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1. 4 4 Text Commands 4 Micro Magic Documentation Guide 5 The Friendly Folks of Micro Magic Inc sssssssseeeee eene nter tete tentent teniente 5 2 MAX Layout 3 i AEE y aUbiblv 7 MAX Command Line Description 2 2 2 1 81 0 1 2022400400000000000000000000000 treten tenentis 7 nrbes gl lt PL 9 Tour of MAX Window Elements sess tente tentent tette 10 ME XC 11 Menu Bar and Message Area sess tete ttt tete treten tenenti 11 MOSSBge TOS cene decuit demit Re A 12 LL M IM M 12 TANG Ee 1 MPH 12 Layers Under Cursor ME 12 Laver VISIIT E 12 13 Painting and Erasing Layers sse tette terere rettet ettet tentent 13 MAX User Manual Table of Contents E Table of Contents GROUPS OF ROT 13 Changing Color and Fill Patterns of Layers 5 eese eeteeteettn tenta tinto tto tto teo 14 SAEI c sae
2. 2222 22 2 5 010 000100000 118 Search Paths to esters red ie iet sie ete iet eth ducti enaa i aa ae aN 118 CAR Teenhology Targeting es agers Eoo e b RP tret tici dtd 121 Introduction To MAX Technology Files 1 sss tette treten 121 make ING 121 Reading in GDSII Files sess tentent tette tette entities 123 gast ensem bere deed ER aM UM E 123 Layers names and groups 222 2 1 2 0 1 2020220200000000000000000001000 0 65000 tette tette tentent tette te tote ten 124 ENVION enren i one tente mte tac 125 More OM GOS 125 Converting Dracula DRC File 222222222 2 4 2 2 07209004000440044001400000004 0 44 126 drac 126 Technology Source Files 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 4010020200000000000000000000500080000 5 126 Additional Statements 2 ter pe be ahi dai erede pietre D be ea cete 132 PON AMCOC 136 Gihar o P 136 MAX interactive DRC Limitations sse tette tete treten tentent te tentes 138 Basic Technology Source File Example sse 138 MAX User Manual Table of Contents Table of Contents mm m P dA PE C mm
3. User Design Grid X Points and rectangles entered by the mouse will snap to this resolution in the X direction User Design Grid Y Points and rectangles entered by the mouse will snap to this resolution in the Y direction MAX User Manual Chapter 3 MAX Commands 50 coarse visibility The coarse grid can be turned off or be lines dots or dashes The coarse grid is displayed when you are zoomed out far enough coarse grid size X The size of coarse grid in X direction if visible coarse grid size Y The size of coarse grid in Y direction if visible coarse grid origin X The origin of coarse grid in X direction coarse grid origin Y The origin of coarse grid in Y direction coarse dot size The size of grid dots if grid type is dots fine visibility The display type of the fine grid This can be set to either lines or dots dashes or turned off fine grid size X The size of coarse grid in X direction if visible fine grid size Y The size of coarse grid in Y direction if visible fine grid origin X The origin of fine grid in X direction fine grid origin Y The origin of fine grid in Y direction fine dot size The size of grid dots if grid type is dots Hotkey None This brings up a pop up form shown in Figure 28 where you can view specify or modify the hotkey bindings used in MAX W The Edit Keymap pop up lists the menu entries and commands with reprogrammable
4. 101 Introduction To The Wire Tool 2 2222 221 11 21 2 1 4 04 4 0404 0 2440404000044044040404 1 101 Starting a 101 Drawing a WIE 102 Wire rotundata iaa Aer Eee aae a 104 Wiring Parameters Menu 106 Wire Tool Hotkeys entere tete tete tte tte tte ttt nene nente nter 107 CHARTS L uP Generator and 8 22 109 Introduction Layout Generator 222222221 1 2 0102040 00 4 0042 109 Layout Generator Examples 2 124 40 401 1102 04 0000000000000000000000000000600 0 900 0 01 110 Edit Per Cell ODONIS re re eden se ir aged si ved 112 Edit Stdeell deste tete Saath atid awn cet et ebd vile vers ese 113 Edit Layers to Generate on eccccccccccssesssscssssessesessesesseesesesseesesessescesssesussesuesesseeseseeceseeseseenssesseaesnesseaseneseeseess 115 Gross Dprobilig e E rete terret tara i dene lees ae on 116 Cross probing without the Layout Generator
5. gds file The name of the GDSII file from which the new technology will be created You should select a cell or block which contains all or at least most of the layers or the entire chip datatypes If you specify datatypes then every datatype on every layer is assigned a unique MAX layer Otherwise all datatypes of a given layer are merged together default dont load file If you specify dont load file then the tech file is built from the given GDS file but the GDS file is not loaded rebuild Layers Take the tech name source file as input and run make tech and then load the GDSII file This allows you to edit the technology source file created by a previous run of gds input change layer names colors etc and rebuild the MAX technology Once you have created a technology source file with gds input you willlikely want to add layer names and group layers etc For example if you ran gds input aaa strm gds input would create the technology source file called tech source which might look like this layer gds dt txt dt type width Space color L8 8 L12 12 L13 13 115 15 116 16 L17 17 L18 18 L62 62 You might then edit tech source to add meaningful layer names and types for example layer gds dt txt dt type width space color diff 8 poly 12
6. Once some of the wires have been completed you can cross probe between MAX and SUE to check the connections E To do this select SUE Cross Probe Init page 85 from the Tool menu Before you ran the Layout Generator you created a sim file of the schematic SUE Cross Probe Init first extracts a sim netlist from the layout and then runs Gemini LVS between the SUE schematic and the MAX layout Cross probing can also be invoked from SUE by selecting max cross probe init from the Sim menu LNS crossprobing only works on FLAT designs NOT hierarchical ones If the SUE schematic is hierarchical you can only crossprobe at the top level of hierarchy Micro Magic Inc MAX User Manual v5 1 12 Figure 104 Cross Probe Init a SUE Schematic b MAX Layout Once Gemini LVS has run the nets which match are highlighted in MAX and SUE W Matching nets are highlighted in MAX using the highlight layer see Editing Special Layers on page 15 W The nets which match in SUE are highlighted in red You can select a net in MAX either by using the hotkey s or simply selecting a portion of the net and then using the cross probe hotkey k command to find the corresponding net in SUE To do this select SUE Cross Probe page 86 from the Tool menu or use the hotkey k The corresponding net will be highlighted in SUE See Figure 105 If there is no corresponding net in SUE nothing will be highlighted and an error messag
7. Undo last via or wire segment End Wire Mode End wire at location of cursor Cancel wire Delecte wire you are currently drawing As you move the mouse the end of the wire segment follows the cursor The vertex slides to follow the mouse 212 Micro Magic Inc MAX User Manual v5 1 12 Chanteiirtenerator and MAX LS Introduction To The MAX Layout Generator The MAX Layout Generator converts a schematic to a layout containing fets with flylines to indicate connectivity The fets are laid out in two rows with p fets on the top and the n fets on the bottom and are optionally connected to power and ground rails Additional optional features include contact sharing folding of fets larger than a specified minimum and pre wiring of connections that can be wired outside of the center wiring channel The schematic to be converted may be hierarchical but all hierarchical components must ultimately consist of n fets and p fets The location of the fets in the generated layout from left to right is taken from the location of the fets in the schematic looking from left to right Where p or n fets appear vertically aligned in a column in the schematic the order is from top to bottom The process is fully hierarchical That is if an icon for a sub schematic is encountered in the left to right traversal of a parent schematic all fets in the sub schematic are inserted at that point followed by the remaining fets to
8. flylines Create flylines to indicate connectivity from the schematic Micro Magic Inc MAX User Manual v5 1 12 pad_track If router pads are being created this specifies the y coordinate dpc router pitch units where pads will be placed If this is set to default pads are placed near the Nplus Pplus boundary See also router_pads preroute_inner With this option enabled the layout generator attempts to pre route between the fets and the inner wiring channel where possible Metal preroutes will reduce the contact sizes and place metal wires directly over fets preroute_outer With this option enabled the layout generator attempts to pre route above and below the fets where possible Metal preroutes will reduce the contact sizes and place metal wires directly over fets reverse_stacked_fets This option reverses the layout order of specified types of fets nfets or pfets in the layout for stacked fets fets that share diffusion This is used to ease congestion route_through_fets_wider_than If option preroute_inner or preroute_outer is enabled this option specifies the minimum size fet that may NOT be routed over If the option is set to default the minimun fet width will be set to preserve one contact router_pads If this option is set the layout generator places on grid router landing pads for nets that are ports If this option is set to contact the layout generator also provides contacts
9. to auto the wire tool attempts to determine the correct layer by looking under the mouse when the wire is started If there are multiple layers under the mouse it uses the top layer The Active Layer can also be set using the Active indicator at the upper left of the MAX screen Default Layer Sets the first layer the wire tool looks for under the cursor if Active Layer is set to auto and either the Default Layer is found under the cursor or there are no layers under the cursor Manhattan Endcaps This is used only for drawing Manhattan wires It can be set to both none begin or end If set to both then the wire will be drawn with beginning and ending endcaps with a size half the width of the wire So the wire will extend half a wire width past the beginning and ending points Snap to Wire Grid Wire end points and vertices will snap to the wiring grid specified in the Wiring Parameters menu This is NOT the same as the User Grid in the Grid menu You can specify a different wiring grid for each layer being wired in the Wiring Parameters menu When placing a via the via will be moved to the nearest valid intersection of the grids of the two layers being connected by the via Snap to Angle Wires are constrained to the specified angle If the angle is set to 0 all angle wiring is allowed The Snap to Angle can be 90 45 30 15 or 0 degrees Micro Magic Inc MAX User Manual v5 1 12 Draw Vias U
10. view 7 level Internals Hotkey None MisE This is a sub menu for additional Internals commands The sub menu will look like Figure 62 Figure 62 View Internals Misc sub menu Intemals View More Internals Hide More Ctri h Internals View Cell Shift i Intemals Hide Cell Shift h Internals View Area Internals Hide Area Internals Hotkey View More This views one more level of hierarchy So for example if you are viewing 2 levels of hierarchy this command would have you now viewing 3 levels down of hierarchy Internals Hotkey Ctrl h Hide More This command is the opposite of Internals View More If for example if you are viewing 3 levels of hierarchy this command would have you now viewing 2 levels down of hierarchy MAX User Manual Chapter 3 MAX Commands 84 Internals View Cell Internals Hide Cell Internals View Area Internals Hide Area Display Cell Doc Hotkey Shift i Show internals of selected instance s one hierarchy level down E The easiest way to use this command is to use the Select Cell command hotkey f to select an instance of a cell m Then use the Internals View Cell command One level of hierarchy down from the selected instance is now visible You can now select one of the visible instances and show the internals of that cell This command can be used if more than one instance is selected MAX remember
11. Button 1 Start a minimum width wire on the active layer Shift Button 1 Start a wire is same width as geometry on the active layer Button 3 End Wire Mode Button 2 Wire tool pop up menu Set a spacing box to guide wiring This is useful if your routing width is more than the minimum spacing Toggle between 45 90 degree angle wiring mode Toggle snap to grid Set current wire size View the Wire Menu End Wire Mode The next set of hotkeys are active after the wire has been started Table 3 Hotkeys During Wiring Mode Hotkey Function Button 1 Add a wire segment Whenever you select Button 1 a new segment corner is added Button 3 End wire aligned If when you press mouse Button 2 the wire overlaps another wire of the same layer in the same direction the wire will be automatically aligned Ctrl Button 3 End wire unaligned The wire will end at location specified without doing any aligning Button 2 Wire Tool pop up menu Anchor unanchor wiring vertex or via Set a spacing box to guide wiring This is useful if your routing width is more than the minimum spacing Change drag via method toggles Drop a via up one layer Drop a via down one layer Toggle between 45 90 degree angle wiring mode Rotate via if any Toggle snap to grid Set current wire size Undo last via or wire segment View the Wire Menu Symmetric via
12. Chapter 3 MAX Commands 104 Explain DRC under Box Log File Local Menu Figure 85 Help Menu Hotkey Shift y Gives a text explanation of the kind of DRC error currently selected in the box E Draw a box over one or multiple DRC error s in MAX showing as white dots Select Explain DRC under Box and the DRC information will be printed the MAX Command Window the window from which you started MAX If multiple DRC errors are under the box all of the DRC violations will be listed m If there is only one DRC error under box the DRC error information is also displayed in the Message Area This only explains MAX DRC errors not errors from an external DRC tool such as Calibre Hotkey None Put log of MAX into a log file This allows you to keep track of what commands have been run in the current MAX session This menu contains Tcl based MAX functions You add your own Tcl functions to this menu An example of this would be running a batch DRC tool on the current cell The Tcl code for the examples in the Local menu is found in TOOLS mmi local max This menu remains empty until you have added functions Local Menu Empty No Functions Any time the mouse is over a menu option a basic description of the command is displayed inthe Message Area page 12 The Message Area also displays the mouse functions in the current mode The Help menu see Figure 86 provides you with additional
13. If set the Layer type will be changed for all selected text new layer Optional new Layer specification for all selected text Change Text Position If set the text Position will be changed for all selected text This controls where the text is drawn relative to the origin of the text new position Optional new Position of all selected text The Position will be n 8 se SU OY C Edit Edge Hotkey a Edit an edge of a geometry This allows you to stretch the edge of a single rectangles or polygons E First select Edit Edge or type hotkey a As you move over an edge of a rectangle or polygon a highlight bar will appear shown in red in Figure 42 below Once you have the desired edge highlighted hold down Button 1 and drag the edge to the desired location In Figure 42 we are moving the bottom edge of the yellow rectangle downward Micro Magic Inc MAX User Manual v5 1 12 Figure 42 Edit Menu Edit Edge Function max MB UNNAMED File Edit View Tool Select Misc Local Help jedge mode BUT 1 selects edge TS 1 290 1 680 box 2 630 2 400 6 312000 Edit Flylines Hotkey Ctrl f This allows you to add flylines to the layout cell If you have used the Layout Editor See Introduction To The MAX Layout Generator on page 117 flylines are automatically added to the layout When you complete a connection the flyline disappears If you
14. Painting and Erasing Layers 13 25 Palette 11 12 override 18 Active Layer 12 Changing Color and Fill Pattern 14 groups 18 Groups of Layers 13 Layer Selectability 13 Layer Visibility 12 Layers Under Curser 12 order of layers 18 Painting and Erasing Layers 13 Palette File 17 palette 12 18 Pan 24 pan 3 Paste 55 Path 33 Polygon 56 Pop 75 Print 38 Probe 94 properties 64 Push 75 Redo 54 Restore 33 Revert 17 Revert to Last Saved 33 RGB 16 Rotate 68 Ruler 83 Ruler Clear 84 Ruler Setup 50 MAX User Manual Index M R Index 162 SAMPLE STIPPLES 18 Save 17 32 Revert to Last Saved 33 Save As 32 Save Cell and Descendents 33 Save Revert Options 53 schematic 109 Scroll Bars 22 24 scroll wheel 3 Search 5 See Mask 2 select 3 Select Cell 93 by Name 92 Select Cell add 93 Select Net 4 93 Select Net by Name 94 Select under Box 91 add 92 Selectability 13 selectability 12 13 selectable 13 Selected Area 21 Selecting 27 Adding to the Selection 28 Areas 28 by Pointing 28 Cells 28 93 Clear Selection 91 Labels 28 Layers 28 Net by Name 94 Nets 28 93 selection change color 16 selection status 12 Show Flylines 43 Solid layers 17 Space 4 space 135 space to 135 spacing box 52 special layers 15 standard cell library 29 Stippled layers 17 Stretch 71 SUE 111 116 SUE Cross Probe Init 79 116 SUE Cross Probe Net 80 117 SUELVS 80 Syntax drac convert 126 gds input 123 make tech 121 max comm
15. cell rectangle or polygon in the Cursor Probe list pushes in place into the cell containing the item Figure 72 Select Menu Cursor Probe Pop up What s under the cursor 32 03 4 83 rect m2 rect m2 via type v12_75 rect m2 ccc INV 1 rect 12 via type v12_75 rect ml rect ml tvia type vl2 75 gcell via type v12 tvia type vl2 75 cell INV ccc 0 0 1 cell aaa ccc 0 0 cell ccc ccc 0 cerae e trn cr oranti P Visible Selectable All Layers Cells Only Fixed Continuous Current Cell All Expanded Cells Qose MAX User Manual Chapter 3 MAX Commands The top options contol what is displayed the Cursor Probe Visible displays everything that is visible Selectable displays only layers or cells which specified as selectable in the palatte All layers shows everything including gcells cell instances text and rectangles Cells Only shows only cell instances and gcells Fixed means that what is displayed only changes when the Cursor Probe hotkey I is selected Continuous means that the Cursor Probe information is continuously updated as you move the cursor Current Cell only shows objects at the current level of hierarchy All Expanded Cells shows objects in all visible internals viewed cells Misc Menu Figure 73 Misc Menu Make move Box Box Dimensions Goto Co
16. deter osi EE 27 sisse rre MP nore REP 27 Selecting by rre prede er rti hederae metere tenete it E ARE 28 Selecting es OE tease REGN RE HR 28 regc 28 Selecting and Excluding Layers i Re eee REB Gai 28 Selecting and Excluding Labels secre aiiin kne e a Ea eaa 28 Adding to the Selection eecssssssescsesccscssecceseesssesnesessesessesessessessesesscsesussesussesueseeseseeseessseeseseeseaeseeteseases 28 Moving Things Around And Other Manipulations sse 29 Other Edit COImE allis ue coerente rte tertie t een et eee er ee 29 Hierarchy anas auae eee ei ena dp c EG pe E 29 PlacingIrsStame8s dco dente erre trei Ete ptr ders 29 Editing A 29 C WAR Cofmiiands NEW 33 T 31 File MO hess E A A E EN E D A 31 ERETI I e 54 MICI N 75 N 78 eere EE EIEE E TETE E 81 B Micro Magic Inc MAX User Manual v5 1 12 Table of Contents SEIS GE P 91 M n E 95 96 CORPMAX Wire po
17. i Chapter Organization Documentation Conventions 1 41 2 1200040540000000800000000000000000 000501 ii General Conventions one rete et tenet rit cere teh e bel tende destra Dee ei o faa ii Conventions for Software Commands and Statements sse ii Conventions for MOHBSIFIO 195 tiere erect eem md eri e n end n ee iii Documentation Feedback 2 11 1 Cusen ettet titt ntt tente 5 iii SUDDOILT dote emet Died e Debe decre ee edi n re o HR Eee dried eoi iii Getting 2 iii Chanter ses ausetssestase M PR RM 1 Introduction nun re iara tai De Aandi 1 Features ooo ccc ccsescesessessessssessssessueseseeseseesessesesscsssussesussesussesseseeseescsecscsceucsesneaessesesseeseseeseseeseseeseeeneens 1 MAX LS Features pinges 6 e etescsaetenimee reete tertie per beste aS 2 MAX BASICS isc ten mentia ebe eim metam amt ime iia ein e eo HE 2 Where to Get Help 5 eret teen e a orb e TURO P GERE Hor ERIT 4 Denmorsitallol etd dete t 4 m 4 Mantal ea 4 gt
18. polygon B background The background color for the MAX Edit Window B cell bbox text The color of the outline of an instance bounding box instance type and instance name for which no internals are viewed unexpanded instances If the instance is selected the highlight color is used B box The color of the box See Box on page 25 B dre The color and stipple pattern for the interactive DRC errors B feedback The feedback layer is used for DRC errors from an external tool It is also used for displaying the mask layers See See Mask on page 80 B flyline The color of flylines used by the layout generator See Introduction To The MAX Layout Generator on page 117 B grid The color of the grid label The color of labels or text when not highlighted B selection The color and stipple pattern for items which have been selected Layer Color From top to bottom the color stipple editor lets you edit the color of the current layer Simply change the hue saturation and brightness HSB sliders or RGB red green blue sliders The hue is essentially a color wheel Choose the desired color with the hue slider m Next change the saturation and brightness if needed There is also a color select list which gives you a fixed set of colors to start from To select a predefined color click on Colors and select the desired color If you would rather specify colors with RGB the
19. Conventions for Mousing Throughout this document we assume you are using a 3 button mouse When we refer to using the mouse the following settings apply Mouse Button 1 or Button 1 refers to the left most button index finger when you are using a right handed mouse Mouse Button 2 or Button 2 refers to the middle or center button middle finger Mouse Button 3 or Button 3 refers to the right most button ring finger when using a right handed mouse Reverse these settings if you are using a left handed mouse using your mouse control program so that you click Button 1 with your index finger Button 2 with your middle finger and Button 3 with your ring finger Click means to depress the designated mouse button once E Double click means to depress the designated mouse button twice quickly E Drag means to depress and hold down the designated mouse button while moving the mouse Documentation Feedback We are always interested in hearing from our users Please let us know what you like and do not like about the Micro Magic Inc documentation and let us know of any suggestions you have for improving the documentation If you find any mistakes or out of date information please send email to support micromagic com Support For product problems or technical support issues contact Micro Magic Inc at support micromagic com Getting set up MAX runs independently from any of the Micro Magic
20. Edit in place the cell containing visible paint under cursor This command is similar to the Edit Cell or Object in Place page 80 command except that an instance does not have to be selected This command can be useful if you want to edit some layout and you re not sure what cell it is in E Place the mouse over the layout you want to edit and type the hotkey The paint in the cell in edit mode appears brighter The paint in the non edit cells is dimmed Dimming the non edit cell paint can be turned off with the Dim Non Edit Cells see page 43 toggle button The Pop out of Cell page 80 command can be used to pop back up the hierarchy Hotkey None See Mask lists all of the layers which will be output with the Export File page 37 command when it outputs GDSII The layers below the line are temporary layers defined in the technology file Viewing them can be useful when debugging a technology file Clicking on one of the mask layers in the Mask menu see Figure 60 draws that layer in MAX on the feedback layer See Editing Special Layers on page 15 E The clear option clears all mask layers W The Mask menu changes based on the technology you are using 80 Micro Magic Inc MAX User Manual v5 1 12 Figure 60 View Menu See Mask Sub Menu Toggle Grid Move Grid Center on Cursor Zoom In on Cursor clear see GDS_nw 2 0 see GDS odn 12 0 see GDS odp 11 0 see GDS poly 13 0 see GDS pp
21. None Delete the edit cell buffer the cell you are currently editing This only affects the version of the cell in memory The version on disk the cell name max file remains unchanged MAX User Manual Chapter 3 MAX Commands 34 Change Path of Cell Load Cell Hierarchy Edit Cell Path Hotkey None Change directory where current cell will be saved The default is the location from which it was loaded Hotkey None Load current cell s descendents into memory This can also be accomplished by Showing internals which first has to load all the subcells in order to view them Hotkey None This menu allows you to more easily manage various directories You can add delete and reprioritize directories These are the directories where MAX will look for cells or gcells that are instantiated It looks in the first directory first and if not found looks in the next directory Figure 11 shows two directories the directory from which MAX was started and the gcell directory If you add new directories these directories will not be displayed in the list boxes until a cell is loaded from the directory Generally this command is added to your maxrc file using the cell path add text command That way if you have one cell that calls cells from other directories they can be found Figure 11 File Edit Cell Path Toggle Read Only Import File 12151 Cell Path Editor Directories fhome demo t
22. Pop up Display Options Display Options Show Palette Show Cell Lists Show Navigator Window Show Bottom Bar Show Scroll Bars Dim Non Edit Cells Merge Paint Show individual rectangles polygons Merge all paint Merge paint in each cell individually Show Flylines Box stipple pattern Show Selected on Layers Only if Visible Show sub cell comment and local Text labels For sub cells with internals hidden Show cell instance names Show ports Text Size Factor Layer Transparency Dim Percentage Show Palette This is a toggle button to turn on or off viewing of the palette on the left side of the MAX window Show Cell Lists This toggle button turns on or off the viewing of the cell lists on the right side of the MAX window If the cell lists are turned off the Navigator Window is also turned off Show Navigator Window This toggle button turns on or off the viewing of the Navigator Window on the right side of the MAX window The cell lists will expand down into the region reserved for the Navigator Window Show Bottom Bar This toggle button turns on or off the bottom bar containing the DRC Status Area the Zoom Bar Cursor Coordinates and the Box Display Area Show Scroll Bars This toggle button turns on or off the scroll bars on the bottom and right of the edit area The scroll bars appear only when you are zoomed in on the layout Dim Non Edit Cells Normally mask informat
23. left_contacts With this option you can enter specific locations for left contacts Figure 44 shows the left_contacts in positions 1 3 and 5 starting from the bottom right_contacts With this option you can enter specific locations for right contacts Figure 44 shows using the and operators to control where not to put contacts 2 removes the bottom two contacts 1 removes the top one contact Click on the Apply button to see how these changes affect your gcell When you are satisfied click on Done to implement them Dog bone style fets can be created with the fet by modifying the necessary properties E Micro Magic Inc MAX User Manual v5 1 12 Figure 44 Edit Menu Edit Properties FET Gcell Properties nfet C 3 30 018 contact_style normal contact_style If the technology supports metal enclose contact rule that is assymetric one that allows the enclosure to be smaller in one direction than the other this option specifies how the metal over the contact will be drawn If contact style is set to normal the metal enclosure of contact will be the same on all sides If contact_style issettominimum x overlaporminimum y overlap the contact will be drawn to minimize the metal in the direction corresponding to the x or y direction of the fet in standard orientation The Apply button allows you to see the effect
24. lt text gt lt comment gt MAX understands the following dre operations width space space_to enc ext area illegal width gt The operations width and space are the minimum widths and spaces of the given layer and are typically defined in the Layer Definition table space to allows you to specify the minimum space between two different layers B enc specifies the minimum enclosure or overlap of the first layer to the second layer B ext specifies the minimum extension past another layer and is typically used for specifying the poly overlap of gate and diffusion overlap of gate in fets B area specifies the minimum area of an isolated geometry of the layer values are in microns except for the area which is in microns squared To specify the minimum spacing between ndif and pdif at 1 2 um use the following line drc ndif space to pdif 1 2 illegal specifies that any geometries on the given layer are a DRC error illegal is typically used on a derived layer Forexample derive tmpl from bipolar and nwell dre tmpl illegal msg nwell not allowed over bipolar E width is used for specifying wide metal rules For example the following line drc m2 width 0 72 space 0 2 tells MAX that if an m2 geometry is wider than 0 72 um then the minimim space to any other m2 must be at least 0 2 um MAX User Manual Chapter 6 MAX Technology Targeting 144 W If MAX sees a violation of this rule in t
25. prefix number or lt suffix gt Change Text Names If set the selected text will be renamed based on the prefix suffix direction first number and increment Add Text to Selected Rects If set text will be added to the selected rectangles This is used when you want to add text to the rectangles of a bus new_name_prefix The prefix attached to new text names new_name_suffix The suffix attached to new text names MAX User Manual Chapter 3 MAX Commands numbered_in_direction Text names are numbered in order in this direction The variable numbered_in_direction controls where the bus naming starts and therefore in which direction the naming increments A direction of n means that the naming starts at the bottom label and increments north up first_number The number given to the first text name increment Numbers are incremented by this amount for each new text name For example if you want to number the odd bits of a bus you can specify first_number as 1 and increment as 2 Change Text Kind If set the Kind of text will be changed for all selected text If Change Text Kind is toggled off the type of label is taken from each selected label new_kind If desired this is the new text Kind To change the Kind of all selected labels text select the Change Label Kind toggle new_kind can be input output inout global local or comment Change Text Layer
26. FE FE FE TE FE HE HE TE FE E E FE FE E E FE H E FE E E E E E E H E H set GRID resolution 0 01 HEHEHE HEHEHE HEH EE HE HEHE HHH EEE HEHE HHH EH EE HE HEHE HE EHH E E ADDITIONAL DRC RULES Additional rules that are not specified in the technology information table Needed for the fet and via Gcell generators EFE HE TE TE EEE EEE HE HH HH EE FE FE HEHE HHH EE HE HEHE HE E E EH EE HH HE HHH EH EE HH EE HE HF set DRC DATA space to ct nfet 0 22 set DRC DATA space to ct pfet 0 22 set DRC DATA enclose ndif ct 0 14 t t set DRC DATA enclose pdif ct 0 14 set DRC DATA enclose poly ct 0 14 Micro Magic Inc MAX User Manual v5 1 12 Anpensix A To view or print out a current list of hotkeys for each mode use the spacebar option in the Help menu Appendix A PEJ BPA Micro Magic Inc MAX User Manual v5 1 12 AMAR Test Commands Text Commands Refer to the online Text Commands page 107 documentation found in the Help menu in MAX for the most current documentation The text commands documentation can also be found in the text commands html file found in MMI TOOLS doc max max manual This file contains documentation for the MAX text commands Chapter B MAX Text Commands Micro Magic Inc MAX User Manual v5 1 12 the Writing Scripts Tcl Tk is used for the programming interface
