Is there a procedure to copy pins from instance inside layout pcell to the pcell?

Hi Sjoerd,

There's not really a simple built-in function to do this - you'd have to do it yourself, unfortunately. That said (and I'm sure you know I'm going to say this), this is staggeringly easy to do with PCell Designer:

The "copy terminals" command does exactly this. The PCell above is instantiating a transistor and then propagating the terminals upwards. 

Of course, I'd be happy to talk to you about potentially using PCell Designer ;-)

Regards,

Andrew

Hi Sjoerd,

There's not really a simple built-in function to do this - you'd have to do it yourself, unfortunately. That said (and I'm sure you know I'm going to say this), this is staggeringly easy to do with PCell Designer:

The "copy terminals" command does exactly this. The PCell above is instantiating a transistor and then propagating the terminals upwards. 

Of course, I'd be happy to talk to you about potentially using PCell Designer ;-)

Regards,

Andrew

Hi Andrew,

That was the expected answer. I'd love to use the PCell Designer, however, for some reason my CAD department decided not to allow this tool to be used (in a DM I can give you the reason though). I'm compiling a list of things why I should be allowed to use this tool, and this has already made it to this list. So for now, I'll go ahead and write my own procedure to copy terminals...

Thanks for your time.

With kind regards,

Sjoerd

If you haven't already written it I did this recently:

oldLayView = dbOpenCellViewByType(oldLibName cellName "layout" "" "r")

;Iterate over the shapes of the old layout to copy the pins and pin labels to the new layout, also rename the power/ground pins
foreach(shape oldLayView~>shapes

;Find and copy all MET1 pin objects
if(shape~>lpp == list("MET1" "pin") then
newLayFig = dbCopyFig(shape newLayView)

;Re-name the supply labels
if(newLayFig~>objType == "label" then
if(newLayFig~>theLabel == "vdd!" then
newLayFig~>theLabel = "vdd018"
)
if(newLayFig~>theLabel == "gnd!" then
newLayFig~>theLabel = "vss018"
)
;For the shapes create terminals and pins with the updated names
;for power/ground and make a copy of the input and output pins
else
case(shape~>pin~>net~>name
("vdd!"
layNetVDD = dbCreateNet(newLayView "vdd018")
dbCreateTerm(layNetVDD "vdd018" "input")
newLayFig~>pin~>net~>name = "vdd018"
layPinVDD = dbCreatePin(layNetVDD newLayFig)
)
("gnd!"
layNetVSS = dbCreateNet(newLayView "vss018")
newLayFig~>pin~>net~>name = "vss018"
dbCreateTerm(layNetVSS "vss018" "input")
layPinVSS = dbCreatePin(layNetVSS newLayFig)
)
(t
layNetIO = dbCreateNet(newLayView shape~>pin~>net~>name)
dbCreateTerm(layNetIO shape~>pin~>net~>name shape~>pin~>term~>direction)
layPinIO = dbCreatePin(layNetIO newLayFig)
)
)
)
)
)

I was doing something rather specific here so you'd need to modify it to suit you but this should work for you. You can change the if statement to a case statement assuming you have more than one layer that has desired pins on it.

Hi Kevin,

Thank you for your response and suggestion.

I already started coding, and my case is a bit different. The main transistor instantiated by my pcell has two gate pins on each gate; the transistor may have more then one finger. See the image below for a two-finger example.

In the example, you'll see two gate fingers (filled green, wide rectangles in "portrait") and each finger has 2 pins: 1 at the top (above the diffusion area, pink-ish in color, dashed) and 1 at the bottom (below the diffusion). When I do the following (after setting variable "o" to the id of this instance) (searching for gate terminals):

terminals = setof( terminal o~>master~>terminals pcreMatchp( "^G" terminal~>name ) )

The variable "terminals get this value:

(db:0x5f03cb9b db:0x5f03cb9c)

As you can see, two terminals for the gate.

