Limited plot range

Are you using sst2 or psf output format? How big are the files in the psf directory in ADE (do an "ls -al" and post it here)? What subversion of IC5141 are you using (do Help->About in the CIW). What version of spectre are you using (assuming you're using spectre - you didn't say)? It will say this in the simulator output log file.

It really helps to know such information - the more information you give, the more likely an answer can be given.

In general, there's no limitation on the time in the waveforms - so something is wrong somewhere, and the above information will help narrow it down. Might be a bug, or might be a problem with your setup - but the above should help narrow it down.

Thanks,

Andrew.

 Hi Andrew,

 I see the same problem and I had posted a topic some time ago. Let me give the details of the my sim and setup.

 The circuit is a very simple comparator. When I run a transient sim for about 20ms or so it plots the output. If I increase the time any more the graph is completely blank. I have seen this issue with other circuits as well. 

Simulator - Spectre

Version - 7.1.1.140.isr8 32bit

 Icfb subversion - 5.10.41_USR5.90.69 (32 bit addresses)

Output format - psf

 The size of the psf directory is 376K.

 Regards,
Mandar

Hi Mandar,

Are you positive the output format is psf? Just because the directory is called psf, does not mean that the results are necessarily in psf format. Please post an "ls -al" of the psf directory, and ideally the contents of the file called "logFile" so I can take a look.

Best Regards,

Andrew.

 Hi Andrew,

 You are right! The log file says the output format for transient is "sst2". The directory and the logfile contents are below. Please let me know how to fix the issue. 

Regards,
Mandar

 drwxrwxr-x 2 mandar users   4096 Jan 21 11:52 ./
drwxrwxr-x 4 mandar users   4096 Jan 18 14:51 ../
-rw-rw-r-- 1 mandar users    367 Jan 21 11:52 artistLogFile
-rw-rw-r-- 1 mandar users   4164 Jan 21 11:52 dcOp.dc
-rw-rw-r-- 1 mandar users  27428 Jan 21 11:52 dcOpInfo.info
-rw-rw-r-- 1 mandar users    655 Jan 21 11:52 designParamVals.info
-rw-rw-r-- 1 mandar users  32404 Jan 21 11:52 element.info
-rw-rw-r-- 1 mandar users  27528 Jan 21 11:52 finalTimeOP.info
-rw-rw-r-- 1 mandar users   1756 Jan 21 11:52 logFile
-rw-rw-r-- 1 mandar users  84012 Jan 21 11:52 modelParameter.info
-rw-rw-r-- 1 mandar users   6972 Jan 21 11:52 outputParameter.info
-rw-rw-r-- 1 mandar users   4780 Jan 21 11:52 primitives.info.primitives
-rw-rw-r-- 1 mandar users    407 Jan 21 11:52 runObjFile
-rw-rw-r-- 1 mandar users    211 Jan 21 11:52 simRunData
-rw-rw-r-- 1 mandar users   5337 Jan 21 11:52 spectre.out
-rw-rw-r-- 1 mandar users   1628 Jan 21 11:52 subckts.info.subckts
-rw-rw-r-- 1 mandar users   2088 Jan 21 11:52 tran.tran.dsn
-rw-rw-r-- 1 mandar users 224056 Jan 21 11:52 tran.tran.trn
-rw-rw-r-- 1 mandar users    385 Jan 21 11:52 variables_file

 HEADER
"PSFversion" "1.00"
"Log Generator" "drlLog rev. 1.0"
"Log Time Stamp" "Thu Jan 21 11:52:22 2010"
"simulator" "spectre"
"version" "7.1.1.140.isr8"
"date" "11:52:22 AM, Thur Jan 21, 2010"
"design" "// Generated for: spectre"
"signalNameType" "spectre"
"measdgt" 0
"ingold" 2
"sst2usecolon" 0
TYPE
"analysisInst" STRUCT(
"analysisType" STRING *
"dataFile" STRING *
"format" STRING *
"parent" STRING *
"sweepVariable" ARRAY ( * ) STRING *
"description" STRING *
)
VALUE
"tran-tran" "analysisInst" (
"tran"
"tran.tran.trn"
"SST2"
""
()
"Transient Analysis `tran': time = (0 s -> 2 s)"
) PROP(
"data_type" "swept_scalar"
)