27. Feedback window as shown in Figure 66 MAX User Manual Chapter 3 MAX Commands Figure 66 DRC Calibre feedback popup v DRC Feedback for cell test Bx Extemal DRC Feedback 5 Total Errors But 3 removes error type 5 1 2 area 0 14 0 95 0 12 1 137 0 12 0 443 0 14 0 63 area 1 82 2 0 2 04 2 0 2 04 1 46 1 82 1 46 M2 S 1 0 0 1 Entire Cell Area 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 Set Area to Box Only display errors expanded above Prev Error Next Error gt Next Kind Nth Error Setup Clear Run Calibre DRC Now 2 gon The Next Error and Prev Error buttons allow you to step through each of the DRC errors You can skip to the Next Kind of error or to a specific error W If you click on Setup the form in Figure 67 comes up You can control if the DRC Results window shows DRC results from MAX or from a Calibre run Figure 67 DRC Feedback Setup popup Feedback Setup View Feedback From Max Calibre DRC x Other View Method Zoom to error Center view on error Set box only DRC Feedback window always top Clear External DRC Feedback Now Calibre Setup Run Calibre Now Load Feedback from previous Calibre Run Now The View Method specifies how you view the results when you click on Next Error or Prev Error Zoom to error zooms in close on the DRC error Center view on error centers the DRC error on the w
28. Inc tools suite First ensure that the Micro Magic Inc software has been installed and that you have a valid MAX license This document copyright Micro Magic Inc MAX User Manual Preface About This Document EE Micro Magic Inc MAX User Manual v5 1 12 Chapher 1 Introduction This manual is for both MAX and MAX LS MAX is a full custom IC layout tool for physical layout of leaf cells large blocks and complete SoC products MAX also has a complete programming interface via Tcl Tk and a well documented API Whether you need full custom layout cell assembly chip assembly or the ability to write your own generators MAX is the tool to choose for your physical design needs MAX is equally at home in all aspects of physical design from creating cells for a library to interacting with place and route at the block level to assembling an entire chip While MAX is powerful enough to handle the largest of chips it s easy to learn and easy to use MAX LS is a layout system that incorporates our best tools for IC physical layout design of leaf cells large blocks and complete SoC products MAX LS features true schematic driven layout design including interactive cell generation based on LVS and DRC correct generators and cross probing between schematic and layout MAX LS schematic driven layout offers the ability to generate layout that is DRC and LVS correct with devices automatically sized Based on your schematic MAX LS
29. Micro Magic Inc MAX User Manual v5 1 12 ct mi v12 m2 L18 L62 13 15 16 17 18 62 via metal e m via ws meal 9e You would then need to regenerate the technology file using the command make tech r file tech source m Now load the GDS file with the new tech file by entering max tech tech aaa strm Environment The following are the environment variables which are used by gds input MMI TOOLS The environment variable MMI TOOLS must be set to the directory where the Micro Magic Inc programs were installed All of the Micro Magic Inc programs are installed under a single directory setenv MMI TOOLS usr tools mmi More on gds input Typically once you have run gds input you want to assign meaningful layer names to the layers specify the correct layer type page 136 order the layers see layer type on page 136 and possibly tell MAX to ignore some layers or merge other layers To do this simply edit the technology source file that gds input creates and then rerun gds input with the rebuild option With rebuild gds input will skip parsing the GDS file and use the specified source file run make tech and then load the GDS file into MAX with the new technology Otherwise you could simply run make tech yourself and then start MAX with the appropriate technology and import the file 45 input can t determine where instance names are hidden in the GDS file if the
30. Misc menu The Box Area Display now shows the coordinates for the lower left corner of the cell Enter these coordinates as the new cell origin Figure 53 Edit Menu Move Sub menu Move Edit Cell Origin v Enter New Origin New origin location in current coord system New Cell Origin X coordinate 2 99 E New Cell Origin Y coordinate Ba F Note This operation cannot be undone Stretch Hotkey Ctrl Button 3 Selected Stretch whatever is selected This works for gcells as well as wires and rectangles Any wires and rectangles must be at the current cell level of hierarchy m If you have just a gcell selected select an edge on the gecell with stretch to change the gcell size If anything else is selected the the gcell will move and any selected wires attached toit will stretch Figure 55 shows an example of stretching two wires down Micro Magic Inc MAX User Manual v5 1 12 Stretch Hotkey None Selected Gcell For gcells this command does the same thing as Stretch Selected W First select the gcell you want to stretch Then once you select the Stretch Selected command the cursor turns into a hand B Move the mouse over an edge on a gcell you which to stretch As soon as the mouse is over an edge the cursor turns into a stretch arrow B Using the left or right mouse button press and hold the button and drag the mouse to the desired gcell size Stretch Hotkey Arrow keys Stretch the edges of t
31. The default settings for the layout generator would have placed routing pads in the center for each of the ports They were left out for these examples for easier viewing To generate the layout you must first generate a sim netlist file for the schematic E To do this start SUE and edit the top most schematic representing the layout to be generated From the Sim menu select Change Simulation Mode and select sim then Done From the Sim menu select sim netlist This generates the sim file Note The sim format has been extended by Micro Magic Inc to contain the layout information E Start MAX and select Layout Generator from the Tool menu This brings up the File Select Box MAX is asking you for the name of the sim file that you generated in SUE For example if the SUE schematic was NAND2B sue then you need to enter NAND2B sim Next MAX will show you the Layout Generator menu as shown in Figure 100 This includes the Input File Name you entered above and which you can change here and the Output File Name which is the cell name of the MAX output file the Generate Stdcell Layers option and buttons for a number of sub menus Changes that you make in the menus are maintained throughout your current MAX session If Generate Stdcell Layers is turned off then the fets will be placed in two rows flylines drawn and routing pads placed No other standard cell layers are generated If router pads are turned o
32. The palette layers groups colors stipples are saved in a file called lt tech gt palette where tech is the name of the technology for example mmi25 This file is created when the technology files are made using make_tech see Chapter 6 MAX Technology Targeting B When you click Save MAX will attempt to save a local copy of the palette color and stipple patterns into the file specified in the find bar By default the file is stored in mmi_private max tech lt tech gt lt tech gt override W If you do not have this directory MAX will create the appropriate directory in UNIX If you want these palette options to affect all other users you can UNIX move it to MMI_TOOLS mmi_local max tech lt tech gt lt tech gt override The lt tech gt override file only changes the color and stipple patterns of layers It does not change the grouping or layer order in the palette This information is specified in the lt tech gt palette file and is only loaded when MAX is invoked B The order of the layers in the lt tech gt palette file determines the order of layers in the palette in MAX You also edit the palette file to modify the placement and names of groups m The override file is an ASCII file that you can edit directly Colors are specified as RGB triplets and stipples as 1 s and 0 s If you want to rearrange layer orders or add subtract modify groups you must presently do it in the palette file
33. Zoom to Area Zoom Out Zoom to Fit Selected Zoom to Fit Edit Cell Zoom to Fit All Zoom Wheel Pan Internals View All Internals Hide All Hotkey 2 Zoom in to a specified region of layout Select Zoom to Area The cursor now becomes a hand Hold down Button 1 and drag out a box around the region you want to zoom in on Hotkey Shift z Zoom out by 2x on the layout The center of the layout remains the same Hotkey Shift v Zoom to fit the selected geometry s in the layout window Hotkey v Zoom to fit the current cell in the layout window If you have done an Edit Cell or Object in Place page 80 the Zoom to Fit Cell command will zoom to fit the edit cell If you have not edited a cell in place then this command does the same as the 700 to Fit All command Hotkey Ctrl v Adjust view to see entire root cell If you have edited a cell in place this command will zoom out to view the top level cell Hotkey Mouse Wheel Up Down Zoom in and out of the MAX window by using the mouse scroll wheel Scrolling forward will zoom in scrolling backward toward you will zoom out Hotkey lt Keypad Arrows gt Using the arrow keys on the keypad usually on the far right side of the keyboard you can pan up down left and right You generally won t have keyboard arrows on a laptop just the regular arrows E You can also pan up and down the MAX window by holding down the Ctrl key
34. a Gcell by either editing the properties of a Gcell hotkey or stretching the Gcell To stretch a Gcell first select the Gcell and go into the Gcell edit mode hotkey Shift e Using the Gcell stretch capability you can only change the width of a fet Gcell W via Gcell can be stretched in either direction Once in the Gcell edit mode hold down the middle mouse button Button 2 near the edge of the Gcell and drag to the desired size Additional vias will be added automatically Wiring Tool The Wiring Tool makes it easy to lay out wires which include contacts vias and multiple layers Refer to Introduction To The MAX Wire Tool on page 109 for detailed information on how to use the Wiring Tool Editing Layout Selecting Things Many commands in MAX operate on the selection Forexample to move duplicate or delete something you must first select it The current selection is highlighted in white by default addition the names of layers currently contained in the selection are highlighted in the palette in red m Editing functions are based on what is selected Refer to Figure 3 on page 13 Selecting by Pointing Mouse Button 1 in Main mode is used for selection B To select something simply click on it with Button 1 left mouse button W If there are several items under the cursor you can cycle through them by clicking repeatedly with Button 1 at the same location Layers and labels text c
35. a carriage width of 36 inches and you want a 70 inch long plot you would specify x 36 y 70 E in the print command field you can type in direct commands to plot like this cat s lpr s P p where is replaced with the plot file name and p is replaced with the printer plotter name when printing After the plot is complete the plot file is removed E Why not use the simple command lpr P p s In short because plot files can get very large the s option is required to prevent the plot file from being copied to the print queue and possibly overflowing or jamming it Unfortunately you must be careful to not delete the plot file until the plot is completely sent to the plotter By using the cat command this is partially insured Even with this command you may still have to plot large plots to a file and then send them to the printer User Hotkey None This brings up a sub menu see Figure 20 allowing you to specify user options Each of these options are described below Figure 20 File Menu User Preferences Options Color Editor Display Options Flatten Setup General Setup Grid Setup Shift g Hot Keys Layout Generator Setup Ruler Setup Wire Setup Save Revert Options 0 Micro Magic Inc MAX User Manual v5 1 12 Color Editor Hotkey None This brings up the MAX color editor as shown in Figure 21 You can specify the c
36. and datatype This field specifies the GDS layer numbers and datatype for both importing and exporting GDS into and out of MAX At present you cannot easily specify a different GDS mapping between input and output You can do so on a limited basis by deriving new layers with different GDS layer numbers BW The format of this column is gds num or lt num gds num or lt num data types or lt num data types gds num data types MAX User Manual Chapter 6 MAX Technology Targeting If no data type is given then it defaults to all data types on input or and data type 0 on output Data types be any comma separated list of numbers or ranges of numbers for instance lt begin gt lt end gt Furthermore if more than one GDS layer number or data type is given then the first GDS layer data type pair are used for output Here are some legal examples Imports geometries from layer 12 all data types and exports to layers 12 datatype 0 12 Imports geometries from GDS layers 12 and 18 all data types but only exports them out to layer 12 datatype 0 12 13 Imports geometries from GDS layer 12 datatypes 1 3 and 5 Exports to layer 12 datatype 1 12 1 3 5 Imports geometries from GDS layer 12 datatypes 1 3 and 5 layer 13 all datatypes and layer 14 datatype 1 Exports to layer 12 datatype 1 12 1 23 55 13 14 1 B Remember not to p
37. b and then drag out a box with Button 1 To paint a rectangle specify the layer point to the layer to paint either in the layout or in the palette on the left side of the MAX Window and type the hotkey p The Wire Tool is a much easier way to create interconnections as opposed to specifying each rectangle In addition Gcells shown in the top cell list are an easy way to generate fets and vias The Layout Generator which is part of MAX LS gives you the ability to quickly generate layout from a schematic Also as part of MAX LS you can cross probe between layout and schematic As you create and modify the layout you will probably notice white dots appearing from time to time This is the continuous background DRC s way of complaining To find out the specific design rule violations behind the white dots position the box over the region you are interested in and type Shift y or choose Explain DRC under Box see page 104 MAX User Manual Chapter 1 Overview popular feature in is the ability to quickly trace connectivity To select an entire net just position the cursor over a geometry and type the hotkey s See Select Net on page 92 The entire net is highlighted and the labels found on the net are listed in the Message Area Where to Get Help Demonstration If you are new to MAX the best place to start is with a demonstration from the friendly folks of Micro Magic Inc If you have not already seen a demo
38. bus and all subsequent busses until the width is changed again The wire tool uses the connectivity defined in the technology file Refer to Introduction To The MAX Wire Tool page 109 for detailed information on how to use the wire tool Hotkey t Add a piece of text or a label to the selected geometry E The easiest method is to first select a geometry on the desired layer and then select Add Text A form comes up as shown in Figure 35 where you enter the text for the label E If the layout is only going out to GDSII the default options are adequate Text is automatically scaled and rotated to maximize visibility Micro Magic Inc MAX User Manual v5 1 12 Figure 35 Edit Menu Add Text Form Add Polygon wv max edit text kind position type local input nw n ne point s global v gt output lt w box amp comment v o inout v s layer nfet Done Cancel Help local global comment These options are used when you extract a SPICE or LEF file This information has no effect on the GDSII output file input output inout These options are used for the MCC Critical Path tool These options are also used when you extract a SPICE or LEF file This information has no effect on the GDSII output file point box The box option is used mainly when outputting LEF to define the port region for a routing tool The point option simply defines
39. can generate every transistor and show flylines as to how they should be connected This gives the layout designer complete control yet assures rapid physical design development MAX Features Interactive viewing and editing of hierarchical layout Continuous DRC feedback during layout Hierarchical and incremental DRC Interactive connectivity tracing Interactive wiring tool Generators for layout structures such as nfets or pfets Interfaces to other tools including schematic capture for example SUE and batch DRC and LVS for example Dracula or Calibre Smart palette for easy control and feedback on layers Reads writes GDSII Full customization and extension via Tcl Tk scripting language and API Technology independence via technology description files Optimized for large databases Chapter 1 Overview MAX LS Features BW All the features of the MAX layout editor listed above B SUE schematic viewing and editing Refer to the SUE User Manual for details on how to use SUE E Layout generator for automatically generating layout from a schematic Cross probing between layout and schematic MAX Basics MAX uses the idea of paint as well as objects Paint defines the mask geometries where each mask is opaque and where it is clear MAX is different from many layout editors in that mask geometries are not maintained as a list of fixed rectangles wires etc as entered by the user but rather as paint regions which
40. cannot be pasted E If you want to delete a portion of a rectangle draw a box with Button 1 which includes the area to cut Then use either the Delete command or go to a area in the Layout Window which does not have paint and click the erase hotkey o m Ifthere are multiple layers of paint under the box you drew you can specify to only delete a specific layer by selecting that layer in the palette or in the layout window and typing the hotkey o Ifyou want to delete an entire rectangle on a layer select that rectangle by clicking Button 1 over it If there are multiplayers under the mouse you may need to toggle through them by clicking with Button 1 at the same location Note This only works for rectangles not for polygons or circles Hotkey d Duplicate the selected geometry s Gcells and or instances Once the geometry s have been duplicated you use Button 3 to move and place the geometry s Hotkey None This activates a sub menu as shown in Figure 47 that allows you to flip or rotate the selected geometry s in several ways Figure 47 Edit Menu Flip Rotate Sub menu Flip Rotate Upside Down Flip Sideways Rotate Rotate Counter Clockwise Shift r Micro Magic Inc MAX User Manual v5 1 12 Flip Upside Down Hotkey y Flip the selected geometry s vertically or upside down This flips around the center of the bounding box of the selected items Flip Sideways Hotkey x Flip the selected
41. click on the next to an error type the list is expanded to show all of the DRC violations for that type of error W Clicking on one of the errors will zoom you in on the error The text of the DRC error from Calibre is displayed in the MAX Message Area You can display DRC errors for the Entire Cell default or specify an area E To specify and area in which to view DRC errors both for MAX and Calibre errors click on Set Area and then draw out a region with Button 1 This only affects the viewing of DRC errors Calibre DRC is always run on the entire cell DRC Find Next Hotkey Shift n peron Step through each of the DRC errors in MAX As each DRC error is highlighted MAX also zooms in on the error The DRC error explanation is printed in the Command Window page 22 and in the MAX Message Area This has the same functionality as clicking on Next Error in the DRC Feedback window DRC Find Next Hotkey None Kind GT EPROR Step to next type of error For example if you are looking at Metall min spacing errors this command would skip to the next type of error for example Metal2 min spacing This command has the same functionality as clicking on Next Kind in the DRC Feedback window When viewing errors from the MAX built in DRC they are not sorted by error kind so this command scans until it finds a new kind of error This does not mean that all the previous kind of errors have been viewed MAX User Manual
42. for MAX All Tcl and Tk commands are available providing a complete scripting language and toolkit for GUI extensions Complete information on Tcl Tk is available from the official Tcl Tk website at http scriptics com We also recommend the book Tel and the Tk Toolkit authored by John Ousterhout and published by Addison Weseley There is an extensive list of text commands which are built on top of Tcl Tk See Text Commands on page 153 Tcl Tk commands can be typed directly into the MAX Command Window page 22 can be put into a maxrc file or into a separate file which can be sourced Examples of Tcl Tk scripts can be found in MMI TOOLS mmi local sample max api examples Useful Tcl Commands MMI Extensions setl ab c 4 12 foo 15 the same as seta 4 set b 12 set c foo Creating associated lists set my list list a 25 type type xyz 5 set my var get assoc xyz my list The above commands put 5 var Gcells Tcl Programs Generator cells or Gcells are parameterized cells that regenerate themselves when they get different inputs Devices for example fets and vias are good candidates for Gcells since a given layout may have multiple types that differ only by size or some other attribute Gcells are user definable using the Tcl scripting language Presently they must be created and modified using a text editor To discern Gcells from conventional MAX cells Gcells are savedin maxg files as opposed t
43. for nets that are on poly Note The pad size is specified by router_pad_size inthe Stdcell Options menu share_contacts This option controls whether fets share contacts with neighboring fets spread fets If this option is no fets will all be jammed to the left Ifit is all the shorter row of fets will be spread out If it is set to larger only larger fets will be pushed to the right If it is set to best MAX splits connected fets at vdd gnd contacts or if fets are larger wiring tracks above center When this option is set pfets will be folded to preserve wiring space between the pfets and the cell N P boundary which allows a set number of wiring tracks The wiring track size is taken from 11 router pitch in the Stdcell Options menu wiring tracks below center When this option is set nfets will be folded to preserve wiring space between the nfets and the cell N P boundary which allows the set number of wiring tracks The wiring track size is taken from cell router pitch in the Stdcell Options menu Edit Stdcell Options This form See Figure 102 contains options that you should probably set once for all the cells that you intend to generate in a particular stdcell family for example the height of the cells MAX User Manual Chapter 5 The Layout Generator and MAX LS 122 Figure 102 Layout Generator Edit Stdcell Options Form w Layout Generator Options stdcell N P_boundary stdcell cell_height
44. have no memory of the constituent rectangles from which they were originally constructed Additionally MAX layers do not always correspond exactly to Mask layers The See Mask command allows you to preview actual masks In addition can also do object based layout using Gcells generator cells polygons circles and wirepaths Gcells can be flattened down to paint for complete editing control MAX organizes layout into cells Each cell saved in an ASCII file of the same name contains paint Gcells polygons labels and instances of other cells Labels associate text with points or rectangles in the design on a given layer Labels and text come in flavors and are used to define cell input and output ports and comments Instances of cells are placed by clicking on the cell names in the lists along the right side of the MAX window see Figure 1 while holding down the Shift key W Clicking on a cell entry without the Shift key changes the view to that cell If the cell you want is not in the cell lists you will first have to load it into memory See Open on page 34 An entire directory of cells can be loaded into MAX by selecting Autoload directory at the top of a cell list W Instances can be shown in two ways abstractly only name ports and bounding box shown or with internals displayed refer to Internals View Area see page 84 B When a cell is loaded only the abstracts are shown for the instances The function of th
45. menu on the left File Menu This menu is used create and open cells save cells import and export GDSII and so on Each menu option is described below Figure 8 The File Menu New Open Save Save As Save Multiple Revert to Last Saved Copy Cell Buffer Delete Cell Buffer Change Path of Cell Load Cell Hierarchy Edit Cell Path Toggle Read Only Import File Export File GDSII gt ASCII Print User Preferences Exit New Hotkey Ctrl n This is used to create a new cell A form will pop up see Figure 9 where you can specify the path and name of the new cell Until the cell is saved for the first time it is only in memory and has not been created in the UNIX file system The first time a file is saved a file lt 11 name gt max will be created in the specified directory All MAX files must have the max extention Chapter 3 MAX Commands 32 Figure 9 File Menu New Create a New Cell Pop up Open Save Save As File select box ZERO old layout gen max tutorial pef re Hotkey Open an existing cell A directory navigator box similar to Figure 9 comes up which allows you to search for the desired cell Hotkey Ctrl s Save the current cell The cell is saved in a file called lt ce11_name gt max in the directory from which it was opened or created New If the cellis UNNAMED a pop up box see Figure 10 appears
46. name used to create them MAX will only let you read max files if the base technology name inside the max file corresponds to the current MAX base technology Otherwise you might load a layout with incorrect layer names and other problems Sometimes you may want to have two different technologies that are virtually the same but have minor differences In this case you do want to be able to load max files into different technologies MAX solves this problem with technology variations Technology variations have the same base technology name followed by a dash and then a technology variation Only the base technology name is saved into the max files and checked on read in B One example of a technology variation might be a process with the choice of different numbers of layers of metal In one case the technology might have 3 layers of metal and in the other case 4 Therefore you might have the two technology variations my tech tlm and my tech flm Note that you should not include a dash in a technology name unless you want to create a technology variation B Once you have run make tech you can use this technology by starting MAX with the following line max tech tech name W Alternatively you can set the UNIX environment variable MAX DEFAULT TECH to be the desired technology and then every time you start MAX it will default to that technology setenv MAX DEFAULT TECH tech name max Micro Magic Inc MAX Us
47. name using the names provided in the file rgb txt that is provided with the X window system Styles can be specified using the following keywords solid stipple x diamond outline outline only To specify both a style and a color separate them with a colon style first For example to specify solid and red you would enter solid red or solid 255 0 0 The stipple patterns are selected initially to be reasonable for the type of layer this is another reason why you should specify the layer types W Note that MAX has its own version of rgb txt that it refers to which might be different than yours B f no color is given will choose one Remember these colors can always be changed inside of MAX using the color editor and saved for subsequent use MAX User Manual Chapter 6 MAX Technology Targeting Additional Statements Following the Layer Definition table you can specify additional statements that will define devices create derived layers add further connection information and add more DRC rules The statements are all single lines and must start with one of the following keywords B device connect B derive B drc device For connectivity tracing and extraction it is important that MAX understand what constitutes a device Presently only fets are supported E Fets are defined using the device statement If you do not specify any devices but you specify an act layer type and a poly la
48. nate aceite 19 The Navigator Window 22222 2 222222222 4 2 1 234 1 1010 042414006 44000 04 0 000000 900900 08 19 ZOOM BUMS AR MER 19 ilii MstoinlulB rge E 20 BROSIUS 22 20 EA RR IR OL CERES 21 Selected ATGA M 21 Cuor foro e pri HM 22 Box Area Display ee eda teretes te AL MU DUE m E 22 SOTO BABS me T 22 Creating and Editing Layout with 23 Command WTA OW eee te Re ere ib bct trece perierat be oie eein reo i eieiei 23 Reading In A GDSII File 5 essere tenete tte tente tentent tenente 23 Creating MAX Technology File 222222 2 2 40004100000 000000000 00 treten 23 Basic MAX Usage 1 1 ccscssessssesssessesesseseesessesessescanesseussesuesesueseeseeseseeseseeuesusscsesneseeaeseeseeseseeseseeseaeseaneneanes 23 Moving Around the Layout eoem anaingia 24 Zoom Pan Scroll Bars Zoom Window sese a E aieeaii 24 Viewing Intermals of Cells 2 5 2 2 x ernst citet eate hr ide eed 24 Viewing Layers certet teme em metre Det der den oreet ied cedet b eid 25 Drawing Painting Layout eec He cepe HR D HERE EE ERES ERE asians benched 25 doro mp 25 Geells terret eee teret reete ee eddie nem eee ees nus 27 bilo NI ee RE 27 Editing Layout sc coeno fade aee sd
49. restrictions For now the ext rule must only apply to layers with types of poly or act Also the area rule requires that the width of the layer is first defined Advanced Topics B One way to simplify viewing and creating layout when importing from GDS is to separate diffusion into four different types depending on its function as shown here derive ndif from od and not nw and not pplus derive pdif from od and nw and pplus derive nwc from od and nw and not pplus derive pwc from od and not nw and pplus Micro Magic Inc MAX User Manual v5 1 12 B When exporting you simply od all the layers together with the line derive od from ndif pdif nwc pwc W If you do this you have to add some special directives to the Layer Definition table as shown below Table 7 Special Directives to Layer Definition Table 1 layer gds dt 4 gdsonly derived act 66 213 66 derived act 202 160 115 derived act derived i act E The od layer is only used during import and export and not internally and therefore is declared gdsonly E The ndif pdif and layers are derived on input they are not explicitly part of the GDS file in this case and therefore you must use the special keyword derived for the GDS layer number as shown above E Finally you can add an additional special keyword to the nwc and pwc layers as shown above
50. the circle donut to be and drag out the circle Clicking Button 1 toggles between dragging the inside and outside radius of the circle and so you can make a donut Refer to Figure 36 Click on Button 3 to finish the circle If you want to edit the circle simply delete it and create a new one 60 Micro Magic Inc MAX User Manual v5 1 12 Figure 36 Edit Menu Circle and Donut v max MB UNNAMED File Edit View Tool Select Misc Local Help main mode shift BUT 1 selects more 2 pans Control BUT 3 moves stretches selecti 24 J 1 030 9 310 box 0 000 x 0 000 area 0 000000 Interactive DRC does not work for circles Interactive connectivity tracing does work but netlist extraction does not work in this release Array Cell Hotkey None W First select a the Gcell group See Group Objects on page 97 or instance you want to array When you select Array Cell the pop up in Figure 37 will appear where you specify how many columns and rows in the array m By default the cells are abutted using the bounding box of all layers in the cell Alternately you can select a specific layer to use for abutment You may select the displayed bounding box of a cell based on a particular layer since certain layers my overlap the cell s actual abutment box If you want additional spacing between cells use the relative dx and relative dy options MAX User Manual Chapter 3 MAX Comm
51. the edit cell level of hierarchy The level of hierarchy associated with the selected cell is removed Figure 77 Misc Menu Flatten Cells Pop up Flatten entire hierarchy Flatten text only Fast mode Flatten Setup Put flattened layout in a Group If set the flattened layout will be placed into a new group sub cell which can be moved or edited more easily Flatten entire hierarchy If set the flatten operation will be run on subcells until entire cell hierarchy is flattened Otherwise only the selected cells themselves will be flattened only one level deep Flatten text only If set only text labels will be flattened not cells In other words text in the sub cell s will be copied into the current cell according to the options set in the File Menu User Preferences Display Options Pop up page 43 menu but the cells themselves will not be affected Fast mode This a faster method for flattening large cells It does not leave the result selected and will not preserve flylines Flatten Setup Opens a pop up menu allowing you to specify the desired flattening options as shown in Figure 78 The menu specifies what happens to labels in a cell when you flatten it Options for flattening Text types include local global input output inout comment and delete Options for name are either preserve or flatten For each type of label input output inout global local comment yo
