Virtuosity: Identifying Those Traces

With the ever-increasing number of simulations required to be run these days, the sheer number of plots can be overwhelming and it can be difficult to figure out which Cadence® Virtuoso® ADE XL, Virtuoso® ADE Assembler or Virtuoso® ADE Explorer history, test or corner each plot belongs to.

To help with this in Virtuoso® Visualization and Analysis, from IC.6.1.8/ICADVM18.1, we have made identifying and comparing traces across tests and histories much simpler.

Histories, Tests and Corners in Markers

It's really simple, we've kept with the theme of adding control characters to the marker labels. All you need to do is add the special characters to the marker label properties to see the history, test, and corner names in the markers. These are shown below:

• %t to show the test name
• %h to show the history name
• %c to show the corner name

Then, when you add a marker to a waveform you will see the test, history, and corner names in the marker. In this example, the test is AC, the history is Interactive.32.R0 and the corner is nom.

History, Test and Corner in the Legend

The legend in the ADE Waveform Window also shows the history, test, and corner information. Just right-click the legend header to select Test and History, Corner should be enabled by default. You can also select the Design Point here using the Legend menu, which could be useful if you want to find a particular point from ADE.

This makes it really easy to figure out where each plot comes from. The status bar in the bottom left also displays information about the plot.

By default, markers show the marker name and coordinates. But, if you would also prefer to see histories, tests, and corners reported every time, you can update the .cdsinit file appropriately to set your preferred variables:

envSetVal("viva.pointMarker" "defaultLabel" 'string "%M: %X %Y %t %h %c”) 

• %t shows the test name
• %h shows the history name
• %c shows the corner name
• %M shows the marker name(default)
• %X shows the X coordinate(default)
• %Y shows the Y coordinate(default)

Related Resources

• Rapid Adoption Kit

  • Virtuoso Visualization and Analysis XL (Updated for IC6.1.8)

• Videos

  • ViVA XL - History, Test and Corner Name on Plots
  • ViVA XL - Plotting Templates
  • ViVA XL - New Subwindow Layout

• User Guide

  • Virtuoso Visualization and Analysis User Guide

For more information on Cadence circuit design products and services, visit www.cadence.com.

About Virtuosity

Virtuosity has been our most viewed and admired blog series for a long time that has brought to fore some lesser known, yet very useful software and documentation improvements, and also shed light on some exciting new offerings in Virtuoso. We are now expanding the scope of this series by broadcasting the voice of different bloggers and experts, who would continue to preserve the legacy of Virtuosity, and try to give new dimensions to it by covering topics across the length and breadth of Virtuoso, and a lot more… Click Subscribe to visit the Subscription box at the top of the page in which you can submit your email address to receive notifications about our latest Virtuosity posts. Happy Reading!

Aditya