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Updating a PDK technology layermap and technology

magal

Hi.

We're trying to update one of our PDKs at lab to contain the latest Layout Editor information.

We received from the vendor a .map file and a .tf file, and I would like to verify that we are updating them properly.

1. To my best understanding there is no such a thing as "map file" update, just use the new layermap for stream purposes. Is that correct?

2. Updating the technology file looks more cumbersome. Using the "Technology File Manager", there is a way to merge technology files. To update our process, should we use this procedure? If not, what is the proper way to update a technology file?

Thanks again,

Matan

  • Andrew Beckett

    Hi Matan,

    I'm not sure I can guess what the ".map" file is. It might be a stream layer map, or it might be something else. If a layer map, then you could replace the techlib.layermap file in the technology library.

    For the tech file, you can use the "Load" choice on the technology file manager, and that has a merge or replace choice. 

    However, the right thing to do with both of these is to ask the vendor what they're expecting you to do with them!

    Regards,

    Andrew.

  • magal
    in reply to Andrew Beckett

    Hi Andrew.

    I'm sorry for the delayed reply, but I was waiting for the fab's reply before trying to proceed with this issue.

    I'm very frustrated because all our fab contact told us so far is "please consult Cadence with your issue".

    Annoyingly this is for the update of a 65nm process of a very large fab located off of mainland China, so there is a chance that this is all we will get from them.

    That said.

    1. I'm pretty sure that the .map file that we have is a stream layer map since it has the same syntax as the .layermap file

    2. for the tech file, I'm facing a couple of issues.

    a. I'm comparing the (ASCII) update tech file that we have to an ASCII dump of our current, non-updated tech file. The update file is significantly smaller with no data about metal currents, capacitances and other parameters that exist in the dumped file. Would you say that this suggests that the new file is meant to be merged into the old file? This is my best guess so far.

    b. When trying to merge these files, I'm getting a bunch of warnings and an error. I think that the reason is that the update tech file syntax is written for pre-IC6.1.5 versions. To solve this issue, would it be better to: (1) manually edit the update tech file to make the error and some warnings go away (eg. move the control section to top of the file), or (2) do the technology library update with an older IC6.1.4 installation and then use the technology library with our current (IC6.1.7) installation?

    Thanks ahead,

    Best,

    Matan

  • Andrew Beckett
    in reply to magal

    Hi Matan,

    Sorry I didn't reply sooner - I have just been going back from my inbox and noticed I didn't respond to this at the time due to work load.

    The only thing I can suggest is that you contact customer support. Without seeing the contents of the files and your technology setup, it's really hard to guess. Even seeing that I would be wary as this is direction that really should come from the foundry, no matter what they say. After all, they have provided the data! 

    As for the errors, I'd be surprised if a tech file for an older version was not still valid in a newer version - but again, we'd need to see the data.

    Regards,

    Andrew.

  • magal
    in reply to Andrew Beckett

    Hi, I'm sorry to resurrect this thread after so long but in favor of other who might have similar issues:

    Apparently the techfile format has changed between IC6.1.4 and IC6.1.5. Found it in documentation. My solution around the update errors was to use IC6.1.4 to perform the update.

    IC6.1.4 still throws a bunch of warnings, but all of them appear in the CIW and are either streightforward to solve or go away once the techfile is dumped and reloaded.

    Thanks for the help!

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