52. the example shown in Figure 93 this is how the 2nd and 4th pfet gates were wired Figure 93 Wire Tool in Use Dropping Vias By default the Wire Tool locks the angles to 90 degrees Manhattan style geometry You can toggle between 45 degree and Manhattan with the f hotkey or by selecting the desired angle from the pop up menu You may also draw all angle wires Interactive DRC does not work for 45 degree or all angle wires or circles Interactive connectivity tracing in MAX does work but the netlist extraction does not work for 45 degree or all angle wires or circles in this release FP Micro Magic Inc MAX User Manual v5 1 12 Wiring Menu The Wiring Menu see Figure 94 can be opened using the Shift w hotkey once in wire mode or select Wire Setup under User Preferences in the File menu It can also be accessed from the pop up menu in Wire Mode Each of the Wiring Menu options are described below Figure 94 Wire Menu 5S Wire Menu Sax Wire Menu Active Layer auto Default Layer mi Manhattan Endcaps both Snap to Wire Grid af Snap to Angle 90 E Draw Vias Using any Via gcell name via Flylines follow mouse Display spacing box Check connectivity Bus Width eee E Bus Origin top left Edit Wiring Parameters Active Layer If you are in Wire Mode and select a layer from the palette using mouse Button 3 or in the layout window with the I lower case L hotkey t
53. the origin of the label or text in a GDSII file If a box is defined for a label the origin of the text in the GDSII file will be the lower left corner of the box direction This controls the origin of the label relative to the text layer The layer option determines what GDSII layer the label will be generated in It defaults to the layer under the box or point when the Add Label command was executed To change the layer select a the new layer name Hotkey Shift p To create a non manhattan polygon in MAX use the Add Polygon command The polygon will be drawn in the active layer To create a rectangle it 1s much easier to draw the rectangle with Button 1 and then fill it with a layer using the Paint command hotkey p E If you wish to change the active layer you can do so by changing the active layer at the top of the palette before you start the polygon W If the active layer is auto the polygon will be drawn in poly Use Button 1 to draw the outline of the polygon by single clicking at each vertex location MAX will fill in the polygon when it becomes a valid polygon Polygons can only have 45 or 90 degree corners since most processes only allow 45 or 90 degree angles cannot have acute angles and cannot be self intersecting B When you are happy with the polygon simply click with Button 3 to finish it The MAX message window shell window will display the message Can t finish polygon Move cursor and try
54. this box Clear marks Display on status bar box lt Done Cancel Specify Box by B origin size Specify the lower left corner for the box and the width and height corners Specify the lower left and upper right corners center x_center y_center width height Specify the center for the box and the width and height x_lower_left Button Enter the coordinate value for the lower left corner of the box in the x orientation y_lower_left Enter the coordinate value for the lower left cornef of the box in the y orientation width Enter the value in units for the width of the box height Enter the value in units for the height of the box Mark this box Marks your created box with a dimmed outline This allows you to have multiple boxes drawn Clear box marks Removes any of the previously marked boxes Display on status bar box MAX User Manual Chapter 3 MAX Commands size Display the size only of the box in the Box Area Display lower right corner of the MAX window B sizetarea Display the size and area of the box in the Box Area Display lower right corner of the MAX window B corners Display the lower left and upper right corners in the Box Area Display B origin size Display the lower left corner and the width and height in the Box Area Display B disable Turn off the Box Area Display Goto Hotkey Ctrl b Coord
55. this name If set to preserve the Cell Ids are retained but may be made unique by appending _n where n is a number Hierarchical name sep Allows you to enter a unique character to act asa hierarchical name separator Hotkey None Auto generate the specified layers by using DRC rules from the current technology file to surround existing geometry in the current cell New layers are placed into an overlay cell that can then be flattened if desired MAX User Manual Chapter 3 MAX Commands There must be layer generation statements the MAX technology file in order to be able to auto generate layers The form shown in Figure 79 will open with toggle buttons for the various selections Figure 79 Misc Menu Generate Layers Pop up w Layers to include _ O X Layers to include DRC Results Hotkey Ctrl y Display the DRC error feedback window This is used for both displaying the MAX DRC errors and the DRC errors from an external tool Currently Mentor Graphics Calibre is the only external DRC tool supported with this interface B When you select DRC Results the form in Figure 80 appears Figure 80 Misc Menu DRC Results Pop up Max DRC Feedback Total entries 5 DRC 4 1 minimum spacing 0 32 un Entire Cell Area 0000 Set Area to Box Prev Error Next Error Next Kind Nth Error Setup Gear Refresh Max DRC Results Now If you click on
56. to cause them to track the colors of the ndif and pdif layers Other Commands Some information needed for the wire tool Gcells and the layout generator is defined with the Tcl set statement Any set statements in the technology source file gets transferred to the MAX technology files See the mmi25 source file in MMI TOOLS max tech mmi25 for descriptions of the commands needed The following are the currently used variables for storing technology data DATA For certain rules the value checked by the MAX online DRC checker may be different than the value used to build a device using gcells E For example you might want to check for a minimum poly space in a fet but want the gcell to create fets with a larger space Furthermore there might be rules that you don t want to be checked at all but that you want the gcells or wiring tool to know about E Finally in specifying the layer operations to create a layer MAX might not be able to determine the intent or the rule In either of these cases you can specify these different values using the DRC DATA variable for example MAX User Manual Chapter 6 MAX Technology Targeting set DRC DATA space to poly diff 0 10 Note You may need to speak with an MMI Applications Engineer for further assistance if you need to use this variable GRID Set the grid parameters to control resolution For example to specify the smallest mask resolution allowed in this techolog
57. 1 12 In the example shown Figure 57 the fill down option is selected again but this time notice the top edge of the box intersects the wider via region This time the width of the Metall layer extended to the bottom of the box is the width of the via region Figure 57 Edit Menv Fill Sub menu Extend Down Command Example 2 Align Objects Hotkey Ctrl a The Align Objects pop up form shown in Figure 58 allows several choices for alignment Each choice is described below Figure 58 Edit Menu Align Objects Pop up wv Align Objects Align Objects Align Objects right sides tops bottoms w Individually to User Grid Align cells using bounding box Align Objects You can align only gcells cells rectangles and text m Ifyou select left right tops or bottoms the specified side of each object is aligned with the specified side of the current box Usually the box is over the last object selected so other objects are aligned with the last object selected Alternatively you can place a box with the b command to which the objects will be aligned If you select Individually to User Grid all selected objects are nudged until their lower left corners are aligned on the current User Grid as specified in the Grid menu MAX User Manual Chapter 3 MAX Commands 78 Align cells using cell bounding box aligns cells using the edges of their bounding boxes m Ifyou select cell origin th
58. 2 sue exe Start a new copy of sue display for new sue Sue executable for new sue The SUE executable for new sue specifies which command to execute to run SUE You may have a shell wrapper script that gets executed at your site If you have multiple monitors on your computer X display for new sue controls the initial SUE startup monitor SUE needs to find a matching schematic in your current directory cell gt sue If your SUE schematic is in a different directory it is easiest to first start up SUE with the schematic loaded MAX User Manual Chapter 3 MAX Commands Refer to Search Paths MAX page 126 for more details on how to crossprobe if cells have different names or are in different directories m SUE Cross Probe Init will first load the cell If there is a matching schematic and sim netlist of the current cell in SUE this command runs Gemini LVS to compare the layout to the schematic Gemini LVS actually compares the sim netlist files between layout and schematic therefore a sim netlist must first be generated from the schematic before SUE Cross Probe Init isrun The nets that match between MAX and SUE will be highlighted in MAX using the highlight layer see Editing Special Layers on page 15 and highlighted in SUE in red If SUE is already running it must be able to find the cell in the loaded libraries To view the results of Gemini LVS look at the com
59. 5 The Layout Generator and MAX LS Micro Magic Inc MAX User Manual v5 1 12 MAX T chnelogy Targeting Introduction To MAX Technology Files MAX technology files are created from a source file which includes layer definitions GDS layer number assignments and optionally DRC rules and colors This source file must be converted to MAX S internal technology files using the make tech page 129 program before running MAX MAX source file consists of two parts 1 Atable of layer definitions 2 Alist of commands that derive layers add additional DRC rules add information needed for Gcells the wire tool and the layout generator Only the Layer Definition table is required to create a technology The additional statements after the Layer Definition table are only used to improve MAX s interactive DRC coverage of your layout to derive any new layers and to add the commands necessary for Gcells the Wire Tool and the Layout Generator Layer Definition table be created by one of three ways 1 By hand using a text editor You can also use the mmi18 source and mmi25 source files as starting points These are the example technologies provided with MAX They can be found in MMI TOOLS max tech 2 From a Dracula DRC deck using the Micro Magic convert page 134 program 3 From a GDS file using 445 input page 131 program from Micro Magic make tech Once you have created the source file you mu
60. 5 would be placed around the ndif layer overlapping it by 0 4 um on each side If you are using the MAX layout generator you should setup the default values for certain parameters of the cells that you are generating Here are some examples set LAYINFO stdcell cell height 7 4 set LAYINFO stdcell dpc router pitch 0 74 Router pitch for ml m2 m3 etc set LAYINFO stdcell power strap width 1 0 MAX interactive DRC Limitations MAX cannot check what are referred to as non local rules These are rules that require it to look outside of the immediate vicinity of where any modifications to the database occur Example of these rules are B antenna rules E wide metal rules E connectivity based rules E well substrate tie spacing Presently MAX also cannot check the new via overlap rules that many fabs are currently using in submicron technologies These rules stipulate that the via overlap also called the surround can be very small in two opposite directions if it is larger in the two other opposite directions Micro Magic Inc MAX User Manual v5 1 12 If you intend on using these rules you will need to set the DRC rule to be the smaller number and rely on an external DRC checker to test them Also at present the technology source files do not handle parasitic extraction data Basic Technology Source File Example de dE db db ub This is a simple technology file which includes the information necessary for GDSII in
61. Import File 34 Instances 2 internals 2 Internals Hide Area 78 Internals Hide Cell 78 Internals View Area 78 Internals View Cell 78 label add 55 change color 16 Labels 2 layername 13 127 layer visibility 12 Layers 13 Micro Magic Inc MAX User Manual 05 1 12 Index F L Index active layer 12 Layer Color 16 Layer Fill and Outline 17 layer selectability 13 layer visibility 12 layers under curser 12 palette file 17 Layout Generator 3 80 cross probing 116 flylines 116 placement of fets 109 Layout Generator Setup 50 list boxes 3 Load 17 Local Menu 95 Local menu 9 LVS 80 LVS SEARCH DIRS 118 Make move Box 81 make tech 23 121 Manhattan Endcaps 105 Mask layers 2 Mask Menu 78 max command 7 MAX Manual 98 MAX Tutorial 98 max rc 10 MAX DEFAULT TECH 9 123 MAX PROBE DISPLAY 9 MAX LS 3 9 maxrc 8 10 maxrc file 9 20 MCC Manual 98 MCC Tutorial 98 Measure 83 menu 11 Menu Bar 11 menus 9 Adding Commands 148 Message Area 4 11 12 message area 2 metal 14 Micro Magic Inc Documentation Guide 5 minimum space 131 minimum width 131 Misc Menu 81 MMI Documentation Guide 5 99 MMI BROWSER 9 MMI LICENSE FILE 9 MMI LOCAL 8 9 mmi local 8 10 MMI PRIVATE 9 mmi private 9 10 17 MMI TOOLS 8 10 125 mmidoc 5 mouse buttons 2 4 Move 68 Move Grid 77 Navigator Window 19 zoom 19 Zoom Buttons 19 New 31 Open 2 32 other 14 outline 17 outline style 14 override 17 p3 paint 2 13 paint hotkey p 13
62. Layout Editor The tech option is used to specify which technology will be used Numerous cells can be specified to load up at runtime or they can be opened after MAX is started If a cell name is specified MAX starts with the technology specified in that MAX file Below is a list of the switches for the max command Chapter 2 MAX Layout Editor Table 1 List Of Switch Options For Command tech tech_name Description Specify the technology which will be used The default technology is used if tech is not specified It is defined by the environment variable DEFAULT_TECH If a MAX cell is specified on the command line the technology of that cell overrides MAX_DEFAULT_TECH If the technology specified on the command line does not match the technology of the MAX file a warning is printed and the cell is not loaded h help Prints out syntax of the max command v version Print the version of MAX and exit geometry XxY T Z Start MAX with the given X and Y size at the given T and Z coordinates colormap new Start MAX with a private colormap iconify 1 Start up MAX iconified batch 1 Run MAX in batch mode which means no pop ups or confirmations required new cell Bring up MAX with a new cell command tcl cmd After the maxrc files have been read in execute the Tcl command at startup set var value Set a global variable at startu
63. Next Error the first DRC error will be displayed in the feedback window MAX will also zoom in on the error The text of the DRC error is also displayed in the MAX Message Area page 12 Next Kind will skip to the next type of error Nth error brings up a form where you can specify the error to review W Clicking on Setup will bring up the form shown in Figure 81 IMI Micro Magic Inc MAX User Manual v5 1 12 Figure 81 Misc Menu DRC Results DRC Setup w Feedback Setup Feedback Setup View Feedback From DRC Calibre DRC Other DRC Zoom to error Center view on error Set box only DRC Feedback window always on top Max number of errors to list 10000 E Clear External DRC Feedback Now Done Cancel Help B Click the button to select which type of DRC feedback to view Calibre or Other You can choose to Zoom to error default which zooms in on the DRC error each time you step to a new error Center view on error keeps the current zoom level but centers the view on the DRC error each time you step to a new error Set box only does not touch the current zoom it only highlights the DRC error each time you step to a new error m When the DRC Feedback window always on top toggle button is turned on the DRC feedback window will stay resident on top of the MAX window This can be helpful if you re editing layout to correct DRC errors b
64. This option also allows you to look at a GDSII file without requiring an existing technology file Export File Hotkey None Export the current MAX cell and its descendents to a file currently only GDSII E If you click on Find a File select box pop up see Figure 16 will appear allowing you to specify the name of the GDSII file The default 15 lt ce11_name gt gds If there is an existing gds file with the same name in the directory MAX will first have the user confirm overwriting the existing file Figure 16 File Menu Export File Pop up Export File Export File GDSII File Name iIhome demojtestixyz gds GDSII Export Setup Options Done Cancel Clicking on GDSII Export Setup Options brings up the pop up as shown Figure 17 Figure 17 File Menu Export File GDSII Options wv GDSII Export Setup GDSII Export Options output style Process hierarchical interactions Flatten gcells MAX User Manual Chapter 3 MAX Commands output_style Specify the output style for exporting GDSII In general there is only one output style Process hierarchical interactions Turning this off speeds up the output of GDSII data Ifyou used gds_input to create a technology file then you can safely turn off the Process hierarchical interactions option and get MUCH faster by approximately 100x GDSII output E If you are using the mmi25 technology provided with MAX GDSII output does much mor
65. User Layout System Micro Magic Inc Version 5 1 12 Micro Magic Inc DataPath Compiler SUE Design Manager MAX Layout Editor MAX LS Layout System and MegaCell Compiler are trademarks of MicroMagic Inc other trademarks service marks registered trademarks or registered service marks may be the property of their respective owners specifications are subject to change without notice MAX and MAX LS Layout Editor User Manual Copyright 91996 2005 Micro Magic Inc rights reserved Printed in USA The information in this document is current as of the date listed above The information in this document has been carefully verified and is believed to be accurate Micro Magic Inc assumes no responsibilities for any inaccuracies that may appear in this document In no event will Micro Magic Inc be liable for direct indirect special exemplary incidental or consequential damages resulting from any defect or omission in this document even if advised of the possibility of such damages Micro Magic Inc reserves the right to change modify transfer or otherwise revise this publication without notice YEAR 2000 NOTICE Micro Magic Inc software products are Year 2000 compliant The Micro Magic Inc software has no known time related limitations thru the year 2038 Table of Contents Audience _ Organization
66. You can then re launch MAX to view the results m The SAMPLE STIPPLES variable allows you to change the default stipples showing in the color palette Refer to Text Commands on page 107 for more information directly be careful to preserve the syntax or else MAX won t be able to read it 9 If you do edit the palette file or the override file Micro Magic Inc MAX User Manual v5 1 12 Cell Lists Along the right side of the window are lists containing names of cells currently loaded into memory Each list pertains to cells in a particular UNIX directory W The top cell list is generally the Gcells page 25 provided with MAX The number of lists and the directories they display can be controlled by clicking on the directory names at the top of the lists E To customize the list boxes that display loaded MAX cells use the API command list box configure Referto Appendix C TCL TK and The MAX APT for information about API commands Clicking on a cell name except for Gcells with Shift Button 1 causes that cell to be displayed in the Layout Window E Button 1 puts an instance of that cell in the Layout Window You can position the instance by moving the mouse using Button 1 or Button 3 to place the instance BW Clicking with Button 1 on a Gcell brings up the Gcell Edit Properties page 67 form m An to the left of a cell indicates that it has been modified since last saved to disk m An R i
67. _BUTTONS 9 MAX User Manual Index 7 7
68. ad only specified cells set to drc clean snap to grid 0 01 E convert cellname case WARNINGS report rounding errors Wu report unmapped layers report duplicate instances MAX User Manual Chapter 3 MAX Commands 36 input style If the technology file contains multiple styles you can select between styles In general there will be only one input style scale factor While reading in the GDSII the layout can be scaled by the specified factor The default scale factor 1 0 does not scale the layout read only specified cells This allows you to read only a single cell or a cell and its descendents not the entire GDSII file Once you click on Done MAX searches the GDSII file for all cell names and brings up the pop up as shown in Figure 14 You can then select the cell to load from the generated list as well as specify whether to load its descendents Figure 14 File Menu Import File Import Options Cell List Pop up w Cell List descendents set to dre clean Do not check for DRC errors once the GDSII file has been read in You generally want this to be selected because running MAX DRC on an entire chip or block can take quite a while When you make edits in MAX the DRC rules will be checked in the area near the edits only snap to grid Snap all coordinates in the layout to the grid specified The default is the design grid convert cellname case Convert cell name
69. again if you try to end the polygon without connecting on a strict 45 or 90 degree angle Otherwise you can hit u for undo or click the middle mouse button to remove vertices and try again MAX User Manual Chapter 3 MAX Commands B To edit an existing polygon select it and use Edit Properties from the Edit menu The outline and vertices of the object will be displayed Move the mouse close to the vertex that you wish to change and click the left mouse button You can now add new vertices Button 1 or remove old vertices Button 2 just like you were adding a new polygon Inside the edit mode you can also change the polygon layer by clicking the middle or right button over the desired layer in the palette While in edit mode the hotkey m toggles between all angle and 45 90 degree mode Interactive DRC does not work for all angle polygons Interactive connectivity tracing in MAX does work for polygons but netlist extraction does not work in this release Add Circle Hotkey None To create a circle or a donut in MAX use the Add Circle command The circle donut will be drawn in the active layer E Select the layer you want to draw the circle in by clicking on the Active Layer label at the top of the palette and then selecting the desired layer name A small square with the layer name and color will be displayed Refer to the information on Active Layer on page 12 Click Button 1 where you want the origin of
70. ails The top button in the palette specifies the Active Layer The default setting is auto used for the Wiring Tool on page 27 The Active Layer controls what layer polygons and circles are drawn in It also controls the layer wires start in Layers Under Cursor Layer Visibility From left to right for each layer the palette contains a small rectangle that turns red when the cursor is over that layer in the Layout Window known as a cursed layer The layer does not need to be visible to be cursed However layers in unexpanded subcells cells for which internals are not visible are not cursed The next rectangle displays the visibility of the layer If this layer is visible the rectangle will contain the fill pattern and color of the layer Toggle layer visibility on or off by clicking on the rectangle with Button 1 To toggle on or off visibility of groups of layers click with Button 1 on the group name for example active Refer to Figure 3 below Micro Magic Inc MAX User Manual v5 1 12 Figure 3 Regions of the MAX Palette displays m1 fill pattern cells and Gcells are Group Buttons for not selectable greyed out cells text all metal Cursed Layers are m5 m3 m2 and m1 rectangles show red m5 v45 m4 and v34 not selectable greyed out m2 and m1 selected in layout layer name in red v12 and ct are visible and selectable show color fill not greyed out Layer Selectabi
71. al by Hotkey Edit Keymap Control n Control 1 Control s File fhome demo mmi_private max default keymap find Done Save Load Cancel Revert to factory default keymap Help E To edit the hotkey for a command click on the item with Button 1 and a pop up form appears as shown in Figure 29 Figure 29 File Menu User Preferences Hot Keys Edit Key Bindings Edit Key Binding Edit Key Binding Command View gt Edit Cell or Object in Place Hot Key Modifier fee Hot Key The hotkey designation can be be any single character a z 0 9 or symbols like or a function key designator F1 F10 only not F11 or F12 or a valid keysym name for special keys on your system such as Left for the left arrow key CASE IS IMPORTANT Left is not the same as left MAX User Manual Chapter 3 MAX Commands 52 E remove a hotkey binding leave the entry blank Valid keysym names vary from system to system and can be difficult to discover Use the pop up menu on the right edge of the Hot Key entry area to display a list of possibly valid keysyms Sometimes the symbolic key you select such as lt will automatically be converted to a keysym name like less to make sure it will be a valid binding for the X window system Many keys have multiple keysym names MAX does not detect conflicts if you use synonyms For example if you bind the hotkey
72. allowed width for the current technology or it is silently ignored The GRID ORIGIN is normally 0 0 Micro Magic Inc MAX User Manual v5 1 12 m You specify either a single number for example 0 5 which would place the origin at 0 5 0 5 or two numbers separated by a space for example 5 0 which would place the grid origin at 0 5 0 m WIRE GRID specifies the grid to snap toif snap to grid is specified in the Wire Menu WIRE SPACING is the value used for the spacing box Figure 96 Wiring Parameters Menu wv Wiring Parameters Wiring Parameters DEFAULT WIRE WIDTH WIRE SPACING 0 44 m5 sep 0 46 0 4 m4 sep 0 4 0 4 m3 sep 0 4 0 4 m2 sep 0 4 0 32 mi sep 0 32 10 24 0 36 0 3 ndif sep 0 4 10 3 pdif sep 0 4 10 3 nwe sep 0 4 0 3 pwe sep 0 4 GRID ORIGIN offset lt or gt offsetx offsety 1 m5 origin 0 m4 origin m3 origin m2 origin m1 origin poly origin ndif origin pdif origin nwe origin eo 9 9 9 9 9 oO pwc origin Wire Tool Hotkeys Below is a summary of the hotkeys for the wiring tool The first set of hotkeys apply after the Add Wire command hotkey w and before the wire has been started MAX User Manual Chapter 4 The MAX Wire Tool Table 2 Hotkeys Immediately After Wire Command but Before Wiring Function
73. an be selected in this way For layers the largest rectangle containing the cursor is selected The Cursor Probe page 93 command hotkey Ctrl Button 1 brings up a pop up form listing all layers Gcell or instances under the mouse Instances can be selected using the Select Cell page 91 command hotkey f MAX User Manual Chapter 2 Creating and Editing Layout with MAX 27 28 W Clicking Button 1 on a space with no paint or objects will deselect everything Selecting Nets W To select an entire net move the mouse over a geometry and use the Select Net page 92 command hotkey s E Inthe Cursor Probe page 93 form Button 2 middle mouse button selects the net for the geometry Selecting Areas W To select everything in an area drag a box over it with mouse Button 1 B Holding down the Shift key while dragging a box adds objects to the selection Selecting and Excluding Layers The layers that are selectable can be controlled by clicking on the layer name with Button 1 in the palette Only layers that are currently visible and selectable can be selected Selecting and Excluding Labels Labels that are attached to a layer are selected along with the layer Free floating labels with no layer below are selectable only if visible controlled through Display Options page 42 Adding to the Selection E To add more objects to the current selection use Shift Button 1 in place of Button 1 The Selectio
74. anas Bpan enn ear nA E disunpa Ust e n Nin tr iU pq papi 143 Text Commands aee eee dee bii iiti iste E ER e eee bi epe ds 143 APERE fhe MAAP 145 Writing Scripts nes sone ertet e i eed 145 Useful Tcl Commands MMI Extensions 2 2 2 2 2 100000100000 ettet tete tene 145 Gcells Tcl Programs der edet eel ee ant acl cece Rega 145 Example GCE ersinnen nnn e Nn eiiis no ei nts ere tie 146 Adding Commands to the Local Menu seen trenes 148 Micro Magic Inc MAX User Manual v5 1 12 Preface About This Document This chapter provides an overview of the Micro Magic Inc MAX and MAX LS Layout Editor User Manual Objectives on this page Getting set up on page vii Objectives This manual is a detailed guide to the Micro Magic Inc MAX and MAX LS Layout Editor Once you are familiar with the tool this manual will act as a quick reference and how to guide The best way to get started with MAX or MAX LS is to run the MAX Tutorial Audience MAX This document is designed for layout designers and architects It assumes that you have a strong foundation in IC design and development and layout design This document also assumes that you are familiar with the following programming languages and operating systems Tcl Tk and UNIX or Linux Organization This manual is divided into several chapters Each chapter deals with a different a
75. ances are not visible To view all internals of all cells use the Internals View Area page 84 command hotkey i to view the internals To view internals of only selected cells first select the cells Select cell hotkey f Select additional cell hotkey Shift f and then use the Internals View Cell command hotkey Shift i m You can hide internals of all cells hotkey h or hide internals of selected cells hotkey Shift h Viewing Layers The palette on the left of the layout area allows you to turn on off the visibility of individual layers or groups of layers Clicking once with mouse Button 1 left mouse button on an individual layer the square with the layer color and fill toggles the visibility of that layer on or off m Clicking once with mouse Button 1 on one of the group names for example active toggles that group of layers on or off Micro Magic Inc MAX User Manual v5 1 12 Refer to the Palette page 12 section for more information Drawing Painting Layout The Box Gcells MAX makes extensive use of a rectangular box displayed in brown by default on the screen The Box is a sort of second cursor that designates an area rather than a point Many MAX commands work on the area defined by the Box For example the normal way to add a rectangle on a layer is to place the Box where the rectangle is to go and then click with Button 3 right mouse button over a sample of the layer y
76. and 8 Technology Source Files 126 T Tel Tk 5 Tel Tk Scripts 145 tech 8 tech 9 technology 9 17 Technology File 23 variations 122 technology file 7 8 23 Technology Files override 18 Palette technology files 18 technology files 23 Technology Source File 126 Additional Statements 132 Advanced Topics 136 color 131 gds layer number and datatype 127 layer definition table 121 layername 127 layer type 128 minimum space 131 minimum width 131 text layer number and datatype 128 text 2 14 55 97 text commands 4 text commands 9 text layer number and datatype 128 Title Bar 11 Toggle Grid 77 Tool Menu 78 Tutorial 4 Undo 54 Ungroup Objects 84 User Preferences 40 Via Styles 17 vias draw vias using 52 106 Viewing Layers 25 visibility 12 13 25 visible 13 web browser 9 width 135 Window Elements 10 Wire Setup 51 Wire Tool 3 27 108 Active Layer 105 Default Layer 105 Display Spacing Box 105 Drawing a Wire 102 Micro Magic Inc MAX User Manual v5 1 12 Index S w n d 103 Snap Angle 106 Snap Grid 106 Starting a Wire 101 wire grid 106 Wire Tool Hotkeys 107 wire width 102 106 Wiring Parameters Menu 106 wire tool snap to wire grid 52 Wiring Tool 12 2 24 Zoom Bar 21 Zoom In on Cursor 77 Zoom Out 77 Zoom to Fit All 77 Zoom to Fit Edit Cell 77 Zoom to Fit Selected 77 Zoom to Region 77 ZOOM_BUTTONS 20 Zoom Window 24 ZOOM
77. and Message Area At the top of the window normally just below the title bar are the Menu Bar on the left and Message Area on the right The menus are scanned and menu items are invoked by clicking the menu with Button 1 and then clicking on the menu item You can also select menu options by holding down Button 1 dragging down to highlight the desired item and then releasing You can tear off a menu and place it in a permanent window of its own To do so just click on the dashed tear line at the top of the menu MAX User Manual Chapter 2 MAX Layout Editor 12 Message Area Palette Active Layer Note that when the cursor is over a menu item a short description of it appears in the Message Area to the right of the menus When the cursor is not over a menu item the Message Area normally displays information on the current mode and function of the mouse buttons Occasionally the Message Area is used to display other useful information such as the highlighted DRC error when stepping through DRC errors The MAX palette located along the left border of the main MAX window displays the available layers visibility selection status and cursed layers layers under the cursor Furthermore layer visibility and or selectability is changed on a layer by layer basis by groups of layers or by all layers Also the selectability of subcells and Gcells is changed by clicking on the box labeled 115 Refer to Figure 3 for det
