Cannot plot transient response (no graph/empty window)

Dear hikotoshi,

hikotoshi said:

Whenever I try to do a transient simulation of any circuit, I only get a black window, as seen below. DC and other simulations work fine. I've made a very simple inverter schematic as shown in the picture and I don't see any errors in the Spectre log. This problem occurs on any circuit, I've tried various. What could be the reason for this?

Did you check the CIW window for any issues? It sounds as if a netlist cannot be created -  possibly due to an invalid parameter in your transient input pulse. This will prevent spectre from simulating the circuit. In my limited experience, if a netlist cannot be generated, the response you describe is common. If there is no information in the CIW, You might try to enable the  +diagnose option to provide more information. If you have not done this before, some instructions are at Cadence On0line support at URL:

support.cadence.com/.../ArticleAttachmentPortal

It is a bit difficult for me to be certain on the issue as you have not included the netlist or input.scs file or the tools you are using...

Shawn

Hi,

Thanks for the reply, but the netlist seems fine to me. I've attached the input.scs. Tools are GF 22FDX-EXT.

input.scs:

// Generated for: spectre
// Generated on: Mar 7 22:12:24 2021
// Design library name: thesis
// Design cell name: test
// Design view name: schematic
simulator lang=spectre
global 0 VDD!
include "$SPECTRE_MODEL_PATH/design_wrapper_rf.lib.scs" section=tt_pre
parameters nfet=1 pfet=1 CL=10f F=2G vdd=1

// Library name: cmos22fdsoi
// Cell name: INV
// View name: schematic
subckt INV_pcell_0 A Y inh_hSup inh_lSup
parameters wfp=80n nfp=1 lp=20n p_lap=0 ulpp=0 wfn=80n nfn=1 ln=20n \
p_lan=0 ulpn=0
P0 (Y A inh_hSup inh_lSup) pfet w=(wfp)*(nfp) l=lp as=6.72f ad=6.72f \
ps=328n pd=328n nf=nfp par=(1) par_nf=(1) * (nfp) m=1 plorient=0 \
acv_opt=-1 ptwell=0 ngcon=1 nscon=1 ndcon=1 p_la=p_lap p_wa=0 \
ulp=ulpp lle_pcpc=84n tie_orient=0 swrfmhc_local=0 analog=0
N0 (Y A inh_lSup inh_lSup) nfet w=(wfn)*(nfn) l=ln as=6.72f ad=6.72f \
ps=328n pd=328n nf=nfn par=(1) par_nf=(1) * (nfn) m=1 plorient=0 \
acv_opt=-1 ptwell=0 ngcon=1 nscon=1 ndcon=1 p_la=p_lan p_wa=0 \
ulp=ulpn lle_pcpc=84n tie_orient=0 swrfmhc_local=0 analog=0
ends INV_pcell_0
// End of subcircuit definition.

// Library name: thesis
// Cell name: test
// View name: schematic
INV0 (INPUT OUTPUT VDD! 0) INV_pcell_0 wfp=80n nfp=1 lp=20n p_lap=0 ulpp=0 \
wfn=80n nfn=1 ln=20n p_lan=0 ulpn=0
V1 (INPUT 0) vsource type=pulse val0=0 val1=vdd period=1/F rise=0.1/F \
fall=0.1/F
V0 (VDD! 0) vsource dc=vdd type=dc
C0 (OUTPUT 0) capacitor c=CL
simulatorOptions options reltol=1e-3 vabstol=1e-6 iabstol=1e-12 temp=27 \
tnom=27 scalem=1.0 scale=1.0 gmin=1e-12 rforce=1 vthmod=vthcc \
ivthn=300e-9 ivthp=70e-9 ivthw=0 ivthl=0 maxnotes=5 maxwarns=5 \
digits=5 cols=80 pivrel=1e-3 sensfile="../psf/sens.output" \
checklimitdest=psf vdsatmod=gds
tran tran stop=5n errpreset=conservative write="spectre.ic" \
writefinal="spectre.fc" annotate=status maxiters=5
finalTimeOP info what=oppoint where=rawfile
dc dc param=vdd start=0 stop=1 step=0.1 write="spectre.dc" oppoint=rawfile \
maxiters=150 maxsteps=10000 annotate=status
modelParameter info what=models where=rawfile
element info what=inst where=rawfile
outputParameter info what=output where=rawfile
designParamVals info what=parameters where=rawfile
primitives info what=primitives where=rawfile
subckts info what=subckts where=rawfile
save INPUT OUTPUT
saveOptions options save=allpub

