You may have noticed that in the Encounter Digital Implementation (EDI) System 11 the commands addCustomBox, addCustomLine and addCustomText are no longer in the documentation. These previous commands weren't cutting it when it came to the features customers wanted and were not supported by OpenAccess or database commands like dbGet. So they've been replaced in EDI 11 by the commands add_shape and add_text. I think you will like the expanded features and database support of these new commands over their predecessors. Following are some of the highlights. Note the previous addCustom* commands will still work in EDI 11 but may be disabled in the future.
add_shape
Use add_shape to add custom retangles, polygons and path segments to your design. These shapes are represented as Special Nets (snet) in the database. Use the -net option to specify the net name to associate the shape to. If -net is omitted the shape is assigned the net name _NULL to indicate it is floating. This allows you to still access the shape through database commands (i.e. dbGet).
As you can see below add_shape has significantly more features compared to addCustomBox:
| add_shape [-help] -layer {layerNameOrPointer} -net {string}] {-rect {x1 y1 x2 y2} | -polygon {x1 y1 x2 y2 ...xn yn} | [-pathSeg {x1 y1 x2 y2} -width <value> [-beginExt <value> -endExt <value>]]} | addCustomBox layerName x1 y1 x2 y2 |
Here's an example of adding a rectangle for net VDD on layer M1:
add_shape -net VDD -layer M1 -rect {1 1 25 9}
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When adding path segments you can specify begin and end extension values. The extensions can be any positive value which is on the manufacturing grid. Also, paths are center-line based so in the example below X=2.5 is where I want the center of the wire. Here's an example of adding a vertical segment on M1:
add_shape -net VDD -layer M1 -pathSeg {2.5 1 2.5 25} -width 3 -beginExt 0 -endExt 0
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Combining add_shape with dbGet leads to some nice automation. For example, say I select the rectangle and path I created above. I can then create a polygon on M3 overlapping them using:
add_shape -polygon [lindex [dbShape [dbGet selected.polyPts -i 0] OR [dbGet selected.polyPts -i 1] \
-output polygon] 0] -layer M3 -net VDD
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As I mentioned above these shapes are represented as special nets so you can use commands such as editSelect, editDelete, etc. with them just like other special nets.
Here is an example of how the above shapes are represented in DEF:
SPECIALNETS 2 ;
...
- VDD
+ POLYGON Metal3 ( 50000 18000 ) ( 8000 18000 )
( 8000 50000 ) ( 2000 50000 ) ( 2000 2000 ) ( 50000 2000 )
+ ROUTED Metal1 6000 ( 5000 2000 0 ) ( * 50000 0 )
+ RECT Metal1 ( 2000 2000 ) ( 50000 18000 )
+ USE POWER
;
END SPECIALNETS
Another nice feature of add_shape is it will return the pointer of the new object. For example:
encounter 42> set rectPtr [add_shape -rect {10 10 12 12} -layer M4]
0x2aaab3eb8fd0
encounter 43> dbGet $rectPtr.??
beginExt: 0
box: {10 10 12 12}
endExt: 0
geomType: rect
layer: 0x1a7afa48
net: 0x2aaab3834ef8
objType: sWire
polyPts: {{10 10} {12 10} {12 12} {10 12}}
pts: 0x0
shape: notype
shieldNet: 0x0
status: routed
subClass: {}
width: 2
Lastly, you stream out the objects to GDS just like other special nets.
# streamOut map file:
M1 SPNET 1 0
add_text
Use add_text to add custom text on the desired layer. You can see below add_text has significantly more features than addCustomText had:
add_text [-help] [-alignment {centerCenter centerLeft centerRight lowerCenter lowerLeft lowerRight upperCenter upperLeft upperRight}] [-drafting {true false}] [-font {euroStyle gothic math roman script stick fixed swedish milSpec}] [-height <value>] -label {string} [-layer {layerNameOrPointer}] [-orient {MX MX90 MY90 R0 R180 R270 R90}] -pt <x> <y>
| addCustomText layerName "text" x1 y1 height
|
For example, to add text on layer M1:
add_text -label "Hello World!" -pt {1 1} -layer M1
When you add text to a specific layer its visibility/selectability is controlled by both the layer and the overall text control.
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You can also omit the layer. When you do this the text is added to the general text layer:
add_text -label "Hello World!" -pt {1 1}
Below is the respective stream out mapping depending on whether the text is on a metal layer or the general text layer:
# Mapping text of a specific metal layer:
M1 TEXT 1 0
# Mapping general text:
text TEXT 2 0
Note: If you specify values for font, height, orientation, or alignment it will not be reflected in the EDI System GUI. EDI will display it in the default values. But these properties are saved for Open Access interoperability with Virtuoso. So if you open the design in Virtuoso you'll see the text displayed as you specified.
Brian Wallace
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