78. and return to that view later set the zoom buttons First zoom in on a desired area of the layout Then click on a zoom button other than the top button with Button 2 or Button 3 Notice that you now see a box of the same color as that button in the Navigator Window indicating the location of this view To get back to a view click on the desired zoom button with Button 1 B To customize the Navigator Window you can set ZOOM BUTTONS the maxrc file as shown below In this example we will add four additional zoom buttons and change the top zoom button to yellow with the command set ZOOM BUTTONS yellow green purple orange blue This command can be typed into the Command Window to change the zoom buttons on the fly or can be added to maxrc file See Creating and Editing Layout with MAX on page 22 The bar at the bottom of the window holds four elements m DRC Status Area E Zoom Bar W Selected Area W Cursor Coordinates E Box Area Display The DRC Status Area is at the left end of the bottom bar The messages it displays and their meaning are described below When active the background DRC runs continuously and DRC errors are displayed as white dotted areas For explanation of a DRC error drag a box around the error with Button 1 and select Explain DRC under Box page 104 from the Misc menu Micro Magic Inc MAX User Manual v5 1 12 B If only one DRC error occurs under th
79. ands Figure 37 Edit Menu Array Cell Pop up J Array Cell hes Edit Wire Hotkey Ctrl w With this command you can edit existing wires W After you have selected Edit Wire hold down Button 1 on a wire segment and drag the segment to the new location B When you release Button 1 the editing ends The segment you select will also move the vias if present In Figure 38 the top segment was selected and moved down past the other wires Notice that the wire stays connected and the via moves with the segment Figure 38 Edit Wire a Selecting Wire Segment to Edit b Moving Wire Segment Down YM Micro Magic Inc MAX User Manual v5 1 12 Edit Text Hotkey Shift t Properties Edit the selected text Select the text you want to edit and then click on Edit Text Properties The form in Figure 39 will come up allowing you to enter any changes in the properties Figure 39 Edit Menu Edit Text Properties Pop up wv max edit text kind position type local lt input v nw v 9 point global 4 gt output v w c e box amp comment v o inout v sw v s text layer nfet Done Cancel Help The different property types associated with text are Kind This selection specifies the connectivity of the net to which the label is attached This information is typically used during various types of extraction A local text label provides a nam
80. ar Ruler Now Ruler Snap To This specifies what the ruler will snap to The options are Exact Point the exact point you click on User Grid the nearest user grid point Nearest Edge The nearest edge of any polygon or Alternate Ruler Grid Alternate Ruler Grid The alternate grid in microns as opposed to the User Grid This is only used if Ruler Snap To isset to Alternate Ruler Grid Ruler Coordinates If set to relative the ruler is numbered starting at 0 If set to absolute the ruler is numbered with absolute coordinates Ruler Font Size The size of text displayed by the ruler This option does not affect rulers that have already been drawn Clear Ruler Now Clears all rulers You can also use the Alt r hotkey MAX User Manual Chapter 3 MAX Commands 54 Wire Setup Hotkey Shift w The Wire Setup menu see Figure 32 contains several options for controlling wiring parameters These options are described below Figure 32 File Menu User Preferences Wire Setup Pop up Wire Menu Wire Menu Active Layer Default Layer mi Manhattan Endcaps both zd Snap to Wire Grid d Snap to Angle 90 Draw Vias Using any Via gcell name via Flylines follow mouse Display spacing box _ Check connectivity Bus Width E Bus Origin top left Edit Wiring Parameters Active Layer This is the layer the wire tool uses to draw the wire If the tool is set
81. ay 22 Box Dimensions 82 Button 1 11 12 Calibre DRC 80 22 90 Calibre Setup 89 Cell Lists 19 Cells Gcell 19 Gcells 19 Internals Viewing Internals 24 cells 14 Center on Cursor 77 Change Path of Cell 33 Check connectivity 53 circle 57 Clear Selection 91 Color 14 color 12 131 Color Editor 40 color stipple editor 14 Layer Color 16 Layer Fill and Outline 17 Palette File 17 Command Line Options batch 8 colormap 8 command 8 geometry 8 help 8 iconify 8 new 8 set 8 tech 8 technology 8 version 8 Command Window 20 23 connect 132 connectivity 4 27 28 55 106 129 Copy 55 Copy Cell Buffer 33 cross probe 3 Cross probing 116 Search Paths 118 without the Layout Generator 118 Ctrl c 24 cursed layer 12 cursed layers 12 cursor 12 Cursor Coordinates 22 Cut 55 Default Layer 52 DEFAULT BROWSER 9 Delete 33 67 Delete Cell Buffer 33 derive 133 136 device 132 Dim Non Edit Cells 42 Display Cell Doc 78 Display Options 10 76 donut 57 drac convert 126 Dracula DRC File 126 Drawing layout 25 DRC 1 87 27 90 91 color and fill pattern 16 drc technology source file 134 drc palette button 11 Explain DRC under Box 91 Find Next Error 90 Find Next Kind of Error 90 interactive drc limitations 138 DRC error 20 DRC errors 12 DRC Results 87 DRC Status 20 DRC s 3 Duplicate 67 Edit MAX User Manual Index Symbols E containing paint 76 Edit Cell or Object
82. ayer in the palette and press Button 3 Place the mouse over any paint in the design window hold down Button 2 and select choose layer layer from the pop up menu see Figure 90 m Select Set current wire layer hotkey 1 from the pop up menu A pop up will appear where you can choose the layer in which to start Chapter 4 The MAX Wire Tool Change the Active Layer in the palette m Change the Default Layer in the Wire menu described below The new layer will be reflected in the palette under the Active layer Figure 90 Wire Pop up Menu Before Wire is Started choose layer m2 Set current wire layer Set current wire Shift s Wiring menu Shift w snap to wire grid 5 spacing box b Manhattan f 45 angles f A All angles Changing Wire Width E To change the wire width use the Shift s hotkey or select Set Current Wire Size from the pop up menu that appears when you press mouse Button 2 in the MAX design window The Enter wire width form will appear see Figure 91 If the wire width is set to 0 it means use the default wire width for the layer The default wire width for each layer is specified in the Wiring Parameters Menu page 114 and is initialized to draw minimum width wires You can actually change the width of the current wire segment even after you have started drawing it but you cannot change the width of wire segments you have already completed Fig
83. bers which cells you have pushed into so that when you use the Pop command it reverses the order of the Push commands Ifa Gcell is selected the Push command brings up the Edit Properties page 67 form for the Gcell Ifa polygon is selected see Add Polygon on page 59 you are put into the Edit Polygon mode where you move add or delete vertices MAX User Manual Chapter 3 MAX Commands Pop out of Cell Edit Cell or Object in Place Edit Cell containing Object See Mask Hotkey Ctrl e Pop back to the previous edit cell or the root top level cell Hotkey Shift e Edit the selected cell or object in place For cells this command works the same as the Push into Cell page 79 command except that the non edit cells are visible The cell currently in edit mode will appear brighter The paint in the non edit cells is dimmed Dimming of the non edit cell paint can be turned off with the Dim Non Edit Cells see page 48 toggle button in the Display Options The Pop out of Cell page 80 command can be used to pop back up the hierarchy Ifa Gcell has been selected Edit Cell or Object in Place brings up the Stretch Selected 11 command allowing you to stretch the gcell See Stretching Gcells page 27 for more information on this procedure Ifa polygon was selected this command allows the user to edit the polygon Refer to Add Polygon page 59 for more information on editing polygons Hotkey Alt e
84. ble for use in scripts These commands are mainly of interest to developers implementing new menu items startup scripts etc However text commands can be invoked directly by typing into the window from which MAX was started Micro Magic Inc MAX User Manual v5 1 12 For documentation on text commands click on Text Commands see page 107 in the Help menu or type the hotkey Click on the one line description of a command for more detailed information You can search for commands whose documentation contains selected keywords by typing them into the Search field at the bottom of the text commands window For example to search for commands related to saving files you can enter file save into the Search field Text commands are built on top of Tc1 Tk All and Tk commands are available providing a complete scripting language and toolkit for GUI extensions This version uses Tcl Tk 8 4 9 with Micro Magic enhancements Complete information on Tc1 Tk is available from the official Tc1 Tk website at http scriptics com We also recommend the book Tcl and the Tk Toolkit authored by John Ousterhout and published by Addison Weseley Micro Magic Documentation Guide MAX is closely tied to a number of other programs in the Micro Magic Inc design tools suite For example MAX can be used together with SUE Design Manager to simultaneously view a design at schematic and physical levels with cross probing between the two Severa
85. cal max and mmi private max MAX looks for a max directory with the latest version not exceeding the version of MAX which is being run For versions before MAX 3 0 MAX only looks at the max directories no version numbers Remember you can name your file max rc as well as maxrc Tour of MAX Window Elements When MAX starts up it creates a new main window The main window has a large grey default color area for displaying layout in the center surrounded by various other elements See Figure 2 The purpose and use of these other elements is described below Most of the elements are optional and can be removed see Display Options on page 42 to increase the area available for displaying layout Micro Magic Inc MAX User Manual v5 1 12 Figure 2 MAX Window Palette Edit Window Message Area Cell Lists w max MyNAND home demo tutorial max MyNAND mn ax an EX bw Tool Select Misc Local Help main mode shift BUT 1 selects more BUT 2 pans Control BUT 3 moves stretdhes selecti deno tulorial nax NAND PN DRC Zoom Selected Cursor Box Area Navigation Status Bar Items Coordinates Display Window Title Bar The window title bar displayed at the top of the window by most window managers identifies the window as a MAX window and gives the name of the cell loaded into the window If an edit in place is currently in progress the cell being edited is also identified Menu Bar
86. choice nfet pfet The difference between choice and radio is the look on the property menu that the user will see The use of radio will cause all choices to be listed with radio buttons before them You can also do simple checks on property values by using the number min max and incr switches for example prop width 1 2 number incr 0 1 min 0 6 max 20 0 This will insure that the user can only enter widths between 0 6 and 20 0 in increments of 0 1 Typically the first few lines of any Gcell procedure such as 11 make lt gt the following get values out of properties list set type get assoc type properties set width get assoc width properties which will get the actual values out of the property list and assign them to more manageable variables Example Gcell Example generator cell Gcell to draw a simple fet This procedure draws a simple fet given a list of properties proc gcell make simplefet properties desc Gcell procedure to make a fet Micro Magic Inc MAX User Manual v5 1 12 get values out of properties list set type get assoc type S properties set width get assoc width Sproperties set length get assoc length Sproperties fet gate is vertical Origin is lower left corner of gate what layers make up this fet setl poly diff techinfo device type if WIN puts Aborting Illegal fet type type retur
87. ctability of cells text or all layers Clicking Button 1 on a group button toggles the visibility of all the layers in the group If any of the layer visibilities are off then all the layers will be turned on Otherwise they will all be turned off Clicking Button 3 on the group button toggles the selectability of each of the layers in the group in the same way as with the visibility The 11 button has the same functionality as the group button but controls all layers a kind of super group The text button has the same functionality as the layer buttons but controls the selectabililty and visibility of text The cells button controls the selectabililty of cells instances Groups of layers can be hidden and restored in the palette by clicking with Button 2 middle mouse button on the group button This is useful if the palette is cluttered with infrequently used layers Note that all layers are displayed on startup Changing Color and Fill Patterns of Layers edit the color fill pattern and outline style of any layer click with Button 2 or Button 3 over that layer s palette entry either the layer name or color fill square This brings up a color stipple editor asshownin Figure 4 If the editor is already open just change the layer to the desired layer by selecting the layer inthe Edit layer popup or by clicking with Button 2 or Button 3 on the desired layer Note that if the editor is obscured by other windows
88. cted it displays 7100 B You can change this number with the variable SELECT MAX DISPLAY By default everything 1s counted when displaying the number MAX User Manual Chapter 2 MAX Layout Editor 22 m To change this you can use the variable SELECT DISPLAY For example if you want only cells or text counted in the Selected Area type the following command in the Command Window or add it to a maxrc file set SELECT DISPLAY cells text If you click on this area with Button 1 the Selection Probe window appears showing details of what is selected Cursor Coordinates the right of the Selected Area is an area displaying the Cursor Coordinates coordinates are for the cell which was opened E If youdoan Edit Cell or Object in Place page 80 the coordinates displayed will be for the original top level cell E Clicking on the Cursor Coordinates area with Button 1 opens a pop up form allowing you to specify exact coordinates of where to move the cursor Box Area Display Box Area Display at the right end of the bottom bar gives the current box dimensions as width dx x height dy in microns Also displayed is the area of the box You can change what is displayed in the Box Area Display by clicking in Box Area with Button 1 m You change what is viewed by editing Display on status bar box This pop up form also appears when you select Box Dimensions from the Misc menu m T
89. d nets and how net names are displayed Display selected text When you select a net this displays all unique text on the net which can be a very long list But it can be a very useful option if trying to detect shorts If a net has both a VDD and a GND label on it then you know there is a problem Display hierarchical paths for text When you select a net this will include hierarchical text names in the list of selected text Otherwise it will only list the names in each cell which could be confusing in some cases You would want to turn this option off though if you re looking at global signals such as CLK DOCUMENTATION OPTIONS These options control which text and html editors to use for displaying documentation Text editor This is used to specify the default text file editor for Display Cell Doc page 84 in the View menu The default is emacs Default text file suffix This is used to specify the default text file suffix for Display Cell Doc page 84 in View menu This defaults to doc Html browser This is used to specify the default HTML file browser for Display Cell Doc page 84 in View menu The default is firefox Default html file suffix This is used to specify the default HTML file suffix for Display Cell Doc page 84 in View menu This defaults to html MAX User Manual Chapter 3 MAX Commands 48 Grid Setup Figure 26 Hotkey Shift g This command opens a pop up form as sh
90. dd additional rules drac convert presently will find most width spacing and overlap rules to add to your technology source file It is not guaranteed to find all rules but is only meant to shorten technology creation times Technology Source Files technology source file has the following basic characteristics Comment lines are lines which contain a pound sign as the first non white space character E Blank lines are ignored W Lines may be continued by ending the line with a backslash character The technology source file for the mmi25 technology is located in 5 TOOS max tech mmi25 mmi25 source B An example of a very basic technology source file is located at the end of this chapter It has the minimum information needed for reading and writing GDSII using MAX Gcells and the Wiring Tool This example does not contain all of the information needed for the layout generator or all of the DRC rules B MAX currently limits the number of layers to 1000 in any given techology file Micro Magic Inc MAX User Manual v5 1 12 The Layer Definition table is a list of white space separated fields per each layer to be defined White spaces are either spaces or tabs Generally layers are ordered from lowest mask layer down to highest mask layer Each column defines a separate attribute of the layers which in brief are from left to right B Layer name m GDS layer number and datatype E GDS text lay
91. e saved in maxg files as opposed to max files Refer to Gcells Tcl Programs page 155 for information on creating Gcells MAX User Manual Chapter 2 Creating and Editing Layout with MAX 25 To insert Gcell into the layout click on it with Button 1 left mouse button in the cell list on the right side of the MAX window This will bring up the Gcell Edit Properties form See Figure 6 Currently MAX comes with fet and via generators The Edit Properties form for a fet allows you to change the width length number of fingers and location of the contacts m Once you have specified the properties click on Done m You can rotate hotkey r or flip hotkey x or y the fet before you place it m Move the fet to the desired location and click with Button 1 The Wiring Tool automatically drops via Gcells You can edit the properties of a Gcell with the Push into Cell page 79 command in the Edit menu hotkey e This will bring up the Edit Properties form See Figure 6 for the selected Gcell Figure 6 FET Gcell contacts both left contacts 135 right contacts 2 1 contact style normal There is also a Gcell for text as show in Figure 7 This can be used to add text such as the company name or chip name to the layout Figure 7 Text Gcell text layer scale spacing I Micro Magic Inc MAX User Manual v5 1 12 Stretching Gcells You can change the size of
92. e will be printed in the MAX Command Window MAX User Manual Chapter 5 The Layout Generator and MAX LS Figure 105 Cross Probe Net a Net selected in MAX Layout b Highlighted net in SUE Schematic You cross probe from SUE to MAX by selecting a net in SUE clicking on the net with Button 1 and then selecting max cross probe from the Sim menu in SUE or using the hotkey k The corresponding net in MAX will be highlighted If there is no corresponding net in MAX nothing will be highlighted and an error message will be printed in the SUE command window Cross probing without the Layout Generator You can cross probe any layout that has recognizable fets in it and no other types of devices No text entry at all is required The cell does not need to be DRC clean to cross probe Search Paths in MAX When you doa SUE Cross Probe Init page 85 from the Tool menu in MAX MAX will first run LVS on the current layout cell versus the schematic with the same name W For instance if you are editing oo max will try to run LVS against the schematic foo sue using the foo sim netlist If foo sue and foo sim in the same directory as foo max then great If they are not in the same directory you have to specify where MAX should look for them m The list of paths to search is stored in the MAX variable LVS SEARCH DIRS Therefore if you have some schematics in the current directory and some in the pa
93. e Edit menu shown in Figure 34 contains commands to modify geometries Gcells and cells Figure 34 Edit Menu Undo Redo Shift u Cut to Clipboard Copy to Clipboard Paste from Clipboard Alt x Alt c Alt v Add Wire Add Wire Bus Add Text Add Polygon Add Circle Array Cell w Shift w t Shift p Alt a Edit Wire Edit Text Properties Edit Multiple Text Edit Cell Properties Edit Edge Edit Flylines Edit Properties Cti w Shift t Cti t Shift c a Ctri f Ctri p Delete Duplicate Flip Rotate Move Selected Move Stretch Selected Stretch Fill Align Objects Undo last edit There are 99 levels of undo MAX keeps track of operations in every cell edited so it can undo back to a previously edited cell This command will undo back to the last time the cell was saved Redo last undo There are 99 levels of redo Undo Hotkey u Redo Hotkey Shift u Cut to Hotkey Alt x Clipboard Cut the selected geometry s or portions of geometries Gcell s and or instance s to the MAX clipboard They can then be pasted into the current cell or into another cell This also works for cutting out a section of a geometry not just entire geometries MAX User Manual Chapter 3 MAX Commands 58 Copy to Clipboard Paste from Clipboard Add Wire Add Wire Bus Add Text Hotkey Alt c Copy the selected geometry s or portions of geometries Gcell s and or instance
94. e Select command only selects cells at the current level of hierarchy Select Hotkey Shift Button 1 add Add to the current selection W By clicking Shift Button 1 over an object it is added to the selection When using Select add you can not step through each of the objects under the cursor If you need this kind of control set the selectability in the palette MAX User Manual Chapter 3 MAX Commands Select subtract Clear Selection Select under Box Select under Box add Select by Name Figure 69 E Drawing a box around objects using Shift Button 1 adds objects under the box to the current selection Hotkey Alt Button 1 Subtract objects from the current selection E You can subtract objects from the selection by either clicking on an object with Alt Button 1 or drawing a box while holding down Alt Button 1 Hotkey Clear deselect all instances gcells rectangles or nets that have been selected Rulers and other annotations will not be cleared E Clicking with Button 1 in an area where there are no objects also deselects them Hotkey Alt s Selects paint portions of rectangles enclosed by the box as well as any cells gcells groups or polygons which are either partially or entirely enclosed by the box E Use the Make move Box hotkey b to draw box Hotkey None Add to current selection by adding paint enclosed by box as well as any cells gcells groups or pol
95. e box that single error is displayed in the Message Area Otherwise the DRC errors are listed in the Command Window the shell window from which you started MAX W DRC Find Next Error page 103 command also in the Mi sc menu can be used to step through all current DRC errors The text explanation of the DRC error is displayed in the Message Area drc off The DRC processing is turned off When a large GDSII file is first read in MAX runs DRC on the entire layout in the background if is turned on off means that the interactive DRC is not running E The visibility of DRC errors can be toggled by clicking on the drc button to the left of the DRC Status Area This also toggles the DRC on off In other words making DRC errors visible automatically turns the DRC on and making errors invisible turns it off drc busy The background DRC is on and running and has unfinished business drc clean The DRC is up to date and there are no MAX DRC errors drc n errors The DRC is up to date and there are n DRC errors drc 10 errors The DRC is up to date and there are more than 10 DRC errors Zoom Bar Zoom Bar is located in the middle of the bottom bar It works like a scroll bar except that it zooms in or out rather than panning over Selected Area The Selected Area is located to the right of the Zoom Bar This area indicates how many things are selected By default if more than 100 things are sele
96. e cells are aligned using the origin point inside the cell Align center is not allowed because this could create off grid geometries Paint Hotkey p This is the command to create rectangles in MAX This method may initially seem different but ends up being very efficient The steps to create a rectangle in MAX are the following 1 Draw a box of the desired size Click and hold down the left mouse button Button 1 and drag out a box of the desired size Notice that drawing a box this way also selects what ever 1s under the box E Type the b hotkey or select Make move Box from the Mi sc menu Then hold down the left mouse button Button 1 and draw a box You can specify the exact location and size of the box using the Box Dimensions command under the Misc menu hotkey Shift b If you have already drawn a box it will default to the origin and size of the box 2 Fillthe box with the desired layer using the paint command hotkey p E Move the mouse of the desired layer in either the palette or the layout window and type p If there are multiple layers under the mouse when you type p all those layers will be drawn in the box W If you select Paint from the Mi sc menu then you click with Button 1 on the desired layer after calling the command The paint command has two hotkeys defined p and Alt But 3 Some windowing systems already use the Alt key so you have to use the p hotkey or change the meta key i
97. e for the attached net and indicates that the attached net is local to the current cell A global lavel indicated that the attached net is a global connecton such as Vdd or Gnd An input output or inout label indicated that the attached net is a port Ports are important to various extractors for example to mark nets that must be connected by routing to the parent cell The comment label is just a comment and does not affect the connectivity of any attached net Position These options specify the visual positioning of the text relative to the point location If set to the text is centered over the point The other options cause the text to appear on the specified sides north west southeast etc of the point position Type The point option attaches text to a single point and is the most common type The box text option sets text in a rectangle and is used in some applications to indicate bounding boxes Text This is the actual text you type in for the text label Layer If this field is blank no entry it means the text is not attached to any layer If a layer name is specified then the text label wll be physically positioned over geometry in that layer affecting the connectivity of that layer according to the options chosen in the Kind label W Mouse Button 1 repositions either the point or the box MAX User Manual Chapter 3 MAX Commands m Ifthe label i
98. e in um add lt layer gt reference layer x overlap in um y overlap in um where lt name gt is the name of the fet to be created such pmos 1vtornmos 25 make this fet W First draw a fet with the given base type like nmos or pmos potentially augmented with different values for Imin contact space to gate or gate spacing MAX User Manual Chapter 6 MAX Technology Targeting 148 W Then add layers with the name lt layer gt that is drawn with reference to reference layer but with a given X overlap lt x_overlap_in_um gt Y overlap y overlap _um gt For example the low threshold pfet could be specified with the following line set GCELL FETS pmos lvt pfet add vtl p poly 0 15 0 2 This would make the device pmos lvt from a pfet with the additional layer vtl p added around the poly layer but wider than the poly by 0 15um in the X dimension and 0 2 um in the Y dimension Additionally a high voltage nfet could be specified with the following line set GCELL FETS nmos 25 nfet lmin 0 3 contact space to gate 0 12 add 0425 ndif 0 4 gate space 0 3 This would make the device nmos 25 from an nfet and having the following characteristics E The default and smallest channel length would be 0 3 um E The contact space to gate would be 0 12 um and for multiple fingered fets E the gate spacing would be 0 3 um E Additionally the layer od2
99. e max tech lt tech_name gt lt tech_name gt override The palette information can also be saved from the Color Editor The next time MAX is started as the same user the preferences files will be sourced File Menu User Preferences Save Revert Options Pop up Save Configuration Color Editor Setup Display Setup Flatten Setup General Setup Grid Setup Layout Generator Setup Ruler Setup Wire Setup For each item shown in Figure 33 you can choose how to handle the configuration in future MAX sessions The options are ignore This function does not save the configuration item at this time and any previously saved information is unchanged save The current state of the configuration item is saved from the current MAX session for future MAX sessions revert to default Any configuration information that has been saved the this or a previous session for this item is deleted and the NEXT MAX session will use start up defaults However the CURRENT MAX session is unaffected except for the palette color editor which reverts instantly Hotkey Exit out of MAX If cells have been modified and not saved a warning pop up will appear If you need to save cells select Cancel and save the cells before quitting B Typing the Cirl d hotkey over the command window the window from which MAX was started exits MAX without any prompts Micro Magic Inc MAX User Manual v5 1 12 Edit Menu Th
100. e mouse buttons and hotkeys in MAX vary with the mode MAX is in For a summary of the current function of mouse buttons and hot keys hit the Space bar at any time Also check the message area to the right of the menu bar for information on the current mode See page 151 for a summary of the hotkeys The hotkeys for panning and zooming around and for controlling the grid work in all modes even when in the middle of dragging something around with a mouse button depressed Micro Magic Inc MAX User Manual v5 1 12 Figure 1 Figure 1 MAX Layout Window Palette Edit Window Message Area Cell Lists wv max MyNAND home demo tutorial max MyNAND mn ax E i e File Edit View Too Select Misc Local Help ain mode shIft BUT 1 selects more BUT 2 pans Control BUT 3 moves stretdhes selecti Fmt y NAND V gt 0 200 box 0 000 x 0 000 area 0 000000 DRC Zoom Selected Cursor Box Area Navigation Status Bar Items Coordinates Display Window B MAX s main mode mouse Button 1 left is used to select things Button 2 middle is used to pan and Button 3 is used to move selected around If you are using a scroll wheel mouse the scroll wheel is used for zooming in out as well as scrolling throught the cell list boxes and window slider bars In addition to the traditional cursor MAX has a box with the default color of brown that is used to specify areas To position the box in main mode type
101. e than just write out the GDSII file It does layer generation nplus pplus and nwell with notch and gap filling so hierarchical interactions must be processed in this case Flatten gcells Also if you are using the mmi25 technology use the Flatten gcells option to tape out the design to get proper layer generation of the nplus and pplus layers GDSII gt ASCII Hotkey None Converts a GDSII file into an ASCII format This is a useful option for debugging a GDSII file A pop up appears see Figure 18 where you can select a GDSII file to convert This converted file is placed in the same directory as the original GDSII file The extension of the converted file is gds_ascii Figure 18 GDSII gt ASCII Menu v File select box HX GDSII File to translate Pathname mome demo Selection Pattem gds strm Rescan Cancel 507 Micro Magic Inc MAX User Manual v5 1 12 Print Hotkey None Using the Print command in the File menu MAX prints the current cell to a postscript printer MAX prints all layers that are currently visible in the layout with the same colors outlines and stipples as set in MAX E Adjust colors and fill patterns before printing using the Color Editor page 41 under User Preferences in the File menu Additionally turn off any layers in MAX that you do not want to plot For example to plot only metal layers turn off all other layers in the MAX palette before running the Pri
