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  • AMS simulation fails when I use mim cap

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AMS simulation fails when I use mim cap

Mostafa A
Mostafa A 2 months ago

Hi everybody,

I am doing AMS simulation using the version 6.1.5. I am using 65nm TSMC. When I run simulation it fails because of the mim caps that I used in analog parts. And when I replace the mim caps with the ideal caps it works.

Does anyone know what could be the problem?

Best

Mostafa

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  • Mostafa A
    Mostafa A 2 months ago in reply to Andrew Beckett

    Dear Andrew,

    Thanks for reply. This is the simulator log file.

    ******************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

    Compilation successful.
    Skipped elaboration of ("Research2" "Boost_HillClimbing2" "config").
    Snapshot is up-to-date.
    ncsim: 10.20-p008: (c) Copyright 1995-2010 Cadence Design Systems, Inc.
    ncsim: *W,DLNCML: Multiple logical library mappings have been detected in the cds.lib. Directory used multiple times '/ECEnet/Apps1/ecl/process/TSMC65_IP/Standard_Cells/OA_DB/tcbn65lplvt'.
    ncsim: *W,DLNCML: Multiple logical library mappings have been detected in the cds.lib. Directory used multiple times '/ECEnet/Apps1/ecl/process/TSMC65_IP/Standard_Cells/OA_DB/tcbn65lphvt'.
    ncsim: *W,DLNCML: Multiple logical library mappings have been detected in the cds.lib. Directory used multiple times '/ECEnet/Apps1/ecl/process/TSMC65_IP/Standard_Cells/OA_DB/tcbn65lp'.
    ncsim: *N,SFEDPL: Deploying new SFE in analog engine.
    Loading snapshot Research2.Boost_HillClimbing2:config .................... Done
    Starting analog simulation engine...
    AMSD: Using spectre solver.

    Cadence (R) Virtuoso (R) Spectre (R) Circuit Simulator
    Version 10.1.0.204 32bit -- 21 Oct 2010
    Copyright (C) 1989-2010 Cadence Design Systems, Inc. All rights reserved
    worldwide. Cadence, Virtuoso and Spectre are registered trademarks of
    Cadence Design Systems, Inc. All others are the property of their
    respective holders.

    Protected by U.S. Patents:
    5,610,847; 5,790,436; 5,812,431; 5,859,785; 5,949,992; 5,987,238;
    6,088,523; 6,101,323; 6,151,698; 6,181,754; 6,260,176; 6,278,964;
    6,349,272; 6,374,390; 6,493,849; 6,504,885; 6,618,837; 6,636,839;
    6,778,025; 6,832,358; 6,851,097; 6,928,626; 7,024,652; 7,035,782;
    7,085,700; 7,143,021; 7,493,240; 7,571,401.

    Includes RSA BSAFE(R) Cryptographic or Security Protocol Software from RSA
    Security, Inc.

    User: abedimo64 Host: 08vlab109 HostID: 5A0A6D08 PID: 7479
    Memory available: 3.1245 GB physical: 16.8257 GB
    CPU Type: Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-2698 v4 @ 2.20GHz


    Analog Kernel using -ANALOGCONTROL
    /ECEnet/Apps1/ecl/users/Mostafa/TSMC_65nm_DESIGN/sim/Boost_HillClimbing2/ams/config/netlist/amsControlSpectre.scs.

    Time for NDB Parsing: CPU = 2.37399 s, elapsed = 2.67626 s.
    Time accumulated: CPU = 2.37399 s, elapsed = 2.67626 s.
    Peak resident memory used = 70.2 Mbytes.

    ncsim>
    ncsim> # This is the NC-SIM(R) probe command file
    ncsim> # used in the AMS-ADE integration.
    ncsim>
    ncsim>
    ncsim> #
    ncsim> # Database settings
    ncsim> #
    ncsim> if { [info exists ::env(AMS_RESULTS_DIR) ] } { set AMS_RESULTS_DIR $env(AMS_RESULTS_DIR)} else {set AMS_RESULTS_DIR "../psf"}
    ../psf
    ncsim> database -open ams_database -into ${AMS_RESULTS_DIR} -default
    Created default SHM database ams_database
    ncsim>
    ncsim> #
    ncsim> # Probe settings
    ncsim> #
    ncsim>
    ncsim> run
    Compiling ahdlcmi module library.

