Virtuoso Studio: Design, Planning, and Analysis - 3 Sides of a Coin, Episode 2

27 Sep 2023 • 3 minute read

Our new AI-powered custom design solution, Virtuoso Studio, leverages our 30 years of industry knowledge and leadership, providing innovative features, reimagined infrastructure for unrivaled productivity, and new levels of integration that stretch beyond classic design boundaries. In this blog series, learn how the best analog design tools just got better to help you keep pace with your challenging design issues.

When you start to build your book collection, one of the most important things to keep in your mind is how you are going to store and display your collection.

The last thing you want is to spend your time and money finding the perfect book to add to your collection, only to find it damaged a year later due to faulty storage strategies.

You can store your books in any position. For example, you can form a stack by arranging them on their sides. In the same way, you can use Virtuoso Design Planner to stack pins in the layout design.

Pin Stack What form of connectivity does Pin Stack support?

How to Create a Pin Stack?

Pin Tool in Virtuoso Design Planner is a powerful feature that simplifies the process of defining and placing pins in a stack. Its intuitive interface and advanced features make it a valuable tool for designers working on complex circuits. By using this tool, you can ensure that your designs are optimized for performance and functionality while also saving time and effort in the design process. You can use Pin Tool to create a stack of pins and vias on the selected metal.

To create a stacked pin using Pin Tool:

1. Select the required pin in Pin Browser.

2. Right-click and choose Create Stacked Pin.

The Create Stacked Pin form is displayed.

Create Stacked Pin Form

You can use the Create Stacked Pin form to create a stack of pins and vias on the selected metal layers.

In the following example, six instances of a strongly connected pin, A, present on different layers are stacked to form a pin stack.

Instances of a strongly connected pin present on different layers are stacked to form a pin stack

You can view cross-sections of physical layers in a layout by using the cross-section viewer. The viewer displays the different layers present in a cross-section from top to bottom, enabling you to view each layer clearly.

The following example displays a pin stack that consists of four metal layers.

A pin stack that consists of four metal layers

The Pin Tool is an important feature of Virtuoso Design Planner that helps designers create and manage pins in a chip design. It provides a flexible and efficient way to specify the properties of pins and ensures that the chip interface is properly defined and optimized for performance.

Related Resources

Video	Virtuoso Floorplan: Pin Tool
Product Manual	Stacked Pins and Vias in the Pin Tool
Rapid Adoption Kits	Introducing Virtuoso Design Planner
Blogs	Virtuoso Studio: Design, Planning, and Analysis - The 3 Sides of a Coin, Episode 1 Virtuosity: Design, Plan, and Analysis - The 3 Sides Of A Coin, Episode 1 Virtuosity: Design, Plan, and Analysis - The 3 Sides Of A Coin, Episode 2