102. eate a basic technology file by looking at what layers exist in the GDSII file This technology file will contain only the layer definitions with no DRC rules no layer connectivity and no definitions for Gcells It is useful for quickly viewing a GDSII file or as a starting point for a new technology file The Import File page 34 command under the File menu assumes that you have a technology file Creating A MAX Technology File MAX comes with generic technology files mmi25 and mmi18 for a 0 25 um and 0 18um process These can be used as a starting point for creating new technologies A technology for MAX is defined in the technology source file The make tech page 129 program is then used to convert the technology source file into the technology files used by MAX If you have a Dracula DRC deck for the technology the drac convert page 134 program can be used to create a MAX technology source file Please refer to Chapter 6 MAX Technology Targeting for detailed information on 45 input MAX technology source files nake tech drac convert Basic MAX Usage This section of the manual gives a quick overview of the basic things you can do in MAX Refer to Chapter 3 Commands for a complete description of all MAX commands great source of information on the basics of using MAX is the Micro Magic Inc MAX Tutorial Typing Ctrl c aborts out of the current mode undoing any changes and returning to the Ma
103. ected MAX adjusts or zooms the view to center on the selection Search Click to choose which cell you would like to have searched current cell specifies to look only at the current level of hierarchy any visible cell specifies all cells for which internals are visible any loaded cell specifies to search down through the hierarchy even if internals are not visible If Search for is specified as Cell Def then the form changes to Figure 69 Enter 11 Def Name allows you to select lists all cells at the current level of hierarchy You can also Replace all instances of this cell with a different cell Figure 70 Select Menu Select By Name Select By Name Search for v Text Wire Cell Instance Cell Def Enter Cell Def Name NAND2 Add to Existing Selection Zoom to selected Replace with Done Cancel Help Select Cell Hotkey f Select the instance of a cell or a Gcell that is under the cursor If there are multiple levels of hierarchy under the cursor selecting the Select Cell command multiple times shuffles through the different levels of hierarchy The Select Cell command starts at the lowest level of hierarchy under the cursor and moves up the hierarchy For this command you should use the f hotkey MAX User Manual Chapter 3 MAX Commands 92 Select Cell add Select Net Select Net add Selection Probe Hotkey Shift f Add instance or gcell under cursor
104. ents to be connected The display of flylines is controlled by this toggle button Flylines are only visible when you are zoomed in closely enough Box stipple pattern This controls the outline pattern for the box layer In the Color Editor you can only change the color of the box The options for the outline are solid dash and dotdash Use the toggle list to select the desired option You can also specify your own stipple pattern for example for a dash pattern use 0377 Stipple pattern 15 a 16 bit binary number where a 1 means the pattern is on and 0 means it is off Show Selected on Layers Only if Visible If this is toggled on then when you do a select net only layers which are visible are highlighted Select net still traces the connectivity through layers which are not visible Show sub cell comment and local Text labels This toggle button turns on or off the viewing of comment labels and local labels in a hierarchical design If labels are defined as input output inout or global they will always be displayed if labels is turned on and the internals are visible By default any labels which are comment labels or local labels and are in lower level cells are not visible E To make these labels visible the Show sub cell comment and local Text labels toggle must be turned on Note that these Text types are always displayed in the edit cell For sub cells with internals hidden When internals are hidden or not shown
105. enus define variables and execute text commands In addition Tcl programs can be defined or sourced in the maxrc file Below is an example of a maxrc file which sets the variable ZOOM BUTTONS See Zoom Buttons on page 19 then sources Tel script adds command to the Local menu and turns off the interactive DRC on startup file can be named maxrc or max rc set ZOOM BUTTONS green yellow purple orange blue source MMI LOCAL max tree tcl menu local cmd Print hierarchy tree print tree pal special off drc MAX User Manual Chapter 2 MAX Layout Editor E 10 There are a number of locations where looks for a maxrc file Below are the locations in the order in which they are sourced The last maxrc file found usually the one in the current directory will override settings from the previous files 5 TOOLS max maxrc 5 TOOLS mmi local max maxrc mmi private max maxrc maxrc home directory maxrc current directory MAX subdirectory can contain a version number allowing you to run different versions of the software For example 5 TOOLS mmi local max5 0 maxrc 5 TOOLS mmi local max maxrc mmi private max maxrc If you are running MAX version 5 0 or later MAX will get the maxrc files from mmi local max5 0 and mmi private max If you are running a version of MAX earlier than 5 0 for example MAX 3 2 MAX will get the maxrc files from mmi lo
106. er Manual v5 1 12 Reading GDSII Files If there is an existing technology file which matches the GDSII file you can use the Import File page 34 command Otherwise you can use the gds_input command which finds all the layers in the GDSII file and creates a technology file for the cell gds_input The gds_input program is meant for importing arbitrary GDS files directly into MAX without first requiring a technology file E gds_input will first parse the GDS file using MAX and determine what GDS layers are in the file W It will then create a simple technology source file as described below assigning arbitrary names and colors to each layer E It then runs make tech on the source file to create a new MAX technology W Finally it will run MAX with the new technology and import the GDS file The syntax for 9445 input is gds input expand datatypes file source file max lt executable gt tech lt name gt rebuild dont load file gds file where gds file is the full pathname to the gds file to be loaded E If you specify expand datatypes then every datatype on everylayer is assigned unique MAX layer Otherwise all datatypes of a given layer are merged together default E If you specify rebuild then uses your modified source file The source file defaults to tech source and technology defaults to tech E Ifyou specify dont load file then the tech file is built from the given gd
107. er number and datatype optional E Type of layer optional B Minimum width of that layer in microns optional B Minimum space from that layer to itself in microns optional Desired color of that layer optional Where a field is optional and you do not wish to specify a value for it use the dash character to specify that you have not set the field Do not simply add spaces If you do the parser will then use the next field instead You can only omit the dash if no other fields to the right of it are defined on that line Each column of the Layer Definition table is now described in detail layer name The layer name is the unique means by which MAX will refer to this layer MAX saves all layouts with specific reference to this name and NOT to the GDS layer number or any other parameter W If you change this name for example from MET1 to M1 and run make tech all existing MAX files that use this technology file will not read correctly into MAX E If you do need to change this name you will need to export all of your existing MAX layouts to GDS then change the name in the technology source file and run make tech E Finally import the GDS layouts back into MAX and save them back out to MAX format If you create the Layer Definition table from either the drac convert program or the gds input program you will probably want to edit the layer names Make sure you do this before saving out any MAX files gds layer number
108. ernals Hide Area Hotkey Shift d Display the lt cell_name gt doc lt 11 name html an editor or browser If there is doc or html file in the same directory as the max file you will be prompted to create anew doc file The text editor is the default editor specified in the File Menu User Preferences General Setup Pop up page 47 form The file suffixes for text and HTML files are also specified in the General Setup form Micro Magic Inc MAX User Manual v5 1 12 Tool Menu The Tool menu shown in Figure 63 contains links to additional development tools from MMI such as the MegaCell Compiler and the Layout Generator The MegaCell Compiler MCC is described in more detail in the Micro Magic Inc MCC MegaCell Compiler User Manual If you have not purchased the MegaCell Compiler then the four MC commands will not be available in the Tool menu Figure 63 Tool Menu SUE Cross Probe Init SUE Cross Probe SUE LVS Layout Generator MC Build MC Netlist MC Critical Path MC What Calibre DRC SUE Cross Hotkey None Probe Init When you select this command the pop up shown in Figure 64 will appear It lists all the SUE sessions currently running on your computer E If you already have the corresponding cell loaded in SUE select that copy of SUE Otherwise start a new copy of SUE Figure 64 Tool Menu SUE Cross Probe Init Popup w Cross Probe sue Cross Probe sue sue exe
109. est demo mmi mmi max cells Delete Selected Move to Front Move to End Add Directory When you click Done all cells in those directories that you have deleted will be removed from MAX memory Hotkey None Toggle the read only status of the current edit cell If the cell is not read only this makes the cell read only and vice versa Hotkey None This brings up the Import File pop up shown in Figure 12 allowing you to import a file into MAX Currently only GDSII files are supported The GDSII Import Setup Options menu is described below Micro Magic Inc MAX User Manual v5 1 12 Figure 12 File Menu Import File Pop up v Import File Import File Create tech file from GDS file GDSII Import Setup Options GDSII File Name If you click on Find a File select box appears If there is an existing cell memory with the same name as a cell in the GDSII file it will be overwritten by the Import File command This will not affect the version of the cell saved on disk default suffixes for GDSII files are gds strm or gdsii You may need to change the suffix in the file selector box to find the GDSII files if your suffix is something else Clicking on 60511 Import Setup Options brings up the pop up shown in Figure 13 Each of the options are described below Figure 13 File Menu Import File GDSII Import Options wv GDSII Import Setup input style scale factor re
110. et it to via symmetric 1 You can also change this if you have created your own via gcell for use by the wiring tool Flylines follow mouse If on any flylines attached to the net being wired will follow the end of the wire When the wire is connected the flylines disappear Display Spacing Box If selected this displays a simple aid to wiring consisting of a visible box around the wire as it is drawn see Figure 95 The width of this visual box indicates the correct wire separation as defined in the Wiring Parameters Menu page 114 for the current wiring layer This is useful for spacing wires at more than the minimum width Figure 95 Wire Spacing Box Check connectivity If set MAX will check wire connectivity when the wire is finished and report any shorts Connectivity is not traced through unexpanded cells Only conflicts among labels text in the edit cell are reported Shorts are reported in the MAX command window the window from which MAX was started Edit Wiring Parameters Edit the parameters for the wiring tool Refer to Wiring Parameters Menu page 114 for detailed information on the wire parameters Wiring Parameters Menu The Wiring Parameters Menu see Figure 96 can be entered from the Wire Menu obtained by using the Shift w hotkey while in wire mode This menu lets you specify the default wire widths separation and grid for the wires on each layer The wire width cannot be less than the minimum
111. ext or Change it into any other type of label For example m Ifyouspecify global turns into global then global labels in the flattened cell will be copied into the parent cell without changes If you specify global turns into delete then global labels will be deleted You can also specify whether to flatten or preserve the label names If they are preserved they may conflict with other existing labels with the same name W To avoid this you can flatten the label names which will cause the labels to be renamed to something like ce11name labelname where cellname is the instance name of the cell that was flattened and labelname was the label name in the cell that was flattened Cell Ids If set to flatten Cell Id names are flattened by prepending the name of the parent cell to the cell s name If set to the Cell Ids are retained but may be made unique by appending where n is a number Hierarchical name sep this field allows you to enter a label to differentiate cell names within a hierarchy such as parent secondary These names will automatically be appended to the cell name MAX User Manual Chapter 3 MAX Commands Figure 24 File Menu User Preferences Flatten Setup Pop up Flatten Options Flatten Options Text type input input turns into local input name Text type output output turns into local output name Text type inout inout t
112. f The fet gcell also requires the following technology data to be specified ndif poly poly ndif width and space for fingered devices only extension past ndif nfet extension past gate poly nfet for uncontacted devices only contact width and space contact space to gate poly nfet ndif enclosure of contact metall enclosure of contact For example the following minimum technology source file would be sufficient ndif poly et mi 2 act 0 2 7 1 0 1 0 2 14 via 0 15 0 2 15 metal drc poly ext nfet 0 2 only needed for uncontacted devices drc ndif ext nfet 0 15 drc ct space to nfet 0 1 Must specify enclosure for both ndif and poly around contact derive ct ndif from ct and ndif drc ndif enc ct ndif 0 1 dre ml enc ct 0 05 W The default fet size will have width of 1 um and length of the poly minimum width To change the default fet width to for example 0 2 um add the following line set GCELL FET DEFAULT WIDTH 0 2 Often processes support additional fets beyond the normal nfets and pfets There might be low threshold fets or high voltage fets With a single line in the technology source file most of these additional fets be specified and then the fet generator will be able to make them To specify a fet variation use the following form set GCELL FETS name base type lmin value in um gate space value in um contact space to gate valu
113. f you have 6 different implant layers you might give them each the type implant and they will be grouped together in the palette Any layers without a group will be placed in the other group at the end of the palette The order of the via and metal layers in the Layer Definition table determines the order in which they get connected E The first via layer becomes the contact and connects to all of the act and poly layers It is also connected to the next metal layer B The next metal layer is then connected to the following via layer and so on For example for the following technology you would need this line order for the via and metal types in the technology source file to get connected properly Table 5 Layer Type layer gds dt 8 139 255 182 134 222 255 160 65 Any other order and MAX would not get the connectivity correct For example if you specified the layers the order ct v12 v23 m1 m2 m3 MAX would not understand connectivity You need to alternate layers starting from via which will become the contact layer just as in the above example The order of all layers other than the via or metal layers is unimportant E If there are layers in your GDS input file that you want to ignore specify them with the type ignore Otherwise you will get warnings that they are not defined when you import them if you have enabled GDS warnings in the import GDS dialog MAX User Ma
114. ff then only the fets will be placed with flylines shown MAX User Manual Chapter 5 The Layout Generator and MAX LS Figure 100 Layout Generator Form w Layout Generator Layout Generator Input File Name home demoj tutorial mcc max NAND2 sim Find Output File Name INAND2 max Find Generate stdcell layers Edit Per Cell Options Edit Stdcell Options Edit Layers to Generate Edit Per Cell Options This menu See Figure 101 contains options you might want to change to get a better layout of this particular cell for example whether to align the fets toward the inner channel or the outer power rails and so on Each option is described below Figure 101 Layout Generator Edit Per Cell Options Form w Layout Generator Options Per Cell Options option align fets option flyline crossing minimization option flylines LI option pad track default option preroute inner poly option preroute outer option reverse stacked fets option router pads option share contacts option spread fets option wiring tracks above center option wiring tracks below center align fets If set to outer fets will be placed as close to power rails as possible if set to inner fets will be placed near the central wiring channel flyline crossing minimization Rearrange flylines to minimize crossings This is a time consuming step and probably not necessary if you are going to hand route the cell
115. geometry s horizontally or sideways This flips around the center of the bounding box of the selected items Rotate Hotkey r Rotate selected geometry s Gcell or instance clockwise by 90 degrees Rotate Counter Hotkey Shift r Clockwise 7 Rotate selected geometry s Gcell or instance counter clockwise 90 degrees Move Selected Hotkey Button 3 You first select what you want to move It s generally easiest to move things by using Button 3 as opposed to the menu Move Hotkey Shift lt arrow keys gt The Move menu contains several options for moving your geometries Figure 48 Edit Menu Move Commands Sub menu Move Move To Move To Point Move To Box Move Edit Cell Origin Move Left Shift LEFT Move Right Shift RIGHT Move Up Shift UP Move Down Shift DOWN Move Left 10x Move Right 10x Move Up 10x Move Down 10x The commands for moving affect selected rectangle s or portions selected by the box text polygons Gcell s and or instance s If an entire rectangle is selected the entire rectangle will be moved It s generally easiest to select rectangles by clicking on them with the left mouse button Button 1 Shift Button 1 will add to the selection If only a portion of a rectangle s is selected surrounded by the box the rectangle s will be cut or separated into two pieces when the selection is moved see Figure 49 For everything other than rectangle which include wires
116. he Active Layer is updated in this menu to reflect your layer selection Default Layer The default layer is the layer that will be used if the Active Layer is set to auto and if no wireable layer is under the cursor when you start the wire Manhattan Endcaps For drawing manhattan wires only Endcaps if selected are drawn at one half the width of the wire If set to both then MAX draws endcaps on the beginning and end of the wire of a size equal to half the width of the wire Snap To Wire Grid This option constrains all wire vertices to snap to the wiring grid for the current layer The wiring grid for each layer is specified in the Wiring Parameters Menu page 114 and defaults to a one micron grid Snap To Angle This is the default angle constraint for wire segments and is normally 90 degrees Draw Vias Using If set to any the code draws vias using the first method that works if there is a via 9 11 installed that will be used if there is a via 11 found that will be used as a last resort vias will be painted using rectangles You generally want to use the gce11 option MAX User Manual Chapter 4 The MAX Wire Tool 114 Via gcell name Specify the name of gcell to use for vias and default properties in the form propname value Only used if Draw Vias Using is set to any or gcell You can use this to specify default properties for the via For example to make vias symmetric by default s
117. he geometry s selected If an entire geometry is selected this command simply moves the geometry Figure 54 Edit Menu Stretch Sub menu w Stretch Stretch Selected Gcell Stretch Left Stretch Right Stretch Up Stretch Down Stretch Left 10x Stretch Right 10x Stretch Up 10x Stretch Down 10x The arrow keys allow stretches of one grid point at a time Holding down Ctrl Button 3 allows free movement for stretching while locking in either the X or Y direction See Figure 55 for an example of the stretch down command In this case the horizontal edges enclosed within the box are stretched down MAX User Manual Chapter 3 MAX Commands Figure 55 Edit Menu Move Sub menu Stretch Down Command Example W If you select the Stretch sub menu see Figure 54 from the Edit menu you will notice that you can also stretch by 10x the grid E You can specify hotkeys for these options in the Hot Keys page 50 options pop up Fill Hotkey Ctrl lt arrow keys gt Extend the geometry s to the edge of the box in the direction specified In the example shown in Figure 56 the fill down option is selected The geometries selected by the box will be extended or filled down to the bottom of the box Which layer is extended and the width of that layer is determined by the top edge of the box Figure 56 Edit Menu Fill Sub menu Extend Down Command Example 1 Micro Magic Inc MAX User Manual v5
118. he layout it will return a message of the form ndif to pdif minimum spacing 1 2 um If you want to add any additional information to this message do so with the comment line for example drc ndif space to pdif 1 2 rule 31 2 which will lead to the error message ndif to pdif minimum spacing 1 2 um rule 31 2 Note that you cannot use the pound sign in the comment MAX will attempt to make a reasonable error message out of the drc line However sometimes a completely different error message is desired To create a custom error message use the msg option For example derive tmp v12 from v12 grow 0 2 shrink 0 2 and ml and m2 drc tmp v12 space 0 16 msg V12 on different nets space 0 16 Without the msg in the above drc on a violoation of the above dre rule MAX would alert the user that tmp v12 minimum spacing 0 16 um which is not very helpful If you want to specify the minimum enclosure of contact by Metall you would use the following rule drc ml enc ct 0 09 If you want to specify the minimum extension of poly past an nfet use the following rule drc poly ext nfet 0 36 Only the first occurrence of any rule will be used make tech will give a warning that it 1s ignoring any subsequent duplicate rule definitions Thus if you define the minimum width of a layer in the Layer Definition table and then redefine it with the DRC line the first definition will be used Note that some rules have
119. heBox Area can be used to measure objects by selecting them When you select something the box is automatically placed around it m The Box Area can also be used to measure the space between things using the hotkey m The hotkey m is for the Measure page 96 command in the Misc menu You really need to use the hotkey since you need the cursor positioned at the space you are measuring when issuing this command Scroll Bars Scroll bars for the layout area allow you to pan vertically or horizontally through the layout There are also scroll bars for the cell lists Creating and Editing Layout with MAX Command Window The shell window MAX is started from is also of interest during the operation of MAX Informational messages are posted to this window Micro Magic Inc MAX User Manual v5 1 12 B For example the results of the Explain DRC under Box page 104 command are displayed in the command window B n addition text commands or even entire Tel scripts can be typed into the Command Window See Text Commands on page 107 Text commands are of use primarily to developers but are occasionally useful to end users who wish to access obscure features not available from the menus Reading In A GDSII File In order to read in an existing GDSII file you must first create a basic MAX technology file which defines the layers in the GDSII input If there is no existing technology file use the gds input page 131 command to cr
120. help Micro Magic Inc MAX User Manual v5 1 12 Figure 86 Help Menu About MAX Current Hot Keys SPACE Text Commands Variables MAX Manual MAX Tutorial MCC Manual MCC Tutorial MMI Documentation Guide About MAX Hotkey None Brings up a form see Figure 87 with current information about MAX About MAX lists the version of MAX used the location of the MAX software and the current technology Figure 87 Help Menu About MAX Help Form MAX 5 1 8 OpenGL Accelerated compiled 09 59 19 Jul 20 2006 Copyright C Micro Magic Inc CONFIGURATION MMI Tools Directory MMI TOOLS home demo mmi mmi Technology mmi25 se MAX User Manual Chapter 3 MAX Commands Current Hotkey Space nh Hitting the Space bar in any mode brings up the list of hotkeys for that mode along with a description of each hotkey see Figure 88 m The Save to File button writes out this hotkey information into a text file The Edit Keymap button brings up the form for editing the MAX hotkeys see page 50 Figure 88 Help Menu MAX Current Hot Keys List max hot keys main mode Micro Magic Inc MAX User Manual v5 1 12 Text Commands Hotkey Brings up a listing of all text commands as shown in Figure 89 Figure 89 Help Menu MAX Text Commands variables MAX Manual MAX Tutorial MCC Manual wv max text commands findbox identify 10 imove redo sc
121. hotkeys The left column contains a description of the menu or command m The right column shows the current hotkey binding and is empty if no hotkey is assigned Some hotkeys can not be changed for example Ctrl C and so those menu items do not appear in the list The hotkeys can either be displayed in Menu Order if you re looking for a specific command from a menu or they can be displayed Alphabetical by HotKey This is helpful if you re trying to find out what hotkeys have already been defined Micro Magic Inc MAX User Manual v5 1 12 Figure 28 File Menu User Preferences Hot Keys Edit Keymap Pop up File gt New File gt Open File Save File Save As File Save Multiple gt save edit cell and descendents File Save Multiple gt save all modified cell buffers File Save Multiple gt save all cells File Revert to Last Saved File gt Copy Cell Buffer File Delete Cell Buffer File Change Path of Cell File Load Cell Hierarchy File Edit Cell Path File Toggle Read Only File Import File File Export File File GDSII ASCII File Print File User Preferences Color Editor File User Preferences gt Display Options File gt User Preferences gt Flatten Setup File gt User Preferences gt General Setup File gt User Preferences gt Grid Setup File User Preferences Hot Keys Editing Current Hot Keys Menu Order Alphabetic
122. ibing the usage of commands and procedures for generating schematics Documentation Conventions General Conventions This guide uses the following text conventions Statements commands command output filenames directory names and configurations are shown in a boldface fixed width font The following example shows a full path name mmi private max maxrc E In examples text that you type literally is shown in bold In the following example you type the word max To launch max type max B Menus menu options and pop up menus are generally shown in a boldface sans serif font For example Select Save As from the File Menu Conventions for Software Commands and Statements When describing the Micro Magic Inc software this guide uses the following type and presentation conventions Statement or command names that you type literally are shown nonitalicized In the following example the statement name is set MC default generator set MC default generator sram E Variables for which you substitute appropriate values are shown in itallics Optional commands within a string of code are often enclosed within square brackets Variables are enclosed within angle brackets lt gt When you type the setMACRO statement you substitute a value for name row and row2 CELL is an optional command set MACRO lt name gt CELL amp row1 lt row2 gt vi Micro Magic Inc MAX User Manual v5 1 12
123. ied over the mmi local sample directory this script will bein MMI TOOLS mmi local max This script must be edited to point to your Calibre DRC decks for your technology While Calibre is running messages will print in the MAX Command Window the shell window from which you started MAX Misc Menu DRC Results Calibre Setup Calibre DRC Setup Calibre DRC Setup Calibre Shell Script home mmi mmi local max drc it calibre Once Calibre has finished running the feedback DRC errors will automatically be loaded into MAX MAX displays the Calibre DRC errors on your layout using the annotation layer Click on Done in the Feedback Setup form The Calibre DRC errors will be displayed inthe DRC Feedback form as shown in Figure 84 Micro Magic Inc MAX User Manual v5 1 12 Figure 84 Misc Menu DRC Results View Calibre Results v DRC Feed back Ext DRC Feedback Total entries 17 Ml A 1 1 Min M area lt 0 202 1 M1 W 1 1 M width lt 0 23 1 area 8 46 1 57 8 6 1 57 8 6 1 66 8 46 1 6 M2 S 1 2 M2 spacing lt 0 28 2 area 2 0 3 69 2 16 3 65 2 16 1 65 2 0 area 2 0 5 69 2 16 5 73 2 16 7 73 2 0 7 6 0 5 2 0 6 3 1 Min POLY space on OD area 7 41 1 62 7 58 1 62 7 58 1 91 7 46 2 Entire Cell 0000 SetArea Setup Prev Error Next Error Next Kind Nth Error Run Calibre DRC Now E E All of the errors are grouped by type of error W If you
124. ill be created on this pitch normally equal to router pitch Edit Layers to Generate This lets you individually control various Layout Generator layers These layers are only generated if the Generate Stdcell Layers option in the main Layout Generator menu See Figure 103 is enabled MAX User Manual Chapter 5 The Layout Generator and MAX LS 124 Figure 103 Layout Generator Edit Layers to Generate Form wv Layout Generator O X Layers to Generate layers nplus layers nwe layers nwell E layers power_strap layers pplus layers prb_layer layers pwe layers well_contact Once you have set the options select Done generate the layout The layout cell name will default to lt 11 name max where cell name is the name of the cell in SUE You now see the layout in the MAX window with flylines turned on by default showing connectivity Refer to Figure 98 and Figure 99 B Use the MAX Wire Tool see Introduction To The MAX Wire Tool page 109 to make the connections The flylines disappear as each connection is made m Ifthe connection is broken the flylines currently do not reappear Use the Edit Flylines page 67 command to manually add the flyline back into the layout Cross probing Once the layout has been generated for a cell you then wire up the connections using the flylines as guides The Wire Tool makes the process of wiring up the cells quick and painless
125. in Mode As an example in Wire Mode Ctrl c will abort the wire you are working on and return you to the Main Mode B Typing ESC ends the current mode and returns to the Main Mode For example if you are working in Wire Mode ESC ends the wire you are working on and returns you to the Main Mode MAX User Manual Chapter 2 Creating and Editing Layout with MAX 23 24 Moving Around the Layout Zoom Pan Scroll Bars Zoom Window Once you have loaded a layout in MAX there are many ways of moving around in the layout Use the command Zoom to Area page 82 hotkey z to specify the region to zoom in on You type the hotkey z and then drag out the region to zoom to with Button 1 Use the command Zoom to Fit Selected page 82 hotkey Shift v to zoom in to fit what is selected The Zoom Out page 82 command hotkey shift z allows you to zoom out by a fixed amount The Zoom In on Cursor command hotkey j allows you to zoom in by a fixed amount centered on the cursor Use the scroll wheel on the mouse to zoom in and out on the layout The zoom area will be centered around the point of the cursor Use the scroll bars on the bottom and right of the Layout Window to pan around the layout In addition you can use the The Navigator Window page 19 to move around the layout Viewing Internals of Cells When a cell is first loaded into MAX only the top level of hierarchy is visible The internals of inst
126. in Place 75 160 Edit Flylines 64 Edit in Place 29 Edit Layers to Generate 115 Edit Menu 54 Edit Per Cell Options 112 Edit Stdcell Options 113 Edit Cell Properties 62 Edit Edge 63 Edit layer 14 Edit Layers 15 Edit Multiple Text 61 Edit Properties 64 Edit Text 59 enc 135 Environment Variables 125 BACK_ANNOTATE_PATH 119 DEFAULT_BROWSER 9 LVS_SEARCH_DIRS 118 MAX DEFAULT TECH 8 9 MMI TOOLS 125 environment variables 8 erase hotkey o 13 erase layers 13 ESC 24 Exit 54 Explain DRC under Box 3 91 Export File 36 ext 135 Extend 72 Fast Draw 42 feedback change color 16 FET Gcell Properties 66 fets 109 File Menu 31 Fill 72 fill pattern 12 Fill Patterns 14 Flatten Cells 84 Flip Sideways 68 Upside Down 67 Flip Rotate 67 flyline change color 16 flylines 53 64 106 109 116 gcell gcells in wiring tool 53 106 Gcells 26 27 145 Example Gcell Tcl script 146 properties 64 input 23 123 126 GDSII 8 Export 36 gds input 123 GDSII 2ASCII 37 Import 34 Reading GDSII Files 123 GDSII File 23 GDSII file 8 GDSII files 7 gdsonly 136 GEMINI 80 Generate Layers 86 Goto Coordinates 83 grid change color 16 Move Grid 77 toggle 77 wire grid 52 Grid Setup 45 group buttons 14 Group Objects 84 Groups of layers 14 Help Menu 96 Hierarchy 29 Hot Keys 4 96 Hotkey h 24 i 24 124 Shift f 24 Shift h 24 Shift i 24 Shift v 24 shift z 24 hotkey 2 24 Hot Keys 48 hotkeys 2 HSB 16
