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asiCheckSimulationSuccess returns true despite errors in Spectre Log File

Albert

Hello,

I am running a SKILL script in a nograph session in batch mode using the Spectre simulator. After each simulation, I use the asiCheckSimulationSuccess function to determine whether the simulation completed successfully and decide whether to continue with measurements. This approach has worked well until today when I encountered unexpected results and decided to inspect the spectre.out file.

I found the following messages in the file:

     ERROR (SPECTRE-16080): Cannot print DC solution because DC did not converge. Resolve the convergence issue and rerun the simulation.

 

Warning from spectre during DC analysis `dcOp'.

     WARNING (SPECTRE-223): Detected NaN at node p_1.sd1.

     WARNING (SPECTRE-223): Detected NaN at node p_1.ca:int_ci.

     WARNING (SPECTRE-223): Detected NaN at node p_1.ca:int_n.

 

      ERROR (SPECTRE-16041): The `dcOpInfo' analysis is skipped due to inability to compute operating point. Run 'mmsimpack' (see mmsimpack -h for detailed usage information) to package the netlist and log files as a compressed tar file. Then, contact your Cadence representative or submit a service request via Cadence Online Support, including the tar file and any other information that could help identify the problem.

Despite these errors, the asiCheckSimulationSuccess function returns true, indicating that the simulation was successful. Are there any strict methods to reliably determine whether the simulation was successful?

Thank you for your help!

  • This function merely checks that there are some simulation results available - it doesn't test whether any of the individual analyses failed.

    This information is recorded by Spectre in a file called logStatus in the psf directory, which lists each analysis started and whether it passed or failed. For example:

    6:13:40 PM, Wed Aug 20, 2025 dcOp START
    6:13:40 PM, Wed Aug 20, 2025 dcOp FAIL
    6:13:40 PM, Wed Aug 20, 2025 dcOpInfo START
    6:13:40 PM, Wed Aug 20, 2025 dcOpInfo PASS
    6:13:40 PM, Wed Aug 20, 2025 tran START
    6:13:40 PM, Wed Aug 20, 2025 tran PASS
    6:13:40 PM, Wed Aug 20, 2025 finalTimeOP START
    6:13:40 PM, Wed Aug 20, 2025 finalTimeOP PASS
    6:13:40 PM, Wed Aug 20, 2025 ac START
    6:13:40 PM, Wed Aug 20, 2025 ac PASS
    6:13:40 PM, Wed Aug 20, 2025 noise START
    6:13:40 PM, Wed Aug 20, 2025 noise PASS
    6:13:40 PM, Wed Aug 20, 2025 xf START
    6:13:40 PM, Wed Aug 20, 2025 xf PASS
    6:13:40 PM, Wed Aug 20, 2025 modelParameter START
    6:13:40 PM, Wed Aug 20, 2025 modelParameter PASS

    There's no public asi function that I can see that returns this info (I can see some private functions). There's a private argument to a public maestro API function which does indicate whether any analysis failed, but again that won't help you unless you're running the simulations through the maestro APIs (I suspect you are not).

    Probably the best you have for now is to look in the logStatus file for FAIL entries.

    Andrew

  • in reply to Andrew Beckett

    Hello Andrew,

    Thank you for sharing the information. In my PSF directory, I don’t see a logFileStatus file—only logFile, artistLogFile, and other files that do not include "log" in their names. Are there any settings options that could enable this behavior?

  • in reply to Albert

    My apologies, this is normally enabled when you are running from ADE Explorer/Assembler/XL. Assuming you're running simulations with OCEAN functions, you'd need to add:

    envOption('userCmdLineOption "+logstatus")

    In essence, you're adding +logstatus to the spectre command line.

    Andrew

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