Iam new to Package design SIP tool.

I had created the DIE package using SIP. Kindly give the direction how to map the created DIE package in Allegro pcb editor 17.2 ver.

In Allegro design capture CIS tool we had created the schematics file. The DIE which we are using is having 100pins, We had created the DIE in SIP tool. Out of 100 Die pins, only 90 pins is getting connected others are NC pins. We had mapped the Bond fingers only for 90 Die pins in the SIP package. But in the Schematics we had created the DIE logic symbol for 100 pins. Please advice whether we can able to import the DIE package in the allegro tool. In this scenario while importing the 100 pin DIE package in allegro pcb editor will the net connectivity will be shown from the DIE pad to Bond fingers and from Bond fingers to respective components? Please suggest whether we are going in the right path or please advice what we have to proceed with.

Thanks in Advance,

Rajesh

I have created a die and other components as symbols in sip and placed the symbols in sip through logic import capture netlist. It shows net connectivity but i couldn't add bond finger from the die pins. Please help on this. 

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We're happy to have guest blogger Thorsten Dworzak, Principal Consultant at Verilab GmbH, describe how he added Specman/e syntax to Sublime Text 3:

According to the 2018 StackOverflow Developer Survey, the popularity of development environments (IDEs, Text Editors) among software developers shows the following ranking:

1. Visual Studio Code 34.9%
2. Visual Studio 34.3%
3. Notepad++ 34.2%
4. Sublime Text 28.9%
5. Vim 25.8%
6. IntelliJ 24.9%
7. Android Studio 19.3%
8. (DVT) Eclipse 18.9%
9. …

15. Emacs 4.1%

Of these, only Vim, (DVT) Eclipse, and Emacs support editing in e-language (at least, last time I checked). Kate, which comes with KDE and also has a Specman mode, is not on this list.

I started using Sublime Text 3 some time ago. It offers packages that support a number of programming languages.

Though there is an e-language syntax available from Tsvi Mostovicz, it is unfinished work, and there are many syntactic constructs are missing. So, I created a fork of his project and finished it (it will eventually be merged back here).

It is a never-ending task because my code base for testing is limited and e is still undergoing development. The project is available through ST3's Package Control and you can contribute to it via Github.

I am eagerly waiting for your pull requests and/or comments and contributions!

Looking to learn? There's a bunch of new RAKs (Rapid Adoption Kits) available online now!

1) Indago 19.09 Better Driver Tracing and More

Are you new to Indago and not sure where to start? Luckily, there’s a new Rapid Adoption Kit for you: the Indago 19.09 Overview RAK! This neat package contains everything you need to get your debugging started through Indago. In four short labs, plus a brief introductory lab, you’ll have all the basics of Indago 19.09 down—the Indago working environment, the SmartLog, how Indago interacts with the rest of the Cadence Verification Suite, and how Indago uses HDL driver tracing.

Lab 1 discusses the various debugging tools included in Indago and teaches you how to customize your Indago windows and environment settings. Lab 2 covers the SmartLog feature and talks about analyzing and filtering its messages to suit your needs, as well as how to interact with the waveform marker. Lab 3 is an interactive Indago debugging experience—it’ll walk you through how to use Indago and its features in an actual working environment: setting breakpoints, using simulator commands in the Indago console, toolbars, switches, and more. Lab 4 is all things HDL tracing—recording debug data, an introduction to debug assertions, waveform visualizations, driving expression analysis, and single-step driver tracing, among other things.

Interested? Check out the RAK here.

2) IXCOM MSIE: Faster Palladium Build Time

Got several testbenches you want to compile with the same DUT and tests and you want to do it fast? With IXCOM, all you have to do to compile those