127. inates Go to the coordinates specified in the pop up box You specify the X and Y coordinates as shown in Figure 75 Figure 75 Go To Coordinates popup coordinates Enter the coordinates to goto Kony pp Y 0 E units microns Zoom In d Mark this point Clear point marks Done Cancel Help Units are either microns nanons or half_nanons Zoom In zooms in on the coordinate Otherwise the layout is centered around the coordinate at the current zoom level Mark this point leaves a mark at the coordinate until Clear point marks is selected Measure Hotkey m Place the box in the largest area unoccupied by visible layers The dimensions of the box are displayed in the Box Area Display page 22 B In the example shown in Figure 76 if the cursor is placed over the M2 wire as shown the box is drawn out until it finds a layer other than M2 or any visible layer if there is empty space in between In the x direction MAX searches for any non M2 layer In the y direction since there is blank space before finding another layer it searches for any layer 96 Micro Magic Inc MAX User Manual 5 1 1 Figure 76 Misc Menu Measure Command Example Ruler Ruler Clear Set Active Layer Group Objects Hotkey Ctrl r Draw a ruler to show the distance between any two points W Select the Ruler command Click once with Button 1 to start the ruler m utton 3 ends the ruler
128. indow maintaining the current zoom 05 Micro Magic Inc MAX User Manual v5 1 12 Set box only highlights the DRC error only Select Menu Figure 68 Select Menu Select BUT 1 Select add Shift BUT 1 Select subtract Alt BUT 1 Clear Selection Select Under Box Select Under Box add Select by Name n Select Cell Select Cell add Shift f Select Net 5 Select Net add Shift s Selection Probe Alt f Cursor Probe I Select Hotkey Button 1 Select objects by clicking with Button 1 B You can select any gcell instance polygon text or rectangle at the current level of hierarchy by clicking over the object with Button 1 m If there is more than one object under the cursor you can step through each object by clicking Button 1 at the same location You can control what is selectable using the palette You can choose selectability by layer cells instances or text E To select multiple objects you can draw a box around them by holding down and dragging Button 1 Any instance gcell or polygon that is at least partially enclosed by the box will be selected Only the portion of a rectangle enclosed in the box will be selected Clicking with Button 1 on a rectangle selects the entire rectangle If you are selecting instances or gcells it is generally easier to use the Select Cell hotkey f command The Select Cell command allows you to select cells throughout the hierarchy Th
129. instance name is stored in property attribute 102 E Note that in the second form the 102 is actually in the text column The rest of the layers such as implants should be specified as other which is also the default therefore you can use the dash for them Micro Magic Inc MAX User Manual v5 1 12 Every line in the Layer Definition table except for those of type gdsonly ignore and bbox will show up in the MAX palette minimum width This optional value in microns will create a DRC rule for the MAX interactive DRC checker for the minimum width of the layer minimum space This optional value in microns will create a DRC rule for the MAX interactive DRC checker for the minimum space of the layer to itself color This optional parameter will set the default color and style for this layer in the layout If no color or no style is specified a color and style will be assigned to the layer based on its type Remember these colors and styles can always be changed inside of MAX using the color editor and saved for subsequent use E Note that the stipple pattern also called the fill pattern and outline style must be specified through the color stipple editor see Palette on page 12 in MAX and can be saved for subsequent MAX sessions Colors can be specified in one of two ways E By specifying the RGB triplet of the form red green blue comma separated no spaces with each value in the range of 0 255 W Or by specifying a color
130. ion that is not in the edit cell is dimmed To display all mask information at the same brightness turn this button on Merge Paint is rectangles or polygons in a specific layer This controls what happens when you merge paint Paint merging which provides correct alpha blending and outlining for layers works for both rectangles and polygons This controls how overlapping polygons and rectangles are viewed in MAX MAX User Manual Chapter 3 MAX Commands There are three Merge Paint options controlled the Display Options menu Show individual rectangles polygons If paint merging is set to this then MAX shows the individual rectangles and polygons If there are two rectangle of the same layer in the same cell and same hierarchy the the rectangles are always merged and look as if they are a single polygon If a paint rectangle and a polygon overlap then this option will show the overlap area in a darker shade than the layout layer color Merge all paint This causes all paint and polygons to be merged across all cells rectangles and polygons will be shown with the same shade of color Remember though that the current edit cell is always displayed in a darker shade unless the Dim Non Edit Cells options is turned off Merge paint in each cell individually This causes paint to be merged for each subcell individually Show Flylines Flylines show connections yet to be wired as straight lines between the circuit elem
131. l utility programs such as Ext2sim post process MAX output for use with other programs For information on these other programs check out the Micro Magic Inc Documentation Guide The guide summarizes all the tools in the Micro Magic design suite and provides pointers to complete documentation The Micro Magic Inc Documentation Guide can be accessed from inside MAX by clicking on MMI Documentation Guide in the Help menu Alternately the program mmidoc brings up the guide in your favorite browser Simply type mmidoc in a shell window and the Micro Magic Inc documentation will be brought up in your browser The Friendly Folks of Micro Magic Inc If the above sources are insufficient do not hesitate to contact the Micro Magic group You can send email to us at support micromagic com MAX User Manual Chapter 1 Overview ED Micro Magic Inc MAX User Manual v5 1 12 C MAX L amp youf Editor Running MAX This chapter covers information on how to run the MAX layout editor To start MAX simply use the max command as defined below Each release of MAX comes with a set of generic technology files so you can get started entering layout using one of these technologies The gds input page 125 command gives the user the ability to easily read in GDSII files without an existing technology file MAX Command Line Description Synopsis max switch value cell namel cell name2 gds file Description This launches the MAX
132. layer gt or lt layer gt and not lt layer gt grow lt value gt growx lt value gt growy lt value gt shrink lt value gt shrinkx lt value gt shrinky lt value gt The syntax of the derive statement is as follows which is parsed from left to right derive new layer from starting layer operation layer or value lt operation gt layer or value No parentheses or grouping is allowed Instead you need to define temporary layers For example you need to use two derive statements to generate the following derive tmpl from nplus grow 0 1 derive new from nw and not tmpl In this case the layer new is derived from the nw layer except for where there is nplus grown by 0 1 microns E You can view any layers that you derive in MAX using the See Mask page 80 command and clicking on the desired layer That layer will then be overlaid on the current window in a temporary feedback layer W Use the clear button at the top of the Mask menu to remove this feedback layer B Only one layer at a time can be displayed in this way for example when you click on a second layer it first clears the initial layer Note that MAX will only draw this feedback layer to cover the current viewable window so make sure that you have zoomed out sufficiently before running this command This feature prevents MAX from potentially wasting a lot of time generating a layer for an entire chip when all you care about i
133. lity The right most rectangle shows the layer name and indicates layer selectability and the selected layer All layers start out being selectable Click Button 1 on this rectangle to grey out the rectangle and the layer is no longer selectable When you drag out a selection in the main MAX window only those layers both visible AND selectable will be selected If the layer is selected anywhere in the MAX layout it does not have to be in the visible window the text will turn red Otherwise it is black Note that it is possible to be selected displaying red text but with the selectability off For example when you select a wire and trace its connectivity you may select geometries on layers that are not selectable Painting and Erasing Layers In addition to selecting layers in the Main Mode you can also paint and erase layers Clicking the paint hotkey p over either the visibility or the selectability area will paint that layer into the box in the Layout Window BW Clicking the erase hotkey o will erase that layer from inside the box in the edit cell Groups of Layers You can control the visibility and selectability on a layer by layer basis as described above or by groups or all layers MAX User Manual Chapter 2 MAX Layout Editor 14 The group buttons metal active other control all of the layers below them until the next group button The group buttons cells all text control the visibility and sele
134. lus 7 0 see GDS nplus 8 0 see GDS ct 15 0 see GDS ml 16 0 see TXT m1 40 0 see GDS_v12 17 0 see 605 m 18 0 see TXT m 41 0 see GDS v23 27 0 see GDS m3 28 0 see TXT m3 42 0 see GDS v34 29 0 see GDS m4 31 0 see TXT m4 43 0 see GDS 45 32 0 see GDS m5 33 0 see TXT m3 44 0 see GDS prb 65 0 see TXT text 255 0 temp layers E Selecting clear will clear any mask layers which have been displayed This also clears the ruler and DRC violations from external tools Hotkey g This command toggles on or off viewing of the grid Hotkey None Once in this mode hold down Button 1 to move the grid This is useful if you want to move the grid to overlap a specific corner on a rectangle Hotkey None Change the center of the layout pan to the location of the cursor If you select this command from the menu you will the be prompted to click with Button 1 at the point in the layout you want centered in the edit window E You can specify a hotkey for this command in the Hot Keys page 50 options pop up m have a hotkey defined first move the cursor to the desired location for the center and then type the hotkey Hotkey Zoom in by 2x centered on the current location of the cursor This command works best if you use the hotkey Position the cursor over the point you want to be the center of the screen and then use the hotkey j MAX User Manual Chapter 3 MAX Commands 82
135. m Button 2 brings up the Ruler Setup form This is the same form found under File User Preferences B To clear the ruler use the Ruler Clear command Holding down the Shift key allows the ruler to be drawn at any angle Without the Shift key the ruler is locked to the vertical or horizontal Hotkey None Clear all rulers Hotkey Shift a This allows you to set a new active layer by simply pointing to a layer in the layout window and using a hotkey instead of clicking the Active Layer button in the palette E To select a new active layer position the mouse pointer over the desired layer and press Shift a The new active layer will show in the palette m This is the layer on which polygons will be drawn and wires started by default Hotkey Ctrl g Put the selected objects into a group You can group rectangles portions of rectangles polygons circles Gcells instances and other groups MAX User Manual Chapter 3 MAX Commands A group can be selected and moved just like a cell instance If you Push into Cell or Edit Cell or Object in Place the group can be edited like a cell instance Ungroup Hotkey None Objects Ungroup selected groups Flatten Cells Hotkey None Flatten the selected cell s A pop up form appears as shown in Figure 77 By default this command removes the level of hierarchy of the selected cells This is sometimes called an explode operation The cell s selected must be at
136. m by a distance x they will stay merged together This grow shrink operation is useful for notch and gap filling The shrink operation is also handy for eliminating undersized geometries Note that the shrink operation can sometimes yield unexpected results in particular if you have touching geometries in adjacent sub cells If those geometries are shrunk even slightly they will no longer touch E For example if you want to generate the n well nw layer to be 0 6 microns around pdif and 0 16 microns around n well contacts nwc and you want to notch and gap fill it you can use the following line derive pdif grow pdif grow 0 6 derive nw from nwc grow 0 16 or pdif grow grow 0 3 shrink 0 3 more clever way to do this is as follows derive nw from pdif grow 0 44 or nwc grow 0 16 grow 0 3 shrink 0 3 In this release of MAX layer operations only affect manhattan geometries Micro Magic Inc MAX User Manual v5 1 12 drc drc line allows you to add rules beyond the simple width and spacing rules in the Layer Definition table DRC rules can check layers defined in the Layer Definition table and also any derived layers or any combination thereof W The types of rules that are allowed are width value Space value Space to layer value enc layer value ext layer value area value W The syntax of the drc line is drc layer operation lt layer gt lt value gt msg
137. mand window the window from which MAX was started Crossprobing works only on flat designs not hierarchical ones The layout and schematic must both be flat with no hierarchy SUE Cross Hotkey k Probe E First select a net or part of a net in MAX and then select SUE Cross Probe m If there is a match for the selected net in SUE that net will be highlighted in red in SUE and highlighted in MAX in the highlight color m You can also cross probe from SUE to MAX See the SUE User Manual for details SUE LVS Hotkey None Run GEMINI LVS for the current cell This works without having to bring up the schematic in SUE B This command looks for the sim netlist from the SUE schematic named lt cell_name gt sue It extracts a sim netlist from MAX and calls the netlist lt 11 name lay sim E Finally it runs Gemini and compares the two netlists The results will appear in the command window the window from which MAX was started Gemini LVS only works for flat designs ones with no hierarchy 86 Micro Magic Inc MAX User Manual v5 1 12 Layout Generator Calibre DRC Figure 65 Hotkey None The layout generator converts a schematic into a layout containing fets with flylines to indicate connectivity Refer to Introduction To The MAX Layout Generator page 117 for detailed information Hotkey None This will run Mentor Graphics Calibre DRC program on the current cell It brings up the pop up show
138. ministrators can add keymaps to this list by creating and saving a keymap in MAX then copying their file mmi_private max default keymap to MMI LOCAL max new keymap where new is a descriptive name of the keymap W If you select Done the new hotkeys will be used in the current MAX session The new hotkeys will appear in the help for Current Hot Keys and will also appear in the menus Layout Hotkey None Generator Setup This brings up a sub menu allowing you to specify user options as shown in Figure 30 below These are options which are used by the Layout Generator which is part of MAX LS Each option in this menu is described fully in Chapter 5 Introduction To The MAX Layout Generator Micro Magic Inc MAX User Manual v5 1 12 Figure 30 File Menu User Preferences Layout Generator Setup Pop up w Layout Generator Layout Generator Generate stdcell layers Edit Per Cell Options Edit Stdcell Options Edit Layers to Generate Ruler Setup Hotkey None This brings up the Ruler Setup pop up form shown in Figure 31 which controls how the ruler snaps and whether to user absolute or relative coordinates Figure 31 File Menu User Preferences Ruler Setup Pop up w Ruler Setup Ruler Setup Ruler Snap To User Grid Nearest Edge Alternate Ruler Grid Alternate Ruler Grid 1 E Ruler Coordinates absolute relative Ruler Font Size small medium large extra large Cle
139. n get some key params set poly ext gate max techinfo enclose poly type opt 0 1 set diff ext gate max techinfo enclose diff type opt 0 1 set x diff ext gate draw the poly gcell paint poly 0 poly ext gate length expr width poly ext gate draw the diffusion gcell paint diff Sdiff ext gate 0 expr length Sdiff ext gate S width the return string will show up when the Gcell is selected return width S length Fix up the props used to make a fet Gcell Allow fet width only to stretch proc gcell make props simplefet prop list get layers and key parameters set type get assoc type prop list setl poly diff techinfo device type if 1 illegal type return prop list set minwidth 0 4 if set bbox get assoc Sprop list compute width from bbox set prop list rm_assoc prop list set prop list rm assoc width prop list setl xl yl x2 y2 Sbbox set poly ext gate max techinfo enclose poly type opt 0 1 set newwidth expr 2 yl 2 0 Spoly ext gate lappend prop list list width uusnap max newwidth minwidth elseif set newwidth get assoc width list l Check width validity set prop list rm assoc width prop list MAX User Manual Chapter 157 158 lappend prop list list width uusnap max newwidth minwidth l return prop lis
140. n Probe page 92 command hotkey Shift f can be used to add a cell to the selection m Ifthe item is already selected Shift Button 1 and the Alt f hotkeys remove the geometry Gcell or instance from the selection Moving Things Around And Other Manipulations Once you select something typically with mouse Button 1 you can move it around with Button 2 W To constrain the motion to one dimension only horizontal or vertical use Shift Button 2 The selection can also be stepped over one design grid at a time using the Move page 71 command hotkeys Shift arrow keys Other Edit Commands Other operations on the selection include m Rotations See Rotate on page 71 Micro Magic Inc MAX User Manual v5 1 12 Hierarchy Flips See Flip Upside Down on page 71 Stretching See Stretch on page 75 Duplication See Duplicate on page 70 and Deletion See Delete on page 70 These operations can all be found in the Edit Menu page 57 Each cell in MAX is saved as a separate ASCII file on disk A cell contains geometries and or instances In order to place an instance of a cell it must be first loaded into MAX If you have a standard cell library where all layout cells are in one directory use the max_auto_load text command to load all cells in a directory This command can be put into your maxrc file Placing instances Editing in place To place an instance in the cu
141. n click on the RGB toggle and move the sliders to the desired locations There is also a color select list which gives you a fixed set of colors to start from To select a predefined color click on Colors and select the desired color Because any changes you make in the editor affect the MAX Layout Window in real time and cause MAX to repaint the screen the editor may appear sluggish if you are viewing a large layout If this occurs simply zoom in on a small part of the layout and the performance will improve Micro Magic Inc MAX User Manual v5 1 12 Layer Fill and Outline Next in the color stipple editor you can select whether the fill for a layer is solid or stippled E Solid layers appear solid in the layout but are also transparent to other layers Solid layers are the easiest to see and it is suggested that all common layers be made solid such as diffusion poly and metal layers but not vias Solid layers do not have stipple patterns nor outlines B Stippled layers are suggested for vias and less common layers like n well and pplus Stipples can be outlined You can edit the stipple pattern of a stipple by clicking with Button 1 on the squares of the stipple to toggle them on or off m You can also click with Button 1 on any of the provided stipple patterns to set the current stipple m Selecting the outline button will draw a single pixel outline around any region with that stipple pattern B Via Style
142. n in Figure 65 Tool Menu Calibre DRC Run External DRC Pop up v External DRC Calibre Calibre Shell Script Calibre results file External DRC Calibre Run Calibre view feedback View feedback from previous Calibre run Miew feedback from file mi mmi local max drc it calibre E If you click on Run Calibre view feedback MAX writes out GDSII file for the current cell then uses the drc it calibre script specified by Calibre Shell Script to run Mentor Graphics Calibre An example drc it calibre shell script is provided in MMI TOOLS mmi local sample max If your system administrator followed the install instructions and copied over the mmi local sample directory this script will bein MMI TOOLS mmi local max This script must be edited to point to your Calibre DRC decks for your technology While Calibre is running messages will print in the MAX Command Window the shell window from which you started MAX Once Calibre has finished running MAX displays the Calibre DRC errors in your layout using the annotation layer E Ifyou select View feedback from previous Calibre run MAX loads DRC results from a previous Calibre run and brings up the DRC Feedback window Refer to the DRC Results page 100 command for more details on the MAX Calibre interface E f you select View feedback from file MAX loads the DRC results from a previously saved Calibre run and brings up the DRC
143. n the windowing system You can always change hotkeys for commands If you type the p hotkey where there is no layout then all layers under the box are erased This only affects the current cell and does not affect gcells Micro Magic Inc MAX User Manual v5 1 12 Erase View Menu Hotkey The Erase command is similiar to the Paint command except that it erases the layer under the cursor E You first draw a box in the area where you want to erase layout B Then move the mouse over the layer in the palette or the layer layers in the layout window you want to erase under the box Type the Erase hotkey o If you type o anywhere there is no layout all layers under the box are erased Figure 59 View Menu Push into Cell Push into Cell Pop out of Cell Edit Cell or Object in Place Edit Cell containing Object Alt e See Mask Toggle Grid Move Grid Center on Cursor Shift j Zoom In on Cursor j Zoom to Area z Zoom Out Shift z Zoom to Fit Selected Shift v Zoom to Fit Edit Cell Zoom to Fit All Pan Internals View All Internals Hide All Internals View Levels Internals Misc Display Cell Doc Hotkey e Push into the selected instance See Select menu for info on how to select cells If an instance is visible it can be selected and pushed into for editing no matter how far down in the hierarchy it exists You can also iteratively push down through the hierarchy MAX remem
144. ndicates that the disk file is read only An S indicates that the cell has been saved to disk A indicates that the cell resides only in the memory buffer and has never been saved to disk 6 indicates that the cell is a gcell The Navigator Window If you have zoomed in on a portion of a cell the Navigator Window in the lower right corner shows you a rectangle representing the entire cell red box represents the zoomed in area W The white box in the Navigator Window shows the current location of The Box page 25 Clicking once with Button 2 or Button 3 in the Navigator Window moves you to that region in the edit window Drag out an area the Navigator Window with Button 1 to zoom to a specified region of the cell in the edit window Zoom Buttons On the right side of the Navigator Window are three zoom buttons The top zoom button green by default lets you go backward and forward in the zoom stack MAX User Manual Chapter 2 MAX Layout Editor 20 The Bottom Bar DRC Status Area Clicking Button 1 on this top button lets you step backwards one view at a time through your previous views m Clicking Button 3 on this top zoom button lets you step forwards one view at a time This only works if you have already gone backward to previous views The other zoom buttons allow you to save a specific view for example if you have zoomed into a specific area of the layout
145. ndow page 22 The text commands can also be part of a Tel script Example API scripts can be found in TOOLS mmi local sample max api examples Hotkey None Brings up the MAX User Manual this document in your web browser Hotkey None Brings up the MAX Tutorial in your web browser The tutorial is a step by step hands on introduction to MAX Hotkey None Bring up the MCC User Manual in your web browser MAX User Manual Chapter 3 MAX Commands 107 MCC Tutorial Hotkey None Brings up the MCC Megacell Compiler Tutorial in your web browser The tutorial is a step by step hands on introduction to MCC MMI Hotkey None Documentation Guide Brings up an HTML document that points to the complete set of documentation for Micro Magic Inc This can also be brought up from any shell window by typing mmidoc It has pointers to the MAX Tutorial and this manual among others Micro Magic Inc MAX User Manual v5 1 12 C Tool Introduction To The MAX Wire Tool The MAX Wire Tool facilitates drawing new wire connections Wires can be drawn in any metal or poly layer and include vias to switch between layers The layers used by the Wire Tool are specified in the MAX Technology File See MAX Technology Targeting on page 129 The Wire Tool does not modify existing wires however you can delete part of an existing wire and rapidly draw new wires using the Wire Tool You can als
146. ng the method specified here If you specify any preroute_ options that require modifications to the fets the fets will be drawn using paint regardless of the setting of this option If you specify subcel1s you should flatten the subcells created for fets before writing out the standard cell to avoid naming conflicts among the subcells created for the fets gcell name fet The name of the fet gcell when draw fets using is gcells is entered here gcell name via The name of via gcell when draw vias using is gcells is entered here ml router pad size The size of Metall landing pads required for the final router in the form width x height in microns is entered here The default size is determined from the minimum Metall area rule nwoe width This is for the size of the nwell contact under the power strap if any power high names Enter the name s of the positive power supply here If multiple names are used they will all be considered equivalent The positive power rail is labeled with the first name power low names Enter the name s of the negative power supply If multiple names are used they will all be considered equivalent The negative power rail is labeled with the first name power strap width This sets the size of the power strap pwoe width This sets the size of the pwell contact under the power strap if any well v0 pitch If enabled well contacts under the power straps w
147. nt spacing of the wire being drawn The spacing info is taken from the Wiring Parameters menu This can be helpful if the wiring spacing rules are larger than the DRC spacing rules Check connectivity If this is set MAX will check wire connectivity when the wire is finished and report any shorts Connectivity is not traced through unexpanded cells only conflicts among labels in the edit cell are reported PERFORMANCE WARNING If this option is set the wiring tool will trace the wire connectivity using the sel net function which can be slow if the wire is extensive for example vdd or gnd Bus Width If you are wiring busses then this is the width of the busses Bus Origin If the origin is set to top left the bus is built downward or to the right of the cursor If the origin is set to bottom right the bus is built upward or to the left of the cursor MAX User Manual Chapter 3 MAX Commands 56 Save Revert Options Figure 33 EXIT Edit Wiring Parameters Edit the parameters for the wiring tool See Wiring Menu page 113 for detailed information on the wire parameters This is where you specify the width spacing and grid for each layer for use in the wiring tool Hotkey None This saves the current settings for the colors grid ruler and so on to the file mmi_private max tech lt tech_name gt lt tech_name gt pref The palette information will be written to a separate file mmi_privat
148. nt command MAX prints the entire cell including all hierarchy shown despite what is visible on the screen W To see what will be printed do a Zoom to Fit Edit Cell page 82 hotkey v and then move the mouse outside of the cell and Select Cell page 91 hotkey f B Once the top level cell is selected select Internals View 11 page 82 hotkey i Before printing MAX brings up a Postscript Print Setup Form see Figure 19 where you select the printer print command to use the size of the plot its orientation the font scaling a title and whether to print directly or to a file Even if you print to a file you must choose the eventual printer name and image size so MAX can create the appropriate file type Figure 19 File Menu Print Setup Options Postscript Print Setup Postscript Print Setup orientation largest 4 print command boundary prb page x 8 5 page y 11 0 margin 0 5 dpi 72 0 display ports port scale factor fill 0 print to file 4 Print File Ihome demo test xyz ps Ifthe Image Orientation is set to largest MAX automatically selects the orientation which will give you the largest printout You can also select the standard landscape and portrait orientations MAX User Manual Chapter 3 MAX Commands For plotters you can specify the length and width by entering values the page_x and page_y fields W For example if your plotter has
149. nual Chapter 6 MAX Technology Targeting gdson1y type is a special type for layers that you don t want to see directly in but that you want to derive other layers from W For example in MAX you can carve up the diffusion layer during GDS then importing into ndif and pdif using the derive command described below The bbox type is a special type to specify the bounding box of cell instances B Only the GDS layer and data type are significant in the bbox layer line and there should only be one bbox layer line in the Layer Definition table B MAX uses this layer data to display the cell boundaries until a cell is viewed at which time MAX recomputes the bounding box from the cell layout itself B will also output the bounding box to this GDS layer for other tools The iname type is a special type to specify where instance names are stored in the GDS file B Not all tools write out instance names to GDS files B Only the GDS layer and data type are significant in the iname layer line and there should only be one iname layer line in the Layer Definition table There are two forms of iname types depending on your GDS input file or how you wish to write a GDS output file Table 6 Two Forms of iname types layer gds dt layer gds dt propattr E In the first case the instance name is stored GDS layer 63 datatype 0 W n the second case the
150. o max files A Gcell layout requires the following two structures to be defined proc gcell make name properties 1 define gcell name property list where name maxg is the name of the file that they are in Note that other Tcl procedures can also be defined and used in the Gcell file Appendix C 11 lt name gt procedure is called whenever the Gcell is created or modified and is passed the properties for that given instantiation The procedure should draw the Gcell oriented around the origin translations and rotations mirrors are handled automatically by MAX Gcells can ONLY use the following drawing procedures to create layout gcell paint layer xl yl x2 lt y2 gt gcell label text type layer x1 yl lt x2 gt lt y2 gt gcell polygon layer xl yl x2 lt y2 gt You CANNOT use the conventional drawing commands like db paint or db polygon The define gcell command defines the default user definable properties of the Gcell and optional choices and checks on those parameters The simplest form ofthe property list is the form propl default value lt prop2 gt default value which is also known as an associative list You can also restrict the choices for a property with the line lt prop gt default value choice radio list of choices gt For example a fet Gcell might have the property type nfet