Hi,

Thanks for the reply, but the netlist seems fine to me. I've attached the input.scs. Tools are GF 22FDX-EXT.

input.scs:

// Generated for: spectre
// Generated on: Mar 7 22:12:24 2021
// Design library name: thesis
// Design cell name: test
// Design view name: schematic
simulator lang=spectre
global 0 VDD!
include "$SPECTRE_MODEL_PATH/design_wrapper_rf.lib.scs" section=tt_pre
parameters nfet=1 pfet=1 CL=10f F=2G vdd=1

// Library name: cmos22fdsoi
// Cell name: INV
// View name: schematic
subckt INV_pcell_0 A Y inh_hSup inh_lSup
parameters wfp=80n nfp=1 lp=20n p_lap=0 ulpp=0 wfn=80n nfn=1 ln=20n \
p_lan=0 ulpn=0
P0 (Y A inh_hSup inh_lSup) pfet w=(wfp)*(nfp) l=lp as=6.72f ad=6.72f \
ps=328n pd=328n nf=nfp par=(1) par_nf=(1) * (nfp) m=1 plorient=0 \
acv_opt=-1 ptwell=0 ngcon=1 nscon=1 ndcon=1 p_la=p_lap p_wa=0 \
ulp=ulpp lle_pcpc=84n tie_orient=0 swrfmhc_local=0 analog=0
N0 (Y A inh_lSup inh_lSup) nfet w=(wfn)*(nfn) l=ln as=6.72f ad=6.72f \
ps=328n pd=328n nf=nfn par=(1) par_nf=(1) * (nfn) m=1 plorient=0 \
acv_opt=-1 ptwell=0 ngcon=1 nscon=1 ndcon=1 p_la=p_lan p_wa=0 \
ulp=ulpn lle_pcpc=84n tie_orient=0 swrfmhc_local=0 analog=0
ends INV_pcell_0
// End of subcircuit definition.

// Library name: thesis
// Cell name: test
// View name: schematic
INV0 (INPUT OUTPUT VDD! 0) INV_pcell_0 wfp=80n nfp=1 lp=20n p_lap=0 ulpp=0 \
wfn=80n nfn=1 ln=20n p_lan=0 ulpn=0
V1 (INPUT 0) vsource type=pulse val0=0 val1=vdd period=1/F rise=0.1/F \
fall=0.1/F
V0 (VDD! 0) vsource dc=vdd type=dc
C0 (OUTPUT 0) capacitor c=CL
simulatorOptions options reltol=1e-3 vabstol=1e-6 iabstol=1e-12 temp=27 \
tnom=27 scalem=1.0 scale=1.0 gmin=1e-12 rforce=1 vthmod=vthcc \
ivthn=300e-9 ivthp=70e-9 ivthw=0 ivthl=0 maxnotes=5 maxwarns=5 \
digits=5 cols=80 pivrel=1e-3 sensfile="../psf/sens.output" \
checklimitdest=psf vdsatmod=gds
tran tran stop=5n errpreset=conservative write="spectre.ic" \
writefinal="spectre.fc" annotate=status maxiters=5
finalTimeOP info what=oppoint where=rawfile
dc dc param=vdd start=0 stop=1 step=0.1 write="spectre.dc" oppoint=rawfile \
maxiters=150 maxsteps=10000 annotate=status
modelParameter info what=models where=rawfile
element info what=inst where=rawfile
outputParameter info what=output where=rawfile
designParamVals info what=parameters where=rawfile
primitives info what=primitives where=rawfile
subckts info what=subckts where=rawfile
save INPUT OUTPUT
saveOptions options save=allpub