Voltus: how to generate the "DFII Layer Map File"?

UPDATE: I tried using the file below as my DFII layermap (I obtained the layer names by grepping the keywords "conductor" and "via" from an .ict file form my PDK's QRC package):

metal    AP           AP
via      RV           RV
metal    M11          M11
via      VIA10        VIA10
metal    M10          M10
via      VIA9         VIA9
metal    M9           M9
[...]
via      VIA1         VIA1
metal    M1           M1
via      VIA0_M0_P0   VIA0_M0_P0
metal    M0_PO        M0_PO
via      VIA0_M0_STI  VIA0_M0_STI
metal    M0_STI       M0_STI
via      VIA0_M0_OD   VIA0_M0_OD
metal    M0_OD        M0_OD
poly     poly         poly
metal    active       active

and now Voltus manages to load the results. However, I get the following messages:

INFO: Loading results for IR plots display
Warning : Layer VIA0_M0_P0 defined as DFII layer for via0_m0_po is not a valid DFII layer. Solid shape display for this layer will not be generated.
Warning : Layer M0_PO defined as DFII layer for m0_po is not a valid DFII layer. Solid shape display for this layer will not be generated.
Warning : Layer VIA0_M0_STI defined as DFII layer for via0_m0_sti is not a valid DFII layer. Solid shape display for this layer will not be generated.
Warning : Layer M0_STI defined as DFII layer for m0_sti is not a valid DFII layer. Solid shape display for this layer will not be generated.
Warning : Layer VIA0_M0_OD defined as DFII layer for via0_m0_od is not a valid DFII layer. Solid shape display for this layer will not be generated.
Warning : Layer M0_OD defined as DFII layer for mo_od is not a valid DFII layer. Solid shape display for this layer will not be generated.
Warning : Layer poly defined as DFII layer for poly is not a valid DFII layer. Solid shape display for this layer will not be generated.
Warning : Layer active defined as DFII layer for active is not a valid DFII layer. Solid shape display for this layer will not be generated.
Voltus—Fi binary database could not be opened in current working directory or in the directory where EMIR—bin is present : . Please check. 
INFO : Loading results done
[...]
INFO : Loading results for IR plots display success.

Moreover, when I try plot any "Rail Analysis" quantity (IR drop, etc) for any net, all the associated layout polygons are drawn with a zero value (= blue color). Any ideas on what is still wrong?

Thanks and regards, Jorge.

Hi,

I'm afraid there is no way to generate this file automatically. Also, at 16nm, the recommended flow is to use Voltus-Fi-XL so you can take into account the self-heating of devices. SHE flow is not supported with Voltus-Fi-L (i.e. flow based on extracted view). And DFII layer map won't be required for SHE flow in VFi-XL.

The format of DFII layer map file is:

<type> <extraction_layer_name> <dfII_layer_name>

The last columm should contain DFII layer names, but you've got some DFII layer names there which don't exist.

Finally, Voltus-Fi is unable to load the EMIR binary results, so there is some other problem with the setup as well. Did you enable emirformat=vavo during the simulation?

Regards,

Saloni

Hi Saloni, thanks for your reply! Yes, I am enabling emirformat=vavo in my transient simulation results, and when I press "Input Type" in Voltus-Fi-L I can see it does automatically recognizes and chooses "VOLTUS_DB" and "tran_emir_vavo.db". Could it maybe be something missing in my setup definitions? Besides the usual stuff (paths, netlisting mode, etc), this is what I am currently using (taken from a Voltus RAK):

## VoltusFi-L New Viewer ##
setenv QRCTODFII_TYPE qrc
setenv CDS_ENABLE_EXP_PCELL true
setenv _vsaUseContinuousPlots t
setenv _vsaEnableCombineAnalysis 1
setenv _vsaICTConductorUnit "mA"
setenv _vsaEnablePowerGridRules 1
setenv _vsaDumpResultDB 1
setenv _vsaDrfFile   $CDSHOME/tools/vsa/etc/vavo.drf
setenv _vsaTechFile  $CDSHOME/tools/vsa/etc/vavo_techfile
setenv _vsaCopyOAView 1

setenv MMSIM_ADE_EMIR true
setenv EMIR_VAVO_DB 5.0

## To Generate VSA_RESULTS Database for VfiPlot ##
setenv VFI_VSAPLOT_DB 1
setenv VFI_VSAPLOT_DUMP_DSPF 1

Thanks and regards, Jorge.

Hi Jorge,

Did you also point to QRC run data (next to DFII  layer map)?

I cannot tell much without looking at the setup more closely.. If you think your setup matches the RAK, then it's best to contact customer support so an AE can help you through Webex.

Regards,
Saloni

Yes, I'm pointing to my QRC extraction data directory. I'm not sure if I'll be able to open a support request (our access to 16FF is heavily NDA-restricted), but I'll check with my management. One last question: do you know maybe in which files I could look for (a) the valid DFII layer names and (b) the extraction layer names?

Yes, I'm pointing to my QRC extraction data directory. I'm not sure if I'll be able to open a support request (our access to 16FF is heavily NDA-restricted), but I'll check with my management. One last question: do you know maybe in which files I could look for (a) the valid DFII layer names and (b) the extraction layer names?

(a) DFII layer names are the layers you see in the layer palette in Virtuoso Layout Editor.  If you want to get them in a file, you can dump the technology library into a text file and find the layers.

(b) Extraction layer names can be found in ICT file. These should match the names in extview.tmp file inside the extraction output directory (check parasitic resistor statements).

If you are using an EXT version before 17.11, there is a possibility that vias names in ICT don't match with what's in extview.tmp. But this was fixed in 17.11. If you find any mismatch, then the names to put in DFII layer map file will be the ones in extview.tmp.

Regards,

Saloni