151. o Stretch page 75 segment of the wire The Edit Wire hotkey Ctrl w command allows you to stretch segments of wires and have vias automatically stretched as well Wires are drawn one at a time by entering Wire Mode optionally selecting the layer and or wire width and then using the mouse to point to the wire vertices You can also draw buses using the Add Wire Bus command Starting a Wire Before you can draw any wire you must be in Wire Mode W To create a wire use the w hotkey or select Add Wire page 58 from the Edit Menu This places MAX in Wire Mode which is indicated by the mouse cursor changing to a pointing finger and the status message at the top of the screen changing to wire mode After you enter Wire Mode but before you start drawing the wire you can change the layer and or the width of the wire you will draw If you do not select a layer the wiring tool will use the Active Layer page 12 If the active layer is set to auto then Auto Layer Selection will be used meaning it will pick one of the layers under the cursor when you start drawing the wire Changing the layer used to draw the wire The active layer is specified in the palette If there is no wireable layer under the cursor and the active layer is set to auto the Default Layer see Wire Setup on page 54 from the Wiring Menu page 113 is used W Alternatively you can select a layer in one of the following ways m Place the mouse over the desired l
152. of the bus The easiest way to do this is to duplicate the label text Then draw a box around the labels for that bus be sure that no other labels are selected Then select Edit Multiple Text To change the names of the text add text to the bus select the Change Text Names toggle button In the example in Figure 41 the labels will be named my bus 0 my bus 1 and so on Bit 0 is on the bottom and they increment going up n for north Figure 41 also shows Change Text Position turned on and new position setto e which means the the names will display to the east or right of the text origin W If any of the rectangles wires do not have text on them then you will also see the Add Text to Selected Rects option Select this to add text to these wires If you now click on Done the new text will be added as shown in Figure 40 above Figure 41 Edit Menu Edit Multiple Text Menu Change Selected Text Change Selected Text Enter New Text Information Change Text Names Add Text to Selected Rects new_name_prefix my_bus lt new_name_suffix numbered_in_direction first_number increment Change Text Kind new_kind Change Text Layer new_layer Change Text Position new_position e Done Cancel Help The Change Selected Text properties menu applies changes to all of the currently selected text labels You can change the text Kind Layer Position and rename the text to have or be a
153. olor and fill stipple pattern for each layer Figure 21 File Menu Color Editor Pop up max color stipple edit x Edit layer m1 hsb rgb Colors 77 satur brght 31 solid stipple ERE Revert Load Save Hold down Button 1 over Edit layer at the top of the pop up to select a layer to edit The layers to edit include the background highlight feedback external DRC tools and grid layers You specify the color using the HSB or RGB sliders m You can select a specific color name by holding down Button 1 over Colors E In the lower section you can specify whether to use a solid or stipple fill for the layer m The solid fill is a transparent color and is typically used for poly and metal layers If you select stipple you can choose from one of the predefined stipple patterns or create your own You may also select a solid outline for a stippled layer E For each via layer you can specify via styles what kind of x to put over it This allows you to set different via styles for different layers MAX User Manual Chapter 3 MAX Commands 42 E You can specify file to load or save the color information to The default is always mmi_private max tech lt tech_name gt lt tech_name gt override If itis saved in this file then the color information will automatically be loaded the next time you start MAX as the same use
154. one If you select Move To Point from the Move sub menu you choose a point on the selected object to move from and a destination point to move to In the example in Figure 52 the pfet lower center is being moved above the nfet Click on pfet at lower edge center to select it for moving B Click on Edit then Move gt Move to Point As you move the cursor you will see an arrow dragging between the selection point on the pfet and the cursor W Click on the destination point in this example above the nfet to finalize the pfet move Figure 52 Move Move To Point a Arrow Showing pfet Move To Destination b pfet Moved The Move To Box option moves the lower left corner of the selected objects to the lower left corner of the box MAX User Manual Chapter 3 MAX Commands Move Edit Cell Hotkey none Origin 3 The Move Edit Cell Origin option shown in Figure 53 moves the origin to the specified location E The easiest way to specify the location for the origin is to use the Box to get the coordinates as shown in Figure 53 m You first set Display on status bar box toorigin size by clicking with Button 1 on the Box Area Display page 22 in the lower right corner of the MAX window In this example if you want the new origin of the cell to be the lower left corner of the cell select the top level cell by moving the mouse outside of the cell and typing the hotkey f Select Cell from the
155. or iconified this will deiconify or raise it Micro Magic Inc MAX User Manual v5 1 12 Figure 4 Color Stipple Editor max color stipple edito X Edit layer nw via styles Edit Layer By holding down Button 1 over the Edit Layer button a list of available layers appears You can select the layer you wish to edit this way or by clicking Button 3 on the layer in the palette To change the color and stipple patterns of special layers background grid etc you must select the layer through this pop up Editing Special Layers Contained within the color stipple editor layer selection is a list of special layers that you can modify These include E the background color E the grid color W the label or text color E the highlight color and stipple E the online DRC feedback color and stipple and E the bounding box color MAX User Manual Chapter 2 MAX Layout Editor 16 Simply click with Button 1 on the desired special layer to edit it Note that other than background you will not see the current color of the special layer in the top color window Instead you must look at the stipple window or the MAX Layout Window to see the effect For example turn on the grid in the MAX Layout Window before trying to change the grid color E annotation The color of objects created with the API commands lay line and lay rect Examples the ruler and the edit lines vertices when editing
156. ordinates Measure Ruler Ruler Clear Set Active Layer Group Objects Ungroup Objects Cells Generate layers DRC Results DRC Find Next Error DRC Find Next Kind of Error Explain DRC under Box Log File Make move Box Hotkey b This is used to draw a box See The Box on page 25 Type the hotkey b or select Make move Box from the menu then hold down and drag with Button 1 to draw the box m Simply holding down and dragging Button 1 creates a box but also selects what is underneath the box If there is already a box drawn you can use this command to graphically move or resize the box SE Micro Magic Inc MAX User Manual v5 1 12 If you move the cursor over a corner or edge of the box then click and drag with Button 1 the box is resized m Ifthe cursor is anywhere other than over a corner or edge Button 3 moves the box Box Hotkey Shift b aes sens Show and edit the box dimensions and location A pop up form appears see Figure 74 which displays the x and y dimensions for the box m You can either specify the size by giving the width and height or specify the corners by giving the X and Y coordinates of the box This is useful if you want to have a box with exact dimensions at an exact location Figure 74 Misc Menu Box Dimensions box dimension Edit the box dimensions Specify Box by 0 48 0 57 1 56 EA ED 1 72 Mark
157. ou wish to draw You can also draw polygons and circles See Add Polygon on page 59 with MAX To paint a rectangle on a mask layer in MAX Move the Box to the rectangle you want to paint See Make move Box on page 94 and then click over a sample of the layer you wish to paint with mouse Button 3 in Main mode m If there is no sample handy in the Layout Window you can click over a palette entry instead with mouse Button 3 Notice that multiple layers can be painted at once and that only layers that are currently visible turned on in the palette get painted You can also use Button 3 to erase all mask layers under the Box by clicking on empty space or click Ctrl Button 3 over a layer to erase just that layer To change the layer of a rectangle W First select the rectangle W Erase that layer by clicking over empty space and then B Select a new layer with Button 3 Youcan also use the Edit Properties page 67 command hotkey p to change the layer of a rectangle Generator cells or Gcells are parameterized cells that regenerate themselves when they get different inputs Devices such as fets and vias are good candidates for Gcells since a given layout may have multiple types that differ only by size or some other attribute Gcells are user definable using the Tcl scripting language Presently they must be created and modified using a text editor To discern Gcells from conventional MAX cells Gcells ar
158. ough The grid can be displayed as either lines dots or dashes coarse grid size The size of coarse grid if visible Micro Magic Inc MAX User Manual v5 1 12 fine visibility Show fine grid when grid is on and zoomed in far enough The grid can be displayed as either lines or dots fine grid size The size of fine grid if visible Manufacturing Mask Grid The minimum feature size determined by the manufacturing process this value is set in the tech file See Technology Source Files on page 134 and cannot be changed here It is listed for reference Edit Wiring Preferences This brings up the Wiring Parameters popup menu as detailed in Wiring Tool chapter This is where you can change the width spacing and grid for use with the Wiring Tool If Specify Grid Setup is set to detailed the following additional options are displayed as shown in Figure 27 Figure 27 File Menu User Preferences Grid Setup Detailed Grid Setup w Grid Setup Grid Setup Specify Grid Set detailed Grid Name USER DESIGN GRID NUMBER 1 User Design Grid X 001 User Design Grid Y 001 VISIBLE GRID NUMBER 1 coarse visibility coarse grid size X coarse grid size Y coarse grid origin X coarse grid origin Y coarse dot size fine visibility fine grid size X fine grid size Y fine grid origin X fine grid origin Y fine dot size OTHER GRID PARAMETERS Manufacturing Mask Grid 0 01 Edit Wiring Grid
159. own in Figure 26 There are both a coarse grid and a fine grid which can be defined and viewed separately In addition the grid can be displayed as either lines default dots or dashes File Menu User Preferences Grid Setup Pop up Grid Setup Grid Number Grid visibility Specify Grid Set Up normal Grid Name USER DESIGN GRID NUMBER 1 User Design Grid 0 01 VISIBLE GRID NUMBER 1 coarse visibility coarse grid size fine visibility fine grid size 0 2 OTHER GRID PARAMETERS Manufacturing Mask Grid 0 01 Edit Wiring Grid Grid Number MAX maintains information for several different grids This option controls which grid is the current grid The information on the current grid is displayed in this menu You can set up the grids differently and then switch between them rapidly using this menu or using hotkeys The default hotkeys are 1 2 3 4 Grid visibility Determines if visible grid is currently on or off Can be changed by the Toggle Grid page 81 command in the View menu Specify Grid Set Up If set to normal the basic grid options are displayed in this menu If set to detailed additional available grid options are displayed Grid Name Allows you to enter a discriptive name for this particular grid setup User Design Grid Points and rectangles entered by the mouse will snap to this resolution coarse visibility Show a coarse grid when grid is on and zoomed in far en
160. p Variables can also be set ina file Specify the cells to open while loading MAX cells must have been laid out with the same technology cell namel If a GDSII file is specified MAX will first translate the GDSII file to MAX format If the extension of the file is anything other than it is assumed that it is a GDSII file Specifying a GDSII file on the command line requires that there is already a technology file created for this cell gds file Environment Variables The following are the MAX environment variables MMI TOOLS The environment variable MMI TOOLS must be set to the directory where the MMI tools were installed All Micro Magic Inc software is installed under a single directory Example setenv MMI TOOLS tools mmi MMI LOCAL The environment variable MMI LOCAL can be used to specify the location ofthe mni local directory If this variable is not set MAX looks for the mmi local directory in the default location MMI TOOLS mmi local The mmi local directory is where site or company specific information is stored This is where the technology files should be located Any settings specified in mmi local for hotkeys colors etc override the default settings in MAX setenv MMI LOCAL tools mmi local ra Micro Magic Inc MAX User Manual v5 1 12 MMI_PRIVATE The environment variable MMI_ PRIVATE can be used to specify the location of the mmi private directory If this va
161. pick up the phone and schedule one now Tutorial The Micro Magic Inc MAX Tutorial is a step by step hands on introduction to MAX It can be started at any time from the Help menu in MAX It is in HTML form and will come up in Netscape or another browser of your choice The browser used is specified by the DEFAULT BROWSER environment variable Manual You are currently reading the Micro Magic Inc MAX User Manual The manual is the authoritative reference for MAX It is available at any time from the Help menu in MAX Like the tutorial it is in HTML form and will come up in Netscape or another browser of your choice There are also postscript and PDF versions available for printing in MMI TOOLS doc max max manual Menus For information on commands browse through the MAX menus Note that as you move over menu items with the cursor on line descriptions appear in the Message Area directly to the right of the menu bar see Figure 1 Hotkeys Hotkeys are provided for most menu items and are shown at the right of the menu entries These hotkeys are available from MAX s main mode When in submodes such as when drawing wires or editing labels other hotkeys are in effect A list of currently active hotkeys is always available by clicking on Hot Keys in the Help menu alternately just hit the Space bar The current functions of the mouse buttons are also listed Text Commands An extensive set of text commands is availa
162. put and output MAX Gcells and the wiring tool Additional information is needed for the layout generator and for all DRC rules 1 layer gds dt txt dt type width space color nw 2 1 2 0 6 ndif 11 act 0 3 0 4 pdif 12 act 0 3 0 4 poly 13 poly 0 24 0 36 pplus 7 0 44 0 44 nplus 8 0 44 0 44 ct 15 via 0 30 0 30 ml 16 40 metal 0 32 0 32 v12 17 via 0 36 0 35 m2 18 41 metal 0 40 0 40 v23 27 via 0 36 0 35 m3 28 42 metal 0 40 0 40 v34 29 via 0 36 0 35 m4 81 48 metal 0 40 0 40 prb 65 text 255 text bbox 62 bbox iname propattr 102 iname define fet devices device nfet from poly ndif device pfet from poly pdif dre nfet space 0 5 dre pfet space 0 5 until max4 must be on same plane for fet Gcell generator dre dre dre dre DRC rules needed for via Gcell poly poly ndif pdif ext ext ext ext nfet 0 36 pfet 0 36 nfet 0 44 pfet 0 44 drc ml enc ct 0 09 MAX User Manual Chapter 6 MAX Technology Targeting 149 dre ml v12 0 09 dre m2 enc v12 0 09 dre m2 enc v23 0 1 dre m3 enc v23 0 09 dre m3 enc v34 0 09 dre m4 enc v34 0 09 add other tcl variable definitions with the set statement for wire tool set ROUTE order m4 m3 m2 ml poly ndif pdif set ROUTE default layer ml HHEEE HEHEHE HE HHH EE HH EEE HHH HE EH HEHE HE FH EH EE HH HE HE HHH EE OE HE EE EH USER DESIGN GRID This is the initial value shown in the Grid menu EHEHEH HEHEHE HE HH HEFE FE FE TEHE FE HE FE FE FE HE
163. r W To revert to the original colors and fill types click on the Revert button and the pop up in Figure 22 will appear Figure 22 File Menu User Preferences Color Editor Revert Colors Form wv Revert Color Choices Revert Color Choices Revert To amp Start up Defaults Start up Defaults current layer only wv System Defaults E If you choose Start up Defaults colors will be reset to what they were when you started this MAX session or from the last time you saved the colors in this session You can choose to revert all colors to these default settings or only the color that is currently in the color stipple editor E If you choose System Defaults MAX removes all your personal color preference settings by deleting any color file in mmi_private max tech for this technology All colors will be reset to the defaults specified in the system tech file W If you select Save inthe Color Editor you current settings for all layers will be saved in your mmi private directory in mmi private max tech tech name where tech name is the name of the current MAX technology MAX loads these color settings the next time you bring up MAX with this technology Display Hotkey Shifl o Options This brings up a sub menu allowing you to specify user options as shown in Figure 28 Each of these options is described below Micro Magic Inc MAX User Manual v5 1 12 Figure 23 File Menu User Preferences Display Options
164. rallel SUE directory you would add the following line to your maxrc file set LVS SEARCH DIRS sue Micro Magic Inc MAX User Manual v5 1 12 Sometimes you want to run LVS against a schematic that has a different name than the layout This occurs when you have two or more different layouts for the same schematic B In the case of an SRAM you might have two different SRAM cells cell Land cell R but only one schematic cell sue In this case you want to map the layout cell name to the schematic cell name Use the LVS associative array for this set lvs lt layout_name gt lt schematic_name gt In the SRAM case you would add the following lines into your maxrc set lvs cell L cell set lvs cell R cell Search Paths in SUE When cross probing from SUE to MAX SUE needs to be able to find the extracted netlists sim files from the MAX layouts If these layouts are not in the same directory SUE needs to know where they are This search path is stored in the SUE variable BACK ANNOTATE PATH E For example if you stored some MAX layouts in the same directory as the schematics and some in the parallel max directory you would add the following to your suerc file set BACK ANNOTATE PATH max E In this version if you have SUE bring up MAX and load the cell that cell must be in the same directory as where you started SUE Otherwise you have to load the MAX cell yourself MAX User Manual Chapter
165. riable is not set MAX looks for the mni private directory in the default location directly under you home directory at private Themmi private directory is where user specific information is stored You may have your own hotkey and color settings Any settings specified in mmi private override the default settings for MAX and the settings defined in the mmi local directory setenv MMI PRIVATE mmi private MAX DEFAULT TECH IfMAX DEFAULT TECH is set MAX defaults to this technology The tech option overrides the environment variable the default technology for MAX is set to mmi25 which is a generic technology file provided with MAX setenv MAX DEFAULT TECH mmi25 MMI BROWSER This determines which web browser is used when bringing up documentation or tutorials setenv DEFAULT BROWSER netscape MMI_LICENSE_FILE This specifies the location of the MMI license file If not set MAX looks for the license file in MMI TOOLS mmi local mmi license licor in MMI LOCAL mmi license lic setenv MMI LICENSE FILE MMI LOCAL mmi license lic MMI EDITOR This environment variable is used mainly in SUE If the tool needs to bring something up in a text editor it will use the editor specified by MMI EDITOR MAX PROBE DISPLAY MAX PROBE DISPLAY is used with MAX LS It specifies which display MAX will attempt to bring up SUE in for crossprobing The maxrc File The maxrc file contains commands which are added to Local or Tool m
166. roll isee 204 matches BUT 1 shows documentation array everything in selection center window on the cursor save current state of edit cell in file rotate selection and box clockwise make L shaped wires inside box design rule checker copy contents of cell into edit cell access change feedback information attached to layout fill layers from one side of box to other center the view on the box and optionally zoom in set the id of the selected cell instance load a cell into a window move box and selection OBSOLETE use sel move instead redo commands scroll the vindow adjust which layers are visible flip selection and box around vertical axis stretch box and selection undo commands flip selection and box through horizontal axis adjust view so everything is visible zoom window by amount Returns absolute path for fileName Invoke the specified item from the max menu Determines op b where is etc n within floating point round if expression is not TRUE print error message commas varaos Close Save to File B Use the Search field to search for specific functionality This command searches through the text command names and descriptions for the text string typed in Click on the text command with mouse Button 1 to see a description of the syntax The syntax of the text commands is also listed in Appendix B Text Commands To execute a text command you can type it into the Command Wi
167. rrent edit cell you need to have first loaded the cell into MAX B Once it is in one of the cell lists you can place the instance by holding down the Shift key while clicking on the cell with mouse Button 1 W You then use Button 1 in the Layout Window to position the instance E You use the Duplicate page 70 command hotkey d to place multiple instances of the same cell Once you have placed instances in a cell you can edit the lower level cells using the Edit Cell or Object in Place page 80 command hot key Shift e to edit the cell while viewing the rest of the layout E The command Push into Cell page 79 hotkey pushes you down into the cell for editing E The command Pop out of Cell page 80 hotkey Ctrl e pops you back up To usethe Edit Cell or Object in Place or Push into Cell commands you must first select the instance B Usethe Select Cell page 91 command hotkey f to select an instance of the cell MAX User Manual Chapter 2 Creating and Editing Layout with MAX 29 SUI Micro Magic Inc MAX User Manual v5 1 12 MAX 6tintands This section describes each menu item in the MAX Layout Editor brief description of each command is displayed in the MAX Message Area page 12 when the cursor is over the menu item Before reading this chapter it is a good idea to have run the MAX Tutorial and or read Chapter 2 Each menu item is described starting with the File
168. s If you are changing the color of vias you can also change the via style Often times vias don t use stipple patterns but have a simple x or in it MAX provides you with four different via styles Palette File The bottom of the color stipple editor providesa file find bar and the buttons Close Revert Load andSave find allows you to specify a file name to load or save which contains the layer color and stipple patterns The default location for this file is mmi private max tech tech name gt lt tech name gt override If you save your color and stipple information in this file it will be automatically loaded when you start MAX with the same technology Close closes the color stipple editor without saving edits Revert brings up the pop up shown in Figure 5 giving several options to discard all or only the current layer colors stipples from the last saved version usually the same version that you started the MAX session with and to Load loads the palette file specified in the find bar This is useful if you want to load your color and stipple patterns while running MAX in a different account Save saves the current colors stipples so that they are the default for future MAX sessions MAX User Manual Chapter 2 MAX Layout Editor Figure 5 Revert Options wv Revert Color Choices Start up Defaults current layer only s System Defaults Saving the Palette and the override file
169. s into the MAX clipboard The contents of the MAX clipboard can be pasted into the current cell or another cell Hotkey Alt v Paste the geometry s or portions of geometries Gcell s and or instance s which were previously cut or copied into the MAX clipboard into the current cell The geometry s are then visible and can be positioned with the mouse Hotkey w Use the wire tool to connect geometry s The wire tool uses the connectivity defined in the technology file Refer to Introduction To The MAX Wire Tool page 109 for detailed information on how to use the wire tool To add a wire E Select Add Wire from the Edit menu or type the hotkey w W Click with Button 1 on the location to start a wire If there is a wiring layer under the cursor and the Active layer is set to Auto the wire will start in the layer under the cursor Otherwise it will start in the default wiring layer B Move the mouse to draw the wire Click with Button 1 to turn corners E To drop a via and go up to the next layer type the hotkey d drop a via and go down a layer type the hotkey Shift d B To end a wire click with Button 3 Hotkey Shift w Use the wire tool to draw a bus The bus will be drawn with the width specified by Bus Widthin the Wire properties menu W After you have typed Shift w you can change the width of the bus by holding down Button 2 and selecting Wiring Menu hotkey Shift w This will change the bus width for this
170. s a point click once with Button 1 at the new location m Ifthe label is a box click and drag out the new location and size of the box Change the text by entering new text in the Text field Text does not specify connectivity for a net unless it is physically positioned over mask geometry on the layer specified by Layer Typically no warning is produced for textual labels whose specified Layer does not actually match any of the layers that are underneath the text Edit Multiple Hotkey Ctrl t Text This command is used to automate the naming of busses It can also be used to change properties of the selected text without changing the actual text To add text to busses using this menu E First put label text on one bit of the bus It does not matter what the label text is The label should be placed in the location on the rectangle wire where you want the text to be added on all of the rectangles wires W Next select each bit of the bus by drawing a box around all of the rectangles wires that make up the bus making sure that the text you added is also selected Figure 40 shows an eight bit bus with one piece of text and all the bits of the bus selected Figure 40 Edit Multiple Text a Selecting Area on Bus b Adding Multiple Text to Selected Area LMY DUSS 45 DUSS 2 005522 Esq No V GPT Micro Magic Inc MAX User Manual v5 1 12 E You could also put label text on each bit
171. s a small section You may notice that some of the layers in the Mask menu have the words GDS TXT and DRC appended to their names This is to differentiate the layers from the internal MAX layer from which they are derived Sometimes to create a DRC rule as described in the next section MAX must create a special temporary layer These are the layers that begin with DRC W If you wanted to select out only those contacts that landed on poly instead of diffusion you could derive a new layer poly ct as follows MAX User Manual Chapter 6 MAX Technology Targeting 142 derive poly ct from poly and ct W If you wanted to generate the od layer from the all the different types of diffusion you would do the following derive od from ndif or pdif or nwc or pwc E You can also or layers together by simply separating them with commas as in the following example derive od from ndif pdif nwc pwc which is equivalent to the first example E The and not operation allows you to select parts of layers that are not coincident with other layers For example n type diffusions are made up of diffusions that don t have n well and don t have pplus over them derive ndif from od and not nw and not pplus The grow operation grows a layer by a specified amount in all directions E f two geometries on the same layer are separated by a distance of 2x and you grow them by a distance x they will merge together B f you then shrink the
172. s file but the gds file is not loaded E Ifyou don t specify the source file it will default to the test source If you don t specify the technology it will default to test E So if you just want to view the GDS file called aaa strm you can simply run gds input aaa strm That s it Synopsis gds input expand datatypes file source file max lt executable gt tech lt name gt rebuild dont load file gds file Description The above command will run the 945 input script B It will first load the 945 file into and find all GDS layers which are used in the file with gds file being the full pathname to the GDS file to be loaded E It then creates a technology template file and runs make tech MAX User Manual Chapter 6 MAX Technology Targeting B Once the technology files have been created gds_input brings up the 945 filein MAX using the new technology file Table 4 Options file lt source_file gt Description The source file is the file which contains the GDSII layer number to layer name mapping The name of source file defaults to lt tech gt source Refer to Technology Source Files page 134 for the syntax of the source file tech tech name Specify the name of the technology to be created tech name defaults to test The new technology files will be put in mmi private max tech tech name h help Prints out the syntax of the gds input command
173. s of your changes to the cell before actually committing them Click Done to commit your changes to the cell If you have a rectangle selected Edit Properties brings up a form see Figure 45 where the lower left corner width and height of the rectangle can be changed This is also one way you can change the layer of a rectangle Figure 45 Edit Menv Edit Properties Rectangle Properties w Rectangle Properties 1 X Edit the rectangle properties y lower left 525 E If the selected object is an instance the Ce11 Properties form as shown in Figure 46 will appear Here you can change the instance name Cell Id for an instance This form also tells you which directory it is getting the parent cell from and any flags on the cell available readonly modified MAX User Manual Chapter 3 MAX Commands 69 70 If the selected object is a polygon it will put you into polygon edit mode where you can modify verticies and change the layer of the polygon Figure 46 Edit Menu Edit Properties Cell Properties Form Delete Duplicate Flip Rotate w Cell Properties Cell Properties Cell Name NAND2 Filename home demo tutorialimax NAND2 max Cellld NAND2 0 Flags available modified drcPending Hotkey q or Del Delete the selected geometry s or portions of geometries Gcell s and or instance s This differs from Cut in that the geometries and or cells are not put into a buffer so they
174. s to all uppercase all lowercase or leave them as is default report rounding errors Report rounding errors when reading in a GDSII file Rounding errors can occur when converting from GDSII units to internal MAX units They can also happen when snapping to a user grid or when scaling both GDSII input options report unmapped layers Report any data found in the GDSII file on layers for which there is no definition mapping in the MAX technology file report duplicate instances Report if duplicate instances are found at the same location This should generally be turned off if the GDSII has lots of duplicates of cells at the exact same location such as via cells All of the above options assume that there is an existing MAX technology file which matches the GDSII file If no technology file exits click on Create tech file from GDS file and the form will update to look like Figure 15 Micro Magic Inc MAX User Manual v5 1 12 Figure 15 File Menu Import File GDSII File and Create Tech File Import File Import File File Type Create tech file from GDS file Output Technology name test GDSII File Name The Output Technology name is the name of the technology which will be created using the gds_input page 131 program The technology file will be very basic with mappings for layers It will not include DRC rules but is a good starting place for creating a technology file
