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What happened when compile graphic pcell to skill code?

richardyuan

Hello, 

I want to create a little tool that can capture the user action in GUI, then convert it into pCell, something like user create graphic pcell and then compile it to skill code. 

Are there any more detail when compile graphic pcell to skill code is only one step? I want to know what happened and so I can start from.

Any good suggestion is preferred. Thank you for advance.

  • Hi Richard,

    What you are asking for is not trivial, if I understand the request correctly. If I understand correctly you want some way of capturing user actions in a layout as a sequence of SKILL commands and then somehow make this into a PCell?  I would think that the easiest place to start is actually the log file - I would suggest that you have some sort of "START" and "STOP" markers to demarcate the start and end of the captured actions, and then copy these off to a separate file.  However, the commands that you use interactively are typically not the commands that you would use in a PCell.  It would take a developer to then convert that file into a repeatable function, and then they would need to decide on which 'variables' would be parameters (take a simple rectangle: width, height, layer, bBox, connectivity? and so on) or arguments to the function. The last step would be to wrap that function in a PCell (i.e. add the pcDefinePCell statement around the function that does all the work, passing each function argument from a PCell parameter).

    Hopefully this is a "good suggestion".

    Best regards,

    Lawrence.

  • Hi Richard,

    This does sound as if you're after something like Cadence PCell Designer. I mentioned this in this previous post: 

    Replied to: Creating rectangles with rounded corners in Layout using SKILL (PCell)
    Hi Sjoerd, There's no built-in function to do this within a PCell (there's leModifyCorner, but that can't be used in a PCell). So you'd have to write something to do this yourself. However, this is…
    By in Cadence Technology Forums > Custom IC SKILL

    You can also see the data sheet for the product.

    As Lawrence pointed out, doing this yourself is far from trivial.

    Regards,

    Andrew.

  • Hi Lawrence,

    Thank you for your suggestion. That seems a lot of work to do.
    To make it clearer, what I need is just to imitate the behavior of graphic PCell in virtuoso, and make it easier to use based on personal habit.
    No other more simple or direct ways?
  • Hi Andrew,

    Thank you for your information.
    PCell Designer sounds powerful and can do lot of things out of my need. More important, we don't have the license.
    Actually what I want is just to imitate the behavour of graphic PCell and make it easier to use based on personal habit.
    For example, draw a rectangle, give the width and length in GUI, and it can translate to PCell.
    The graphic pcell present as a plugin in virtuoso. If I want to develop a similar plugin for my use, is there any document I can refer?

  • Well, adding a plugin is a matter of using deRegPlugin - however, developing a whole application similar to the (albeit pretty old) Graphical PCell application in Virtuoso is way beyond anything that would be documented or there would be sample code for! 

    Andrew.

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