Retrieving more information:

terminals~>??
((db:0x5f03cb9b cellView db:0x5f03c51a objType "term"
    prop nil direction "input" groupMembers
    nil name "G" net db:0x5f03cb1b
    numBits 1 pins
    (db:0x5f03cc1e db:0x5f03cc1d) routeMethod
    "symbolic" connRoutes nil textDisplays nil
    assocTextDisplays nil pinCount 2 markers
    nil mustJoinTerms
    (db:0x5f03cb9c) position nil
    physOnly nil pinConnectMethod "default" isInterface
    t
    )
    (db:0x5f03cb9c cellView db:0x5f03c51a objType "term"
    prop nil direction "input" groupMembers
    nil name "G_1" net db:0x5f03cb1c
    numBits 1 pins
    (db:0x5f03cc20 db:0x5f03cc1f) routeMethod
    "symbolic" connRoutes nil textDisplays nil
    assocTextDisplays nil pinCount 2 markers
    nil mustJoinTerms
    (db:0x5f03cb9b) position nil
    physOnly nil pinConnectMethod "default" isInterface
    t
    )
)

As you can see, two terminals with each its own name, and each with two pins. The "mustJoinTerms" parameter has a value as well. This tells LayoutXL that both terminals must be shorted (which is obvious of course).

Digging a bit deeper, this is some more information:

terminals~>net~>??
((db:0x5f03cb1b cellView db:0x5f03c51a objType "net"
    prop nil allInstTerms nil connStatus
    nil criticality 0 figs nil
    routePattern "steiner" groupMembers nil instTerms
    nil name "G" numBits 1
    parent nil pins
    (db:0x5f03cc1e db:0x5f03cc1d) shieldNet1
    nil shieldNet2 nil signals
    (db:0x5f03cb1b)
    sigNames
    ("G") subnet nil subnets
    nil term db:0x5f03cb9b terms
    (db:0x5f03cb9b)
    textDisplays nil assocTextDisplays nil instTermCount
    0 markers nil routes nil
    source "netlist" sigType "signal" aliases
    ("G") isGlobal nil memInstTerms nil
    memNets
    ((db:0x5f03cb1b 0)) memTerms
    ((db:0x5f03cb9b 0))
    )
    (db:0x5f03cb1c cellView db:0x5f03c51a objType "net"
    prop nil allInstTerms nil connStatus
    nil criticality 0 figs nil
    routePattern "steiner" groupMembers nil instTerms
    nil name "G_1" numBits 1
    parent nil pins
    (db:0x5f03cc20 db:0x5f03cc1f) shieldNet1
    nil shieldNet2 nil signals
    (db:0x5f03cb1c)
    sigNames
    ("G_1") subnet nil subnets
    nil term db:0x5f03cb9c terms
    (db:0x5f03cb9c)
    textDisplays nil assocTextDisplays nil instTermCount
    0 markers nil routes nil
    source "netlist" sigType "signal" aliases
    ("G_1") isGlobal nil memInstTerms nil
    memNets
    ((db:0x5f03cb1c 0)) memTerms
    ((db:0x5f03cb9c 0))
    )
)

terminals~>pins~>??
(((db:0x5f03cc1e cellView db:0x5f03c51a objType "pin"
        prop nil accessDir nil fig
        db:0x5f03c6a7 groupMembers nil name "G_B"
        net db:0x5f03cb1b term db:0x5f03cb9b connRoutes
        nil textDisplays nil assocTextDisplays nil
        markers nil figs
        (db:0x5f03c6a7) status
        nil type nil
    )
    (db:0x5f03cc1d cellView db:0x5f03c51a objType "pin"
        prop nil accessDir nil fig
        db:0x5f03c6a8 groupMembers nil name "G_T"
        net db:0x5f03cb1b term db:0x5f03cb9b connRoutes
        nil textDisplays nil assocTextDisplays nil
        markers nil figs
        (db:0x5f03c6a8) status
        nil type nil
    )
    )
    ((db:0x5f03cc20 cellView db:0x5f03c51a objType "pin"
        prop nil accessDir nil fig
        db:0x5f03c6b5 groupMembers nil name "G_1_B"
        net db:0x5f03cb1c term db:0x5f03cb9c connRoutes
        nil textDisplays nil assocTextDisplays nil
        markers nil figs
        (db:0x5f03c6b5) status
        nil type nil
    )
    (db:0x5f03cc1f cellView db:0x5f03c51a objType "pin"
        prop nil accessDir nil fig
        db:0x5f03c6b6 groupMembers nil name "G_1_T"
        net db:0x5f03cb1c term db:0x5f03cb9c connRoutes
        nil textDisplays nil assocTextDisplays nil
        markers nil figs
        (db:0x5f03c6b6) status
        nil type nil
    )
    )
)