175. s which instances were turned on so if you use the Internals View Cell command to view the internals when you do another Internals View Cell of the same instance MAX remembers the state of the sub instances whether they were visible or not Hotkey Shift h Hide internals of selected instance s B The easiest way to use this command is to use the Select Cell command hotkey f to select an instance of a cell m Then use the Internals Hide Cell command Now the level of hierarchy of the selected cell s is hidden MAX remembers which instances were turned on so if you use the Internals Hide Cell command to hide the internals when you do another Internals View Cell of the same instance MAX remembers the state of the sub instances whether they were visible or not Hotkey None Show all internals for the instance s under the box all the way down to the bottom level of hierarchy Any instance that is partially or completely enclosed by the box will have internals shown E You first need to draw a box around an area that you want the internals to be visible and then select Internals View Area This option will show make visible all levels of hierarchy Hotkey None Hide internals for the instance s under the box Any instance that is partially or completely enclosed by the box will have internals hidden E You first need to draw box around an area that you want internals to be hidden and then select Int
176. sing If set to the code draws vias using the first method that works m If there is a via gcel installed that will be used m If there is via sub ce11 found that will be used Asa last resort vias will be painted using rectangles You generally want to use the 11 option Via gcell name Specify the name of gcell to use for vias and default properties in the form of propname value This is used only if Draw Vias Using is set to any or 11 You can use this to specify default properties for the via For example to make vias symmetric by default set it to via symmetric 1 You can also change this if you have created your own via gcell for use by the wiring tool To force the wiring tool to use 2 vias when changing layers use the gcell name via min x cuts 2 Flylines follow mouse If this is set any flylines attached to the net being wired will follow the end of the wire When the wire is connected the flylines disappear PERFORMANCE WARNING If this option is set and there are any flylines anywhere in the edit cell then the wire tool will trace the wire connectivity using the sel net function each time a new wire is started If the wire is extensive example vdd or gnd and the cells through which the wire is connected are currently expanded ie their contents are visible then the wire tool may be slow Display spacing box A visible spacing box will be displayed showing the curre
177. spect of the Micro Magic MAX MAX LS Layout Editor This manual contains the following chapters W Preface About This Manual this chapter provides a brief description of the content and organization of this manual B Chapter 1 Manual Overview introduces the basics of the MAX and MAX LS Layout Editors B Chapter 2 The MAX Layout Editor explains each section of the MAX window as well as covering the basics of how to create layout with MAX E Chapter 3 MAX Commands goes through each menu in MAX and describes each command B Chapter 4 The MAX Wire Tool covers how to draw wires in MAX Chapter 5 The Layout Generator and MAX LS goes through how to use the layout generator which is part of the MAX LS Layout System to generate schematic driven layout E Chapter 6 MAX Technology Targeting covers indetail how to create MAX technology files Appendix A Hotkeys references the hotkeys available in each mode in MAX MAX User Manual Preface About This Document Appendix Text Commands points you to the documentation on the text commands available in MAX B Appendix C Tcl Tk and the API covers the basics of the API including an example of a gcell program Chapter Organization Each chapter contains descriptions of the commands and methodology necessary to create layout using MAX with step by step illustrative examples descr
178. st run it through make tech which is a stand alone program included with the MMI software make tech has the following syntax make tech file source file tech tech name r install If you don t specify the technology name make tech will default to the technology test Also if you want to overwrite an existing technology of the same name you have to use the r option to replace the existing technology files Use the r option with care Changing the layer names in a technology can lead to lost data by making existing max files partially or wholly unreadable Chapter 6 MAX Technology Targeting 130 By default make_tech will install the technology into your private area typically mmi private max tech tech name This will not change or make this technology available for any one else W If you want to install it for everyone s use use the install option which will place it in SMMI LOCAL max tech tech name or if you haven t defined MMI LOCAL 5 TOOLS mmi local max tech tech name make tech will also copy the technology source file into the technology directory so you will always have it The technology source file will be renamed to tech name source W The make tech program will also allow users to make technology variations which are of the form tech name base name variation When MAX saves layout into max files it also saves the base technology
179. stdcell cell_router_pitch stdcell cell_width_pitch stdcell comment stdcell dpc_router_offset_xy stdcell dpc router pitch stdcell draw fets using stdcell draw vias using stdcell gcell name fet stdcell gcell name via stdcell mi router pad size 0 6 0 6 stdcell nwe width default stdcell power_high_names vdd stdcell power_low_names gnd vss stdcell power_strap_width 1 0 stdcell pwe width default stdcell well vO pitch 10 N P Boundary This sets the height of the Nplus Pplus boundary from the bottom of the cell in microns cell height This sets the height of cell in microns cell router pitch The pitch used for inter cell wiring which may be finer than the router pitch is entered here See also wiring tracks above center and wiring tracks below centerinthe Per Cell Options menu cell width pitch The cell width will be rounded up to this pitch normally equal to dpc router pitch dpc router offset x y The offset of final router tracks in microns is entered here Values to be entered in the form lt xoffset gt lt yoffset gt Usually both xoffset and yoffset are equal to one half the dpc router pitch dpc router pitch The router pitch used for final post DPC routing is entered here Router landing pads are created on this pitch draw fets using Fets are created using the method specified here Micro Magic Inc MAX User Manual v5 1 12 draw_vias_using Vias created usi
180. t now define it and give default arguments set fets techinfo devices set properties lappend properties type lindex fets 0 choice fets lappend properties width 1 number incr 0 1 set min_length techinfo width lindex techinfo device default fet 0 lappend properties length min length number incr res snap 0 1 define gcell simplefet Sproperties Adding Commands to the Local Menu You can add commands to the Local menu in MAX To add a command into the Local menu you need to add the following lines to a maxrc file source mmi_private max my_commands tcl menu_local_cmd My command 1 command_one You first load in the Tcl file containing your Tcl procedures You then add the command to the Local menu The syntax of the menu_local_command is menu_local_command lt name in menu gt lt name of tcl command gt This will add the command at the bottom of the Local menu At present you cannot add hotkey bindings to any Local menu commands Micro Magic Inc MAX User Manual v5 1 12 INGRXois maxrc file 9 A About MAX 96 abstracts 2 active 14 Active Layer 12 52 105 Add Circle 57 Add Polygon 56 Add Text 55 Add Wire 55 Align Objects 73 all 14 and 136 and not 136 annotation change color 16 Array Cell 58 auto 12 Autoload directory 2 BACK ANNOTATE PATH 119 background color 16 bbox change color 16 box 3 change color 16 make 81 move 81 Box Area Displ
181. the right or below the sub schematic icon The Layout Generator can be used to assist in developing a standard cell library For cells that will be regenerated for different technologies the designer would move the fets on the schematic so that the fets are placed ideally in the layout Note About When SUE is launched using the standard default settings your schematic will look SUE something like Figure 97 Note About The default settings for the layout generator would have placed routing pads in the center MAX for each of the ports as shown in Figure 97 They were left out of these examples for easier viewing by selecting Option No Router Pads fromthe Edit Per Cell Options form described in the section Edit 11 Options on page 120 below Chapter 5 The Layout Generator and MAX LS 118 Figure 97 A SUE Schematic Layout Generator Default Showing Router Pads Layout Generator Examples In the first example in Figure 98 notice that the order of the fets are such that a number of the net connections have to cross each other Figure 98 Layout Generator First Placement By changing the order of the fets in the schematic as shown in Figure 99 the resulting layout is now much easier to route In the schematic in Figure 99 the fets in the upper left and lower right have been moved toward the center Micro Magic Inc MAX User Manual v5 1 12 Figure 99 Layout Generator Better Placement
182. then break that connection currently the flyline will not reappear You would use the Edit Flylines command to manually re insert the flyline Select Edit Flylines and then click with Button 1 on the two geometries you want the flyline to connect Edit Hotkey Ctrl p View edit the properties of an object For Gcells this would bring up the 115 properties form as shown in Figure 43 This is the same form which was used when the Gcell was placed in the layout Each of the options are described below MAX User Manual Chapter 3 MAX Commands Figure 43 Edit Menu Edit Properties FET Gcell Properties Edit Properties pfet 3 0 0 18 3 both 135 2 1 normal type Specifies the type of fet that will be produced The types of fets this gcell can create are specified by the device page 140 statements in the technology file width Specifies the width of the fet This fet generator has a minimum fet width of one contact width length Specifies the length of the fet fingers Specifies the number of fet gates If fingers is greater than 1 thena stacked fet will be created contacts Contacts can be specified right on the right side of the fet only left on the left side of the fet only both on both the right and left sides of the fet or 11 on all source drain regions of the fet different from both only if the fet has multiple fingers
183. there are the two display options below Show cell instance names Normally subcell names and instance identifiers are displayed for subcell instances whose internals are hidden If this button is turned off these names will not be displayed The subcell names will still be displayed if the subcell is selected Show ports Show hide Text ports Text of types input output or inout even when sub cell internals are hidden Text Size Factor This controls the zoom level where Text labels disappear Larger numbers make Text labels more visible when zoomed out IPT Micro Magic Inc MAX User Manual v5 1 12 Flatten Setup Layer Transparency Controls the transparency of layers in the edit cell The values are a percentage of solid where 100 would be completely opaque and 0 would be completely transparent invisible Transparency is generally most useful with values of 0 40 to 0 80 or 4096 8096 opaque Dim Percentage Controls the transparency of layers that are not in the edit cell transparency is a percentage value of opaqueness of the specified layer as explained above Hotkey None This menu controls setup for the Flatten Cells page 98 command accessible through the Mi sc menu The setup menu specifies what happens to labels in a cell when you flatten it For each type of label or text input output inout global local comment you can either E Delete that type of label t
184. to one function and percent a valid keysym name synonymous with to another function no error will be printed Obviously the hotkey will perform only one of the two functions B Modifier modifers can be Shift Control Alt If you want a hotkey to capital b then specify the hotkey as b and the modifier as Shift The Alt key modifier is pre empted by some window managers and not passed to application programs so it may not be usable in MAX MAX automatically maps all Alt key combinations to Meta key combinations as well so if you create a hotkey using the Alt modifier you may be able to use the hotkey combination by pressing the Meta key if you have one instead of the Alt key E If you want to Save or Load a keymap file you first enter the file name in the File box You can use find button to help search for a file The default location for a user defined keymap is mmi_private max default keymap If this file exists then it is automatically loaded when you start MAX After specifying the file name click on Save or Load to save or load the file E At any time you Revert to factory default keymap This reverts back to the hotkey settings that came with MAX The keymap files are found in the following places and loaded in this order MMI TOOLS max MMI LOCAL max mmi private max The final keymap loaded overrides the others System ad
185. to the current selection Hotkey s Select an entire net MAX traces the connectivity from the specified rectangle the rectangle under the cursor through the hierarchy E IfSelect Net is invoked from the menu click with Button 1 on a geometry The connectivity is traced and highlighted B To use the hotkey 5 move the mouse over a geometry and then type s The entire net 1s highlighted through the hierarchy All the unique labels associated with the net throughout the expanded hierarchy are listed in the message area If there are multiple geometries under the mouse you can toggle through them by typing S again without moving the mouse Only geometries which are visible are highlighted To select a net through all levels of hierarchy internals see page 82 must be viewed Hotkey Shift s This allows you to select and add more nets to the one initially selected or to any selection Choose Select Net add place the mouse over the net you wish to add to the current selection and click Shift s Hotkey Alt f Brings up the selection probe which displays all objects that have been selected as shown in Figure 71 What gets displayed in the probe is controlled by the two toggle buttons Button 1 selects in controls what gets selected when you click or draw a rectangle with BUT 1 B The default is Current Cell Only which only selects objects that are at the current level of hierarchy All Expanded Cells allows objec
186. ts at any visible layer of hierarchy to be selected Setting Button 1 selects 11 Expanded Cells should only be used when investigating the hierarchy Using this setting at other times can be very confusing when editing layout Micro Magic Inc MAX User Manual v5 1 12 Display selection controls what is displayed in the Selection Probe This only affects the results if Button 1 selects isset 11 Expanded Cells Current cell only displays only rectangles text and polygons at the current level of hierarchy All Expanded Cells displays rectangles text and polygons throughout the hierarchy Figure 71 Selection Probe Menu Selection Probe There are 4 items selected text ml gnd rect ml gcell fet contacts left width 1 2 fet contac 11 fet type pfet width 2 4 fet type pfet Display selection in Current Cell Only All Expanded Cells Button 1 selects in 9 Current Cell Only All Expanded Cells Zoom to Next Gose Help Cursor Probe Hotkey The Cursor Probe displays a list of all the visible objects under the cursor in the current edit cell as shown in Figure 72 Objects that are currently selected are highlighted in the Cursor Probe list In Figure 72 cell INV and rectangles m1 and m1 in a via are selected B Mouse Button 1 over an item in the Cursor Probe window selects or deselects that item in the MAX window W Mouse Button 2 over
187. u can either delete that type of label or change it into any other type of label E For example if you specify global turns into global then global labels in the flattened cell will be copied into the parent cell wthout changes 98 Micro Magic Inc MAX User Manual v5 1 12 E If you specify global turns into delete then all global labels will be deleted during flattening You can also specify whether the label names are preserved or flattened If they are preserved they may conflict with other existing labels with the same name E To avoid this flattening the label names will cause the labels to be renamed to something like cel name 1abelname where cel 1name is the instance name of the cell that was flattened and 1 was the label name in the cell that was flattened Figure 78 Misc Menv Flatten Cells Flatten Setup Options Generate Layers Flatten Options Flatten Options Text type input input turns into local input name Text type output output turns into output name Text type inout inout turns into inout name Text type global global turns into global name preserve Text type local local turns into local name Text type comment comment turns into delete comment name Cell Ids Hierarchical name sep Done Cancel Help Cell Ids If set to flatten Cell Ids are flattened by prepending the name of the parent cell to
188. ure 91 Edit Wire Width Form Enter wire width Enter wire width Enter Wire width 0 32 E Note zero value means use width set in Wiring Parameters Menu Edit Wiring Parameters You can also set the wire width to match the width of the existing wiring layer if any under the cursor To do this press the Shift key when you start the wire using mouse Button 1 Micro Magic Inc MAX User Manual v5 1 12 Drawing Wire E To actually start drawing the wire point the mouse to the location where you want the wire to start and press Button 1 or Shift Button 1 to match the width of the layer under the cursor You can then move the mouse to create the wire which will follow the mouse movements E To create a vertex bend in the wire press Button 1 again Notice that the vertex slides along the previous wire segment so that you can move the mouse in any direction and the wire will follow To prevent the vertex from sliding press the a key or select anchor vertex from the pop up menu that appears when you press mouse Button 2 see Figure 92 E To end the wire press Button 3 over an existing metal or poly of the same type as the wire You can also end the wire at any time with Button 3 not over current wire layer which allows you to exit wiring mode without completing a connection When you end the wire by completing a connection the wire tool automatically snaps the final wire segment to make the
189. urns into inout name Text type global global turns into global name Text type local local turns into local name Text type comment commentturns into delete comment name General Setup Hotkey None This brings up a sub menu shown in Figure 25 which allows you to specify user options Each of these options are described below 2 2 Micro Magic Inc MAX User Manual v5 1 12 Figure 25 File Menu User Preferences General Setup Pop up w General Options General Options Warp Cursor to Menu Raise Menus on Mouse Click SELECT NET OPTIONS Display selected text Wu Display hierarchical paths for text DOCUMENTATION OPTIONS Text editor vi Default text file suffix doc Html browser firefox Default html file suffix html Warp Cursor to Menu If set the mouse cursor will move automatically warp to the default or Done button within most pop up menus Be aware that this option may not work if you are using a Linux emulator Raise Menus on Mouse Click If set then clicking the mouse anywhere in the MAX window will automatically raise and make visible the current property menu or dialog box For times when a property menu or dialog box is obscured by the main MAX window that is when the menu drops behind the main MAX window in the window stacking order and is no longer visible this is a helpful option SELECT NET OPTIONS These next two options apply to selecte
190. ut any spaces in any of the GDS layer designations since the space 1s the column separator text layer number and datatype By default text also called labels in MAX will be imported exported from to the same GDS layer number as the geometry that it is attached to By specifying this field you can instruct MAX to import export text from to different GDS layers The format of this field is identical to the format of the GDS layer numbers as described above Note that in MAX datatypes and texttypes are considered synonymous Therefore we say that text resides on layer 34 datatype 12 identical to saying layer 34 texttype 12 34 12 layer type This optional parameter helps MAX to better build a technology file The valid types are act poly metal via ignore gdsonly bbox iname other default E It is recommended that all conducting layers be given a type of either act poly metal or via Micro Magic Inc MAX User Manual v5 1 12 Specify all diffusions as act for active layer and all poly layers as poly Metal layers should be metal and contacts vias should be via MAX uses these types to determine connectivity and build fets If MAX cannot recognize a fet it will think that the source and drain are connected If a different layer type is specified other than the ones given above i e not act poly metal etc then all of the layers with this new type will be grouped together in the palette B For example i
191. ut want to leave the DRC Feedback window up This way it will not get lost behind the MAX window m The number of errors to list allows you to set a top end for the list of errors W If you click on the Calibre DRC toggle the setup form will update to look like Figure 82 Clear External DRC Feedback Now will clear erase the errors from Calibre which were displayed when Load Feedback from previous Calibre Run Now was selected MAX User Manual Chapter 3 MAX Commands 102 Figure 82 Figure 83 Misc Menu DRC Results External DRC Setup Feedback Setup Feedback Setup View Feedback From Max Calibre DRC Other Zoom to error Center view on error wv Set box only DRC Feedback window always ontop Clear External DRC Feedback Now Calibre Setup Run Calibre Now Load Feedback from previous Calibre Run Now Done Cancel Help W Clicking on Calibre Setup causes the popup form in Figure 83 will appear This is where you specify the name and location of the script which runs Calibre DRC E Selecting Run Calibre DRC Now tells MAX to write out a GDSII file for the current cell then use the drc_it calibre script specified by Calibre Shell Script torun Mentor Graphics Calibre An example drc it calibre shell script is provided in the MMI TOOLS mmi local sample max If your system administrator followed the install instructions and cop
192. where you specify the path and cell name Hotkey None Save the current cell to a different name The cell is saved to the new name and MAX opens the new cell The original cell will not be updated Micro Magic Inc MAX User Manual v5 1 12 Figure 10 File Menu Save As Pop up v File select box Save cell UNNAMED as old layout gen max tutorial Pathname hometdemo SS Save Multiple Hotkey None This command brings up a sub menu allowing you to save multiple cells The options are Save edit cell and descendents Save the current cell edit cell and all cells in the hierarchy below the current cell descendents This only saves cells that have been modified Save all modified cell buffers Save all cells currently open in MAX which have been modified Save all cells Save all cells in memory loaded into MAX except UNNAMED This will save cells whether they have been modified or not Revert to Hotkey None Last Saved Restore current cell to the version which was last saved to disk The user is prompted if this should really be done Copy Cell Hotkey None BUTS Make a copy of the current cell This copies the existing version of the cell in memory to a new cell The new cell must be saved in order for there to bea cell name max file on disk for the cell This is used if you want to save the current state of the cell you are editing into a different cell name Delete Cell Hotkey
193. while scrolling with the mouse wheel Cirl Scroll Up moves the MAX window upwards Ctrl Scroll Down moves the window downwards W Another way to pan is to hold down the middle mouse button scroll wheel on some mice and pan around the layout by moving mouse Hotkey i Show internals for all instances in the current cell all the way down to the bottom level of hierarchy Hotkey h This is the opposite of Internals View 11 The internals of all instances in the current cell will be turned off or hidden Micro Magic Inc MAX User Manual v5 1 12 Internals Hotkey None View Levels The easiest way to use this command is to tear off the View Levels menu Your menu should look something like Figure 61 If you have just started MAX opened a cell and viewed all internals the toggle button will be on the bottom level of hierarchy In this design as you can see from Figure 61 there were only 3 levels of hierarchy If youdoan Internals Hide 11 then the View Levels menu toggle will be on view 1 level If you want to view levels other that all levels or top level click on the appropriate view level This command can be useful if you re investigating a layout you are not familiar with In general this is not needed because MAX can quickly view all layer and all levels of hierarchy Figure 61 View Levels menu view 1 level view 2 level view 3 level A view 4 level view 5 level view 6 level
194. wire align properly with the existing rectangle To prevent this end the wire by using Ctrl Button 3 at the wire end point Once a wire has been started the Wire Menu updates its selections as shown in Figure 92 Figure 92 Wire Pop up Menu After Wire Has Been Started drop via up drop via down symmetric via rotate via undo Set current wire layer Set current wire size Wiring menu Shift s Shift w anchor vertex drag via snap to wire grid spacing box E To change layers drop a via using either the d or Shift d hot keys or use the pop up menu on mouse Button 2 W To undo a wire segment or via use the U hot key or select undo from the pop up menu on mouse Button 2 Example If you are wiring in Met1 horizontally and drop a via down hotkey Shift d the via down to poly still moves in the horizontal direction see Figure 93 In this case you are wiring the two left gates MAX User Manual Chapter 4 The MAX Wire Tool Having the via follow the mouse is helpful for instance if you are trying to line up the vertical poly wire with a gate W To line up the wire with a gate move the mouse over the gate click with Button 3 on the gate and the wire and via automatically align If you instead want to continue with poly in the horizontal direction you must anchor the via To anchor vertex move the via to the desired position and select anchor vertex hotkey a In
195. y are there at all W If your GDS file has instance names and you want MAX to read them you have to add the iname type to the technology source file as described in the layer type page 136 section E Note that 9045 input does not use the install option to make tech so you will need to run make tech to install this technology for other people to use This also prevents you from conflicting with other people trying to run 945 input simultaneously MAX User Manual Chapter 6 MAX Technology Targeting 134 However you will overwrite any local technology that you already have with the same name for example it calls make_tech with the r option Converting a Dracula DRC File The drac_convert script will take a Dracula DRC file and convert the layer information some of the basic layer generation and the basic DRC rules into a layers_file used by make_tech This is an alternative to creating the technology source file by hand or running gds_input drac_convert The drac_convert program will attempt to parse a Dracula DRC deck and create a technology source file from it for use by make_tech E The syntax of drac convert is convert dracula command file gt source file For example if you had a Dracula DRC deck for the xxx25 technology you might run drac convert xxx25 drac xxx25 source E You can then run make tech on xxx25 source You might want to first edit xxx25 source to change layer names and a
196. y use set GRID mask 0 005 MAX internally represents numbers to 0 001 or nanometer resolution specify the default grid resolution use set GRID resolution 0 01 LAYER NAME gcells in MAX use canonical names to refer to layers If your layer names are different you must provide themapping from your layer names to MAX layer names using the LAYER NAME array variable set LAYER NAME set LAYER NAME set LAYER E pdiff set LAYER NAME naiff your p diffusion name your n diffusion name nplus your n plus name pplus your p plus name set LAYER NAME set LAYER NAME set LAYER nwell your n well name poly your poly name contact your contact name For example if your poly layer is called PG use the following to remap your layer name set LAYER NAME poly PG GCELL FETS If the technology source file contains enough data to fully specify a fet MAX s gcell fet generator can be used to place and modify fets in a layout E A fet requires at least one layer to be specified with type act or active and one layer with type poly If you specify two or more layers as active for example ndif and pdif then you need to specify the fet types with lines like the following Micro Magic Inc MAX User Manual v5 1 12 device nfet from poly ndif device pfet from poly pdif This will create an nfet using ndif and a pfet using pdi
197. yer type MAX will automatically create a fet device from the intersection of those layers E If you want to define your own fets use the following syntax device device name gt from poly layer diffusion layer For example if you have defined a separate ndif layer and pdif layer you can define an nfet and a pfet with the following lines device nfet from poly ndif device pfet from poly pdif Note that the nfet and pfet become layers and will show up in the MAX layer palette However MAX will not let you directly modify the colors or fill patterns of these layers since they are derived from the other two layers that make them up connect For connectivity tracing and extraction MAX must know what layers are conducting and how they connect to other layers make tech can derive most connectivity information from the order of the layer types metal and via and from its knowledge of fet devices W However if you want to add additional connectivity you can do so with the connect statement The connect statement has the syntax connect layer 1 layer 2 E If you want to allow butting contacts between the n well contact nwc and the p diffusion pdif for example you would add the following line connect nwc pdif Micro Magic Inc MAX User Manual v5 1 12 MAX you derive a new layer from or more other layers using any of the following layer operations and lt
198. ygons which are either partially or entirely enclosed by the box Hotkey n Select any instances cell defs wires or text by name pop up form as shown in Figure 69 will appear where you enter the name of the element to select from the list All instances of the specified selections will be highlighted Select Menv Select by Name Pop up w Select By Name Select By Name Wire w Cell Instance Cell Def Enter Text Label Pattern match name 4 Add to Existing Selection z current cell any visible cell any loaded cell Cancel Help Search for Specify whether to search for Text Wire text and rectangles selected with a net Cell Instance all instances with specific name or Cell Def all instances of specified cell 90 Micro Magic Inc MAX User Manual v5 1 12 Enter Text Label Use this field to enter a particular piece of text for which to search This is and instance name cell name or text Pattern match name If selected MAX pattern matches using the following characters match any character match zero or more characters NC match character c abc match any one of the characters in brackets a z match range of characters Add to Existing Selection If selected the text instances cells or nets are added to the selection Otherwise all other selections are removed and then the specified object s is selected Zoom to selected If sel
199. you ve drawn the Move commands move the entire Gcell text polygon etc MAX User Manual Chapter 3 MAX Commands Figure 49 Edit Menu Move Down Command Example The Shift arrow keys allow moves of one grid point at a time Using just the right mouse button Button 3 allows free movement Shift Button 3 locks the movement to either the X or Y direction E If you select the Move sub menu from the Edit menu see Figure 50 you will notice that you can move object by one user grid at a time Shift Arrow Keys or move by 10x the user grid m You can specify hotkeys for the 10x options in the Hot Keys page 50 options pop up Move To Hotkey None If you select Move To the pop up in Figure 50 appears for an absolute move You specify coordinates to move to and the reference point for the move If center is selected for the reference point the center of the selection is rounded to the nearest manufacturing grid Figure 50 Edit Menu Move Sub menu Move To Form v Move 1 58 0 77 Reference point lower left corner w lower right corner upper left corner upper right corner center Micro Magic Inc MAX User Manual v5 1 12 W If you select relative move for Move To the form will update as shown in Figure 51 You then specify how far to move in the X and Y direction Figure 51 Edit Menu Move Sub menu Move To Relative Form wv Move Move to Point Hotkey n

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