    Error found by spectre during AHDL read-in.
    Cannot compile ahdlcmi module library. Check the log file
    amsControlSpectre.ahdlSimDB/bsource_1.amsControlSpectre.ahdlcmi/Linux3.10.0-1062.9.1.el7.x86_64+gcc/../ahdlcmi.out
    for details. If the compiler ran out of memory, use 'setenv
    CDS_CMI_COMPLEVEL 0', and try again. If the reason for the failure was
    a syntax error, contact your Cadence Customer Support representative
    with the netlist, log files, behavioral model files, and any other
    information that can help identify the problem.
    Warning from spectre in `mimcap_sin_3t':`Boost_HillClimbing2.I30.I20.C2', in
    `ECL03_XU_0526__HS_cmp_backup_0510__schematic__0x10000001':`Boost_HillClimbing2.I30.I20',
    in
    `Research2__LS_HS_Generator1__schematic__0x10000001':`Boost_HillClimbing2.I30',
    in
    `Research2__Boost_HillClimbing2__schematic__0x10000001':`Boost_HillClimbing2',
    during hierarchy flattening.
    "/ECEnet/Apps1/ecl/process/TSMC_updated/PDK/Cadence_OA/tn65cmsp007k3_1_7a/tsmcN65/../models/spectre/crn65lp_2d5_lk_v1d7.scs"
    160858: Boost_HillClimbing2.I30.I20.C2.cmim: `temp' is not a valid
    parameter for an instance of `bsource_1'. Ignored.
    "/ECEnet/Apps1/ecl/process/TSMC_updated/PDK/Cadence_OA/tn65cmsp007k3_1_7a/tsmcN65/../models/spectre/crn65lp_2d5_lk_v1d7.scs"
    160858: Boost_HillClimbing2.I30.I20.C2.cmim: `tnom' is not a valid
    parameter for an instance of `bsource_1'. Ignored.
    "/ECEnet/Apps1/ecl/process/TSMC_updated/PDK/Cadence_OA/tn65cmsp007k3_1_7a/tsmcN65/../models/spectre/crn65lp_2d5_lk_v1d7.scs"
    160858: Boost_HillClimbing2.I30.I20.C2.cmim: `bs_par_0' is not a valid
    parameter for an instance of `bsource_1'. Ignored.
    "/ECEnet/Apps1/ecl/process/TSMC_updated/PDK/Cadence_OA/tn65cmsp007k3_1_7a/tsmcN65/../models/spectre/crn65lp_2d5_lk_v1d7.scs"
    160858: Boost_HillClimbing2.I30.I20.C2.cmim: `bs_par_1' is not a valid
    parameter for an instance of `bsource_1'. Ignored.
    "/ECEnet/Apps1/ecl/process/TSMC_updated/PDK/Cadence_OA/tn65cmsp007k3_1_7a/tsmcN65/../models/spectre/crn65lp_2d5_lk_v1d7.scs"
    160858: Boost_HillClimbing2.I30.I20.C2.cmim: `bs_par_2' is not a valid
    parameter for an instance of `bsource_1'. Ignored.
    Further occurrences of this warning will be suppressed.


    Time for Elaboration: CPU = 368.841 ms, elapsed = 1.33074 s.
    Time accumulated: CPU = 2.74316 s, elapsed = 4.00733 s.
    Peak resident memory used = 98.1 Mbytes.

    ncsim: *E,RNALER: Simulation terminated due to analog error.
    Memory Usage - 19.3M program + 637.0M data = 656.3M total
    CPU Usage - 0.2s system + 2.6s user = 2.7s total (63.1% cpu)
    ncsim> exit
    ncsim: Memory Usage - 19.3M program + 636.7M data = 656.1M total
    ncsim: CPU Usage - 0.9s system + 3.2s user = 4.1s total (4.4s, 94.2% cpu)
    Failed to simulate ("Research2" "Boost_HillClimbing2" "config").

    ***************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

    And I am using 6.1.5 to accommodate it to my old version INCISIV.  I use this one because I had error in doing AMS simulation using 6.1.7.

    In the link below you suggested to use new version.

    https://community.cadence.com/cadence_technology_forums/f/mixed-signal-design/45160/ams-simulation-error-for-incisiv-version 

    But new version was not available in our setup. You think the problem that I have now is also related to INCISIV version?

    Thanks

    Mostafa

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  • Andrew Beckett
    Andrew Beckett 2 months ago in reply to Mostafa A

    Hi Mostafa,

    You're using a 10-year old INCISIVE version, so all bets are off with trying to debug this. It does say:

    Check the log file
    amsControlSpectre.ahdlSimDB/bsource_1.amsControlSpectre.ahdlcmi/Linux3.10.0-1062.9.1.el7.x86_64+gcc/../ahdlcmi.out
    for details. If the compiler ran out of memory, use 'setenv
    CDS_CMI_COMPLEVEL 0', and try again.

    You could look at that ahdlcmi.out file mentioned to see if it helps - maybe setting this CDS_CMI_COMPLEVEL if it's indeed memory related.

    However, it's quite possible that the PDK is using something that may simply not work with such an old version. 

    Andrew

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  • Mostafa A
    Mostafa A 2 months ago in reply to Andrew Beckett
    Andrew Beckett said:
    Check the log file
    amsControlSpectre.ahdlSimDB/bsource_1.amsControlSpectre.ahdlcmi/Linux3.10.0-1062.9.1.el7.x86_64+gcc/../ahdlcmi.out
    for details. If the compiler ran out of memory, use 'setenv
    CDS_CMI_COMPLEVEL 0', and try again.

    Dear Andrew,

    Could you please clarify this part to me? I didn't get how should I follow this instruction.

    Mostafa

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  • Andrew Beckett
    Andrew Beckett 2 months ago in reply to Mostafa A

    Er, look in the specific file it mentions and see if there are any clear errors as to what is going wrong! By all means post the ahdlcmi.out file here...

    Andrew.

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  • Mostafa A
    Mostafa A 2 months ago in reply to Andrew Beckett

    So I need to find the file "ahdlcmi.out" right?  I don't see such file in simulation directory.. It should be in simulation directory?

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