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| custom:start [2019/05/05 22:59] – rajit | custom:start [2023/04/25 10:31] (current) – rajit |
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| In the standard custom circuit flow using ACT, there are two basic parts: | In the standard custom circuit flow using ACT, there are two basic parts: |
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| * Circuit design. This is done via text entry using an [[language:start|ACT]] file. In this file you can specify pull-up and pull-down networks as well as transistor sizes (width/length) and type (e.g. low threshold, high threshold). | * Circuit design. This is done via text entry using an [[language:start|ACT]] file. In this file you can specify pull-up and pull-down networks as well as transistor sizes (width/length) and type (e.g. low threshold, high threshold). |
| * This circuit can be converted into a spice netlist using the ''netgen'' tool for analog simulation. This converts a hierarchical ACT design into a hierarchical spice netlist. | * This circuit can be converted into a spice netlist using the ''prs2net'' tool for analog simulation. This converts a hierarchical ACT design into a hierarchical spice netlist. |
| * This circuit can be simulated using existing switch-level simulators like ''irsim'' or ''cosmos'' using ''prs2sim'', which converts the hierarchical ACT design into a flat simulation file (''.sim'' and ''.al'') that can be read by ''irsim''/''cosmos''. | * This circuit can be simulated using existing switch-level simulators like ''irsim'' or ''cosmos'' using ''prs2sim'', which converts the hierarchical ACT design into a flat simulation file (''.sim'' and ''.al'') that can be read by ''irsim''/''cosmos''. |
| * Asynchronous gate-level simulation can be done using the ''prsim'' tool. | * Asynchronous gate-level simulation can be done using the ''prsim'' tool. |
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| | * Circuit layout. We assume that the layout is created using the ''magic'' VLSI layout editor. |
| | * The circuit can be '':extract''ed from from ''magic'' to create a ''.ext'' file. This contains the layout information and parasitics. |
| | * Magic also permits the creation of a simulation file using the built-in ''ext2sim'' (an external tool in older versions, but a built-in command in version 8.x). This can be simulated using ''irsim''/''cosmos'' as well. |
| | * The layout can be compared against the circuit design in two ways: |
| | * The existing open-source ''gemini'' tool can be used for strict transistor-level comparison between the ''.sim'' file generated from the layout, and the ''.sim'' file created from the ''.act'' file (''prs2sim'') |
| | * The ACT-provided ''lvp'' tool can be used to compare that the layout matches the production rules used to specify the logic. This tool does not check width/length of transistors, but rather checks that the gates are logically equivalent. It also requires all signals to be named consistently in the layout and ACT file. |
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| * Circuit layout. | |