Just when you thought you were done setting up EM model files, along came another advanced node with more complicated rules. Sound familiar? I've already posted two Five-Minute Tutorials about EM Model File creation—you can review them here and here—but I need to post one more.
In the more recent of the two previous posts, we ended up having to do some hand-editing. Raise your hand if you like to hand-edit important files and feel the fear of an error-prone human process... no one? I didn't think so. Luckily, two of my colleagues (thanks Anton Dvorak and Po-Kai Chen!) showed me a better way than what I detailed for you last time. (As an aside, I apologize for not getting this out sooner. It's been a busy year, and in our line of work, busy is good, so I hope all of you have been very busy as well.)
You may recall from reviewing the previous posts that this method is specific to TSMC and you need to request the iRCX data for your process. That will include a file named something like IRCX_28NM_8M_typical.ircx (use the appropriate extraction corner for the power analysis you plan to run). I'll use this typical filename in the examples below. You also need the qrcTechFile and .ict files that should have come with your extraction data.
Make sure you're using an extraction version of 12.11 or newer. To locate your extraction installation, type:
> which qrc
/apps/EXT141/14.12.000/tools/bin/qrc
Now, you'll run the translator that converts the iRCX file into the .ict format:
>/apps/EXT141/14.12.000/tools/bin/ircxtoict -i new_ict_with_em_info.typical.ict -em_update original.typical.ict IRCX_28NM_8M_typical.ircx
Make a copy of your qrcTechFile (so we don't mess up anything for timing). This step may not be necessary, but I don't like it when the timing guys get mad at me. You can do your own experiments to see if it matters or not.
>cp typical.qrcTechFile EM.typical.qrcTechFile
If you have extraction installed, you have access to Techgen, but just for reference, it can be found in the same install path as the ircxtoict translator. Note the capital "T" at the start of the command. This one is case-sensitive.
Merge the EM info with your qrcTechFile:
>Techgen –update_process EM.typical.qrcTechFile new_ict_with_em_info.typical.ict
Then use the new qrcTechFile in your set_rail_analysis_mode command:
set_rail_analysis_mode -process_techgen_em_rules true -extraction_tech_file EM.typical.qrcTechFile
I hope this has made your EM model file creation easier. I'm also hoping this will be the last EM model blog post for a while, but you never know... 10nm is on the horizon, and I bet that will have some fun surprises!
- Kari Summers