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BUG: Drawing path in Virtuoso 6.1.6 only possible in routing layers

Sheppy

Hello,

Today, a colleague noticed a change between Virtuoso 6.1.5 and 6.1.6:

In the former it was possible to draw a path in any layer available in the LSW, in the latter it is only possible to draw in routing layers.

In our process we have a layer that defines the lateral isolation (LATISO), which we have to draw as a path around (a group of) active components. With the new version (6.1.6) we are unable to do that, it (the path procedure) simply selects the first routing layer (in our case METAL1).

This is a big inconvenience and the default setting of Virtuoso is obviously wrong. The only change we made is the version of Virtuoso, the PDK is still the same version, even using the same layout-cell-view to test this.

One method of "fixing" this is to specify LATISO as one of the routing layers. This will then also allow automatic routers to use LATISO, which is somehting we don't want, so we're not going to do that.

My question:

Is there a setting available to turn-off this behavior?

By the way: we are developing the PDK ourselves, so if something has to be done in the technology file, that is possible as well. Although this is not the preferred solution since it is a change in Virtuoso behavior that is the issue.

With kind regards,

Sjoerd

edit: added the part about PDK

Parents
  • Sheppy

    Hi Andrew,

    I understand why Cadence changed the bindkey, however, I do not agree with it.

    The same arguments you're putting forward can be used to defend the opposite. Since the "p" key is "hard-wired" into out brains, just changing the behavior will meet a lot of resistance, at least from my colleagues. Furthermore, a path is not always a wire, but a wire is always a path (wire is sub-set of path). Creating a wire in stead of a path has its advantages, but some big disadvantages as well (it limits your freedom to do whatever you like).

    Per the request of my colleagues, I have assigned the "p" key to creating paths, and the "w" key to creating wires. In a few weeks time I will ask them how often they have used the "w" key (wires), and I might revert the "w" key back to it's original binding if not used that often (since I use the "w" key a lot). By the way, all of my colleagues know about the existence of the "create wire" functionality and know its pro's and con's.

    Kind regards,

    Sjoerd

Reply
  • Sheppy

    Hi Andrew,

    I understand why Cadence changed the bindkey, however, I do not agree with it.

    The same arguments you're putting forward can be used to defend the opposite. Since the "p" key is "hard-wired" into out brains, just changing the behavior will meet a lot of resistance, at least from my colleagues. Furthermore, a path is not always a wire, but a wire is always a path (wire is sub-set of path). Creating a wire in stead of a path has its advantages, but some big disadvantages as well (it limits your freedom to do whatever you like).

    Per the request of my colleagues, I have assigned the "p" key to creating paths, and the "w" key to creating wires. In a few weeks time I will ask them how often they have used the "w" key (wires), and I might revert the "w" key back to it's original binding if not used that often (since I use the "w" key a lot). By the way, all of my colleagues know about the existence of the "create wire" functionality and know its pro's and con's.

    Kind regards,

    Sjoerd

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