terminals~>pins~>figs~>??
((((db:0x5f03c6a7 cellView db:0x5f03c51a objType "rect"
        prop nil bBox
        ((0.0 -0.1)
            (1.0 0.0)
        ) children
        nil groupMembers nil isAnyInst nil
        isShape t matchPoints nil net
        db:0x5f03cb1b parent nil pin db:0x5f03cc1e
        purpose "drawing" textDisplays nil assocTextDisplays
        nil markers nil figGroup nil
        isUnshielded nil shieldedNet1 nil shieldedNet2
        nil layerName "PO" layerNum 17
        lpp
        ("PO" "drawing") connRoutes nil routeStatus
        "normal"
        )
    )
    ((db:0x5f03c6a8 cellView db:0x5f03c51a objType "rect"
        prop nil bBox
        ((0.0 1.0)
            (1.0 1.1)
        ) children
        nil groupMembers nil isAnyInst nil
        isShape t matchPoints nil net
        db:0x5f03cb1b parent nil pin db:0x5f03cc1d
        purpose "drawing" textDisplays nil assocTextDisplays
        nil markers nil figGroup nil
        isUnshielded nil shieldedNet1 nil shieldedNet2
        nil layerName "PO" layerNum 17
        lpp
        ("PO" "drawing") connRoutes nil routeStatus
        "normal"
        )
    )
    )
    (((db:0x5f03c6b5 cellView db:0x5f03c51a objType "rect"
        prop nil bBox
        ((1.18 -0.1)
            (2.18 0.0)
        ) children
        nil groupMembers nil isAnyInst nil
        isShape t matchPoints nil net
        db:0x5f03cb1c parent nil pin db:0x5f03cc20
        purpose "drawing" textDisplays nil assocTextDisplays
        nil markers nil figGroup nil
        isUnshielded nil shieldedNet1 nil shieldedNet2
        nil layerName "PO" layerNum 17
        lpp
        ("PO" "drawing") connRoutes nil routeStatus
        "normal"
        )
    )
    ((db:0x5f03c6b6 cellView db:0x5f03c51a objType "rect"
        prop nil bBox
        ((1.18 1.0)
            (2.18 1.1)
        ) children
        nil groupMembers nil isAnyInst nil
        isShape t matchPoints nil net
        db:0x5f03cb1c parent nil pin db:0x5f03cc1f
        purpose "drawing" textDisplays nil assocTextDisplays
        nil markers nil figGroup nil
        isUnshielded nil shieldedNet1 nil shieldedNet2
        nil layerName "PO" layerNum 17
        lpp
        ("PO" "drawing") connRoutes nil routeStatus
        "normal"
        )
    )
    )

This is what I have to replicate. In my code, I (try to) do it like this:

        terminalList = setof( terminal instId~>master~>terminals pcreMatchp( "^G" terminal~>name ) )

        foreach( terminal terminalList
            netId = dbCreateNet( cvId terminal~>net~>name )
            termId = dbCreateTerm( netId terminal~>net~>name "inputOutput" )

            foreach( pin terminal~>pins
                instTermPinFig = car( pin~>figs )
                pinFigId = dbCreateRect( cvId instTermPinFig~>lpp instTermPinFig~>bBox )
                pinPinId = dbCreatePin( netId pinFigId pin~>name)
                pinLabelId = dbCreateTextDisplay( pinFigId->net
                                pinFigId
                                list( car( instTermPinFig~>lpp ) "pin" )
                                t
                                centerBox( pinFigId~>bBox )
                                "centerCenter"
                                "R0"
                                "roman"
                                0.1
                                nil nil t nil t
                                "name" )
            ) ;;; end of foreach pin
         ) ;;; end of foreach terminal

This may not be the most efficient way of doing it, but so far LayoutXL accepts this. Still, have to do some more testing LVS for instance) but so far so good.

I still have to find a solution for the mustJoinTerms parameter. This is not working:

         when( mustJoinTermsList
             foreach( terminal mustJoinTermsList
                 terminal~>mustJoinTerms = remove( terminal mustJoinTermsList )
             ) ;;; end of foreach mustJoinTerms
         ) ;;; end of when

The error it generates:

*Error* setSGq: (DB-370034): dbSetq: Cannot set attribute - mustJoinTerms

No clue how to do this yet.

And Andrew, yes, you are right of course , I shouldn't put those ;;; end of something comments in the code, I just set-up my editor to add this automatically....

Once again, thank you for your contribution.

With kind regards,

Sjoerd