"finalTimeOP-info" "analysisInst" (
"info"
"finalTimeOP.info"
"PSF"
""
()
"Circuit Information"
) PROP(
"data_type" "struct"
)

"dcOp-dc" "analysisInst" (
"dc"
"dcOp.dc"
"PSF"
""
()
"DC Analysis `dcOp'"
) PROP(
"data_type" "scalar"
)

"dcOpInfo-info" "analysisInst" (
"info"
"dcOpInfo.info"
"PSF"
""
()
"Circuit Information"
) PROP(
"data_type" "struct"
)

"modelParameter-info" "analysisInst" (
"info"
"modelParameter.info"
"PSF"
""
()
"Circuit Information"
) PROP(
"data_type" "struct"
)

"element-info" "analysisInst" (
"info"
"element.info"
"PSF"
""
()
"Circuit Information"
) PROP(
"data_type" "struct"
)

"outputParameter-info" "analysisInst" (
"info"
"outputParameter.info"
"PSF"
""
()
"Circuit Information"
) PROP(
"data_type" "struct"
)

"designParamVals-info" "analysisInst" (
"info"
"designParamVals.info"
"PSF"
""
()
"Circuit Information"
) PROP(
"data_type" "struct"
)

"primitives-info.primitives" "analysisInst" (
"info.primitives"
"primitives.info.primitives"
"PSF"
""
()
"Circuit Information"
)
"subckts-info.subckts" "analysisInst" (
"info.subckts"
"subckts.info.subckts"
"PSF"
""
()
"Circuit Information"
)
END

Hi Andrew,

 You are right! The output format is sst2. Please let me know how to fix this issue. The log file and directory content are below.

 Regards,
Mandar

drwxrwxr-x 2 mandar users   4096 Jan 21 11:52 ./
drwxrwxr-x 4 mandar users   4096 Jan 18 14:51 ../
-rw-rw-r-- 1 mandar users    367 Jan 21 11:52 artistLogFile
-rw-rw-r-- 1 mandar users   4164 Jan 21 11:52 dcOp.dc
-rw-rw-r-- 1 mandar users  27428 Jan 21 11:52 dcOpInfo.info
-rw-rw-r-- 1 mandar users    655 Jan 21 11:52 designParamVals.info
-rw-rw-r-- 1 mandar users  32404 Jan 21 11:52 element.info
-rw-rw-r-- 1 mandar users  27528 Jan 21 11:52 finalTimeOP.info
-rw-rw-r-- 1 mandar users   1756 Jan 21 11:52 logFile
-rw-rw-r-- 1 mandar users  84012 Jan 21 11:52 modelParameter.info
-rw-rw-r-- 1 mandar users   6972 Jan 21 11:52 outputParameter.info
-rw-rw-r-- 1 mandar users   4780 Jan 21 11:52 primitives.info.primitives
-rw-rw-r-- 1 mandar users    407 Jan 21 11:52 runObjFile
-rw-rw-r-- 1 mandar users    211 Jan 21 11:52 simRunData
-rw-rw-r-- 1 mandar users   5337 Jan 21 11:52 spectre.out
-rw-rw-r-- 1 mandar users   1628 Jan 21 11:52 subckts.info.subckts
-rw-rw-r-- 1 mandar users   2088 Jan 21 11:52 tran.tran.dsn
-rw-rw-r-- 1 mandar users 224056 Jan 21 11:52 tran.tran.trn
-rw-rw-r-- 1 mandar users    385 Jan 21 11:52 variables_file

