, we will follow this practice in the lab. You will edit a rule file called lab3_rules to create the Rule groups and specify this file in the Include pane.

3. In the file viewer window (currently displaying the golden_rules file), choose Menu: File > Open.

4. Select lab3_rules from the Files list in the Open a Text File dialog box.

5. Click OK.

6. Choose New Window when you are asked where to view the new file (this will allow you to copy and paste rule names from the rule file window into the lab3_rules window).This closes the Open a Text File dialog box and loads the lab3_rules file into a new File Viewer window.



Next you have to make the file editable.

7. Click the red Edit button near the lower right corner.

This toggles the Edit button to green and the file is now editable.

Before you can edit the file you need to make sure you know the correct syntax for grouping rules.

Q. What is the syntax for grouping rules using the rule file? ____________________________________________________________________________

Tip: The answer was in the lecture, or you can look it up in the Standard Verification Rule Format (SVRF) Manual.

Now, you have enough information to define the rule groups.

8. Using the group names: min_width, min_spacing, and min_extension, write the rule-grouping rules in the lab3_rule file.

Rule check code:_____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

9. Save the lab3_rules file.

10. Click the Include tab on the DRC Options pane of the Calibre Interactive - nmDRC window.

You may need to display the DRC Options pane from the Setup Menu.



11. Enter lab3_rules. (Make sure the name is green.)Calibre Interactive - nm DRC should look similar to below:

12. In the Calibre Interactive - nmDRC window, load the golden_rules file (Button: Rules > Load).

13. Choose Menu: Setup > Select Checks.

NoteIf you have an error in the syntax or a nonexistent rule (typo in the rule name), you will receive an error message when you try to open the Select Checks dialog box. Correct any problems and try to load the rules again.

This opens the Select Checks window. It should look similar to below:



Take note of the groups and the number of rules in each group. Make sure that your groups match those in the illustration. If not, go back and edit your rule file to make them match.

First you are only going to run min_width checks.

14. Choose Menu: Select > Unselect All Checks.

Notice that each rule now has a red x in front of it. This is a flag that this rule will not be checked.

15. Click on the min_width name in the Groups list box.

This toggles the group selection back to green. It also changes the rules in that group back to green in the Checks list box. The window should look similar to the following:



16. Run DRC again.

(Notice it is not necessary to close the Select Checks window.)Q. How many errors do you have this time? ____________________________

_____________________________________________________________

Q. Are these errors only from the rules in the selected group? ___________________________________________________________________________


18. Spend some time experimenting with the rules selection feature.

19. When you are finished experimenting, make sure all rules are selected, close the Select Rules window, and close any open RVE or Summary report windows you may have opened during your experiments.


nmDRC Job CustomizationRun DRC on a Selected Area

Exercise 3: Run DRC on a Selected AreaIn this exercise you will run the DRC checks on just a selected area in the layout.

1. Make the Calibre Interactive - nmDRC window active.

2. Display the Inputs tab.

3. Select the Area option button.

You need to define the area you wish to check.

4. Click the Browse button located next to the Area text box.

Q. What happens?______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

This opens a dialog box telling you that it is waiting for input. Ignore this message for now.

5. Make the Layout Viewer window active.

6. Hold down the LMB and draw a rectangle around the desired area. (Any area in the layout will do for this step.)

7. Release the LMB.

Q. What happened in the Calibre Interactive - nmDRC window? _________________________________________________________________________

8. Run DRC.

Q. What kind of results do you get? ________________________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

9. Close the DRC Summary Report and RVE windows.

nmDRC Job CustomizationRun DRC on a Selected Area


10. Experiment several times with making area DRC runs until you are comfortable with the process.

11. Answer the following questions.

Q. Looking just in RVE, can you tell that you only checked part of the layout?______________________________________________________________

Q. Looking just in the Summary Report, can you tell you only checked part of the layout?

_____________________________________________________________

Q. Can you tell in the Transcript that you only checked part of the layout? _________________________________________________________________

Tip: Use Menu: Transcript > Search in Calibre Interactive - nmDRC to look for the phrase LAYOUT WINDOW.

Q. When would the Area option be a useful tool? _____________________________________________________________________________________

12. Close any open RVE and Summary Report windows.

13. Unselect Area in the Calibre Interactive - nmDRC Inputs window.


nmDRC Job CustomizationRun DRC Skipping Cells

Exercise 4: Run DRC Skipping CellsOften, you will want to start running DRC before a design is completely finished. To avoid sorting out the errors in incomplete cells, it is easier to just skip them. In this exercise, you will learn how to skip cells.

1. Make the Calibre Interactive - nmDRC window active.

2. If the lab3_rules file is no longer open in a text edit window, choose Menu: File > View Text File in Calibre Interactive - nmDRC and open the lab3_rules file for editing.

3. Find the command syntax you would add to a rule file to exclude a cell.

Tip: Look either in the lecture or in the SVRF Manual.

