Signoff DRC
verification using
Calibre RealTime
Srinivas Velivala
Technical Marketing Engineer, Calibre
Interfaces
Design-to-Silicon Division
May 30, 2014
Physical Verification Trends:
Continuously Increasing DRC Complexity
Double
Patterning
Pattern Match Pattern Match
On-grid checks On-grid checks
Pitch checks Pitch checks Pitch checks
Litho checks Litho checks Litho checks
Multi-dimension Multi-dimension Multi-dimension Multi-dimension Multi-dimension
checks checks checks checks checks
2002 2006 2008 2010 2012
130 nm 90 nm 65 nm 45/32 nm 22/16 nm
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Growth in Signoff DRC Rules and Complexity
10 times more checks at 14nm as at 28nm
checks
Checks are complex & context sensitive
making it harder for designers to memorize
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What is ?
Interactive DRC/DP/Pattern
Match with signoff Calibre
Design Tool Same decks, same engine, as
Calibre batch
Client Two modes
— On-edit
OA RTM — in-window
No exchange of files (GDSII)
between design environment
OA DB and Calibre RealTime
Integrated with Laker 3 &
Pyxis Open
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Calibre® RealTime: Custom Design
90nm ~ 1100 checks & 5900 shapes 0.2 sec
28nm: 2805 checks & 6649 shapes 0.3 sec
Standard – 10-20 sec RealTime – 0.2 sec
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Benefits of Calibre RealTime
Better layout design in less time
— Designers can concentrate on layout creation & optimization instead of spending
time to fix DRC errors
— No more tedious design rule interpretations & waiting for verification runs to
complete
Reduces design cycle time
— Eliminates separate, time-consuming physical verification iterations
Calibre sign-off confidence
— With usage of foundry-qualified rule decks, designers can have full confidence in
the results
One Tool, One Interface
— Runs within the custom design tool as an integral part of design creation flow
Immediate feedback as you edit the layout
— Interactive editing and verification of custom/AMS layouts ensures DRC-clean
designs in the shortest time possible
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CALIBRE REALTIME
INTEGRATION
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Calibre RealTime Integration
Tcl package (shared lib)
Laker Calibre Client Calibre Server
OA Memory Model
OA Database
Software from 2 vendors, working from a single memory model
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3rd-party Integration Challenges
Interactive speed requires direct access to the in-
memory data of the design tool
In-memory API’s require binary compatibility
— Compilers and Linkers, including version
OA enables tight 3rd-party integrations
— Published API
— Tiered – database, +plug-ins, +run-time model
— Supported by many custom design tools
OA integration still requires cooperation, but is
manageable
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SYNOPSYS LAKER CALIBRE
REALTIME INTEGRATION
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Laker Integration: Key Technologies
OA Observers
— Shape Observer: Triggered any time a shape is added,
deleted, modified, or moved
— Instance Observer: Triggered any time an instance of
a cell is added, deleted, or moved
Laker’s Tcl APIs
— Used for tool-access APIs
— Loading C++ shared libraries for performance
– Used Tcl package mechanism to load shared library
– Requires platform and compiler compatibility
Used existing APIs for 90% of the integration
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Laker Integration: Challenges and Solutions
Provided toolbar for error navigation
— SpringSoft provided hooks to install a toolbar
Layer mapping is not in OA memory model
— Used Tcl APIs to access layer mapping
Visible and edited layer checks
— Used Tcl APIs to access information
Software distribution
— RealTime code distributed with Calibre product
— Loaded into Laker through startup script
Cooperative development eased tight integration
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Calibre RealTime Laker Video Demo
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PYXISOPEN CALIBRE
REALTIME INTEGRATION
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PyxisOpen Overview
Native on OpenAccess PyxisOpen Platform
Cockpit for our Edit Capability
automation tools Automation Core
PyxisOpen Custom Router
Placer*
Calibre
Advanced Floor Planner*
GUI and Constraint
Environment
*Future Products
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PyxisOpen Custom Router
Works in any OA Based Design Flow
Enables the Pyxis Custom
Router to run in any
OpenAccess flow
— Similar look and feel as Virtuoso
— Same PDKs & tech files
— Same display file
Current Pyxis Custom Router
users have reported
productivity improvements
up to 10x over traditional
routing
Qualified down to 28nm
with multiple tapeouts
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Wire Editor
Correct by construction interactive routing
Via insertion supports multiple cuts
Understands hierarchy
Built-in checkers
— Calibre RealTime
— [Link]
— Shorts
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Calibre RealTime Integration
Sign-off quality DRC as
you edit, using standard
Calibre decks
No stream-out required
Setup and manage DRC
checking recipes
Navigate and fix errors
in PyxisOpen
Supports double
patterning during
manual editing
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PyxisOpen Integration: Overview
Software distribution
— RealTime code distributed with Calibre product
— Loaded into Pyxis Open as a plugin at startup
Layer mapping is not in OA memory model
— Layer map parser & OA region query present in Calibre
Shared object
Visible and edited layer checks recipe
— Used Pyxis Open built-in C++ APIs to access
information
Calibre RealTime PyxisOpen integration is faster
due to the direct use of C++ API
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PyxisOpen Integration: Key Technologies
OA Observers
— Shape Observer: Triggered any time a shape is added,
deleted, modified, or moved
— Instance/VIA Observer: Triggered any time an
instance of a cell or via is added, deleted, or moved
Pyxis Open C++ APIs
— Used for tool-access APIs
— Used for dynamically running Calibre RealTime while
doing Interactive Routing
— Used for Check-recipe selection, Highlighting ,etc.
Calibre RealTime integration behavior is similar
across all platforms
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Calibre RealTime PyxisOpen Video Demo
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[Link]
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Calibre RealTime PyxisOpen Video Demo
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