Setting option duplicatemodel=ignore in spectre does not work

Hi Frode,

A couple of things. Are you using a recent enough MMSIM version (this was introduced during the life of MMSIM11.1, I believe) - I expect so?

The other thing is that if the model is a subckt model, this won't help - you'd have to use duplicate_subckt instead (or as well).

Regards,

Andrew.

I am using mmsim13.10.186_isr5.

I am trying to map the TSMC nch model over to nch_mac model by typing:

model nch nch_mac

in my model include file. This works if I comment out the mos section in the TSMC model file, but if I would like to  avoid modifying the TSMC file.

The nch_mac is an inline subckt. 

I tried to add:

myOpt options duplicate_subckt=ignore

before the model mapping line in my model include file, but get the same error.

Hi Frode,

I'll try with an older version later - I only have the latest hotfix of MMSIM13.1 with me right now.

This example works fine for me - maybe you can check running spectre on this netlist:

//

model nch bsim4 type=n

inline subckt nch_mac (d g s b)
    parameters w=1u l=1u

    nch_mac (d g s b) nch_mac w=w l=l
    model nch_mac bsim4 type=n
ends nch_mac

myOpts options duplicatemodel=ignore
// new definition to map it...
model nch nch_mac

M0 (D G 0 0) nch w=2u l=0.2u
VD (D 0) vsource dc=1.2
VG (G 0) vsource dc=0.8

dc dc

Regards,

Andrew.

Hi Frode,

I tried the above example in the same subversion as you, and it worked OK.

Maybe contacting customer support so that we can take a look together would be a good idea? You can always mention that we've discussed it on the forums and that I'd be happy to look at it with you.

Regards,

Andrew.

Hi Andrew,

Thanks for your input. It helped me finding that the problem is binning. Your example works for me too, but when I add binning to the model it fails. See my modified example below.

Regards,

Frode

model nch bsim4 {
1:type=n
2:type=n
}

inline subckt nch_mac (d g s b)
parameters w=1u l=1u

nch_mac (d g s b) nch_mac w=w l=l
model nch_mac bsim4 {
1:type=n
2:type=n
}
ends nch_mac

myOpts options duplicatemodel=ignore
// new definition to map it...
model nch nch_mac

M0 (D G 0 0) nch w=2u l=0.2u
VD (D 0) vsource dc=1.2
VG (G 0) vsource dc=0.8

dc dc

Hi Frode,

I see the problem. The good news is that in more recent subversions, the problem has been fixed. I can see the problem in versions up to 13.1.1.292.isr12, but not in 13.1.1.420.isr14 (I don't have ISR13 handy) - it works there. Similarly it works in 14.1.0.255.isr2 (not in the base version of MMSIM14.1, and I don't have ISR1 handy either). I did a very quick search and couldn't see precisely what triggered this to get fixed, but my experimentation shows it working nowadays at least.

So please try with a later (or the latest) hotfix of either MMSIM13.1 or MMSIM14.1.

Kind Regards,

Andrew.

Thanks Andrew,

I tried version 14.1.0.400.isr4 and then it works. 

Unfortunately I have to stick to the workaround where I modify the TSMC model file as I'm working on a company wide setup, and it may take a while till all projects have changed to the latest version of mmsim.

Regards,

Frode