Q. What is it? _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Q. What would the command to exclude cell a2311 look like? ___________________________________________________________________________

4. Enter this command to the lab3_rules rule file.

5. Save the file.

6. Run DRC.

Q. What kind of results did you get? _______________________________________________________________________________________________

Q. Does this give you an idea where a large number of the problems are located?_____________________________________________________________

7. Close any RVE and Summary Report windows.

8. Re-edit the lab3_rules file to comment out the EXCLUDE CELL statement. (Add // to the beginning of the line.)

9. Save the rule file.

nmDRC Job CustomizationDisplay Hierarchical Results in Different Ways


Exercise 5: Display Hierarchical Results in Different Ways

In this exercise you will display hierarchical results in two different ways:

Displaying errors on the top level of the hierarchy

Displaying errors within the child cell with the error

1. Return to the Calibre Interactive - nmDRC window.

NoteYou should have already completed the next several steps for a previous exercise; they are just repeated, here, for completeness for how to display the hierarchical results

2. Choose the DRC Options menu button.

3. Choose the Output tab.

4. Select the option Output cell errors in cell space (Hierarchical DRC only).The Calibre Interactive - nm DRC window should look similar to below:



NoteOlder versions of Calibre Interactive do not offer the Output cell errors in cell space option. If your version of Calibre does not have this option, you will need to add the line DRC CELL NAME YES CELL SPACE XFORM to the lab3_rules file. (You will also need to save the updated rule file.)

5. Choose Run DRC.

The error tree should look similar to below:

To make all your viewing options available all the time, you need to make highlighting in context the default. (You can then turn it off when desired.)

6. In RVE, choose Menu: Highlight and make sure Highlight in Context is selected.



7. Open the RVE error tree for cell a1310.

8. Select the error.

9. Highlight this error by choosing the Highlight icon.

This opens the a1310 cell and zooms into the error.

10. Return to the RVE window and erase the highlight.

11. In the RVE window, unselect Menu: Highlight > Highlight in Context.



12. Highlight the error again.

This displays the error in the context of the top cell (lab3).

Depending on your editing needs or preferred editing style, you can display the results either way to fit your needs.

13. If you have time, experiment displaying the other errors in various ways.

14. When you are ready to go to the next exercise, erase all highlights.

nmDRC Job CustomizationCorrect Errors


Exercise 6: Correct Errors This is a free-form exercise. There are 13 errors in the layout. Using the skills you learned in this lab (and all the previous labs), see how many of the errors you can correct in the time remaining.

Do not forget to change the layout to a new name, and select Export from layout viewer in the Inputs pane of the Calibre Interactive - nmDRC window so changes are reflected in the DRC run.

When finished, close the Summary Report, Calibre RVE, and Calibre Interactive - nmDRC windows, and the layout viewer.

NoteIf you are running out of time to finish the lab, go on to the next exercise now and return to this exercise if there is time to do so. When you do go on to the next exercise, you should close all Calibre and layout viewer windows. If you do return to this exercise, you will need to re-load the lab3.gds layout and re-start Calibre Interactive - nmDRC. Refer to the steps at the beginning of this exercise, if necessary.


nmDRC Job CustomizationAdvanced Hierarchy in DRC

Exercise 7: Advanced Hierarchy in DRCIn this exercise you will do one more experiment with hierarchy. This time you will work with cells that Calibre flattens in order to improve efficiency.

1. Open layout lab3a.gds and launch Calibre Interactive -nmDRC.

a. In DESIGNrev, open the layout lab3a.gds.

b. From Calibre DESIGNrev, choose Menu: Verification > Run nmDRC.

c. Click Cancel when prompted for a runset.

2. Configure Calibre Interactive - nmDRC:

a. Display the Inputs pane.

b. Change the layout file to lab3a.gds.

c. Make sure Export from layout viewer is unselected.

d. For Rules in Calibre Interactive - nmDRC, use golden_rules file.

e. In the Output tab of the DRC Options pane, select Output cell errors in cell space.

3. Run DRC.

Notice that all the errors are in the lab3 cell.

4. Highlight the min_poly_width error.

Even though the error is in a lower cell it is being displayed in the top level cell. You have set up to display in the cell, but it is not working as expected in this case. Why?

In this design, there is only one instance of this cell, a1720. It is more efficient for Calibre to flatten this cell during analysis rather than to maintain the hierarchy. But you would like to see the errors within the cell. What are you going to do? You have two options: Run DRC on just that cell, or force Calibre to maintain the hierarchy.

5. Try running DRC on just one cell in a hierarchy:This is a good option if you expect there to be errors within a cell.

a. In Calibre Interactive - nmDRC, display the Inputs pane.

b. Change the Top Cell to a1720.

c. Run DRC.

Q. What are your results? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Q. Can you highlight these errors in context? ___________________________

nmDRC Job CustomizationAdvanced Hierarchy in DRC


6. Try forcing Calibre to maintain hierarchy:

This option allows you to run DRC on the entire layout, but forces Calibre to maintain hierarchy on defined cells. (Note that there will be an associated trade-off in processing speed.)a. In Calibre Interactive - nmDRC, display the Inputs pane.

b. Change the Top Cell back to lab3.

c. Display the lab3_rules file in a text editor.

It should still be open from previous exercises.

d. Add the line:HCELL a1720 a1720

NoteThe HCELL statement will be covered in detail in the next module. For now assume that this statement forces Calibre to recognize this cell and maintain the hierarchy during processing.

e. Save the lab3_rules file.

f. Specify file lab3_rules in the Include tab of the DRC Options pane.

g. Verify that DRC Options > Output> Output cell errors in cell space is still selected.

h. Run DRC.

Q. What are your results? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Q. Can you highlight these errors in context? ________________________________________________________________________________________

If you cannot highlight in context, check in RVE that Menu: Highlight > Highlight in Context is selected.

You have now completed this lab. Close all Calibre and layout application windows. Do not go on to the next lab until instructed to do so.

Calibre F

calibre fundamentals performing drv-lvs.pdf

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