HEADER
"PSFversion" "1.00"
"Log Generator" "drlLog rev. 1.0"
"Log Time Stamp" "Thu Jan 21 11:52:22 2010"
"simulator" "spectre"
"version" "7.1.1.140.isr8"
"date" "11:52:22 AM, Thur Jan 21, 2010"
"design" "// Generated for: spectre"
"signalNameType" "spectre"
"measdgt" 0
"ingold" 2
"sst2usecolon" 0
TYPE
"analysisInst" STRUCT(
"analysisType" STRING *
"dataFile" STRING *
"format" STRING *
"parent" STRING *
"sweepVariable" ARRAY ( * ) STRING *
"description" STRING *
)
VALUE
"tran-tran" "analysisInst" (
"tran"
"tran.tran.trn"
"SST2"
""
()
"Transient Analysis `tran': time = (0 s -> 2 s)"
) PROP(
"data_type" "swept_scalar"
)

"finalTimeOP-info" "analysisInst" (
"info"
"finalTimeOP.info"
"PSF"
""
()
"Circuit Information"
) PROP(
"data_type" "struct"
)

"dcOp-dc" "analysisInst" (
"dc"
"dcOp.dc"
"PSF"
""
()
"DC Analysis `dcOp'"
) PROP(
"data_type" "scalar"
)

"dcOpInfo-info" "analysisInst" (
"info"
"dcOpInfo.info"
"PSF"
""
()
"Circuit Information"
) PROP(
"data_type" "struct"
)

"modelParameter-info" "analysisInst" (
"info"
"modelParameter.info"
"PSF"
""
()
"Circuit Information"
) PROP(
"data_type" "struct"
)

"element-info" "analysisInst" (
"info"
"element.info"
"PSF"
""
()
"Circuit Information"
) PROP(
"data_type" "struct"
)

"outputParameter-info" "analysisInst" (
"info"
"outputParameter.info"
"PSF"
""
()
"Circuit Information"
) PROP(
"data_type" "struct"
)

"designParamVals-info" "analysisInst" (
"info"
"designParamVals.info"
"PSF"
""
()
"Circuit Information"
) PROP(
"data_type" "struct"
)

"primitives-info.primitives" "analysisInst" (
"info.primitives"
"primitives.info.primitives"
"PSF"
""
()
"Circuit Information"
)
"subckts-info.subckts" "analysisInst" (
"info.subckts"
"subckts.info.subckts"
"PSF"
""
()
"Circuit Information"
)
END
 

 Hi Andrew,

I tried replying to this message twice but it seems to be waiting for moderator approval. I apologize for that.

You were right!! I checked the log file and the output format is "sst2". Will it work I change the format to psf??? Please let me know how to do that.

 Regards,
Mandar

Hi Mandar,

I don't see any posts needing moderating, so not sure what's going on there...

Anyway, this is definitely a known problem with sst2 support - it may well be fixed in a newer IC subversion than the one you're using (I can't check right now because I'm at home). psfbin won't have this problem though (it's related to changing the stop time by a large amount and it causes some resolution problems, or something like that).

Before starting ADE, in the CIW (or in your .cdsinit) put:

envSetVal("spectre.envOpts" "simOutputFormat" 'string "psfbin")

(I think I got that right; again, I can't check right now). Then start ADE. You might well want to force it to renetlist (Simulation->Netlist->Recreate) because there are some slight delimiter differences between SST2 and PSF which need to be stored in the amap directory (again, this is from memory).

Then simulate as usual. It should then behave.

You might also need to want to tell spectre and ultrasim to write large PSF files (greater than 2G) to use the older "chunk mode" (IC61 supports large files directly) by doing:

setenv PSF_WRITE_CHUNK_MODE_ON true

setenv PSF_LARGE_FILE_ON false

The first is for spectre, and the second is for Ultrasim.This is described in solution 11264780 on Cadence Online Support. Of course, this needs to be done before you run icfb.

In your case, the files are tiny, so shouldn't be an issue, but a worthwhile precaution.

Regards,

Andrew.

 Thanks a lot, Andrew!! It worked. The logFile says data type as "psf" and I don't see the problem anymore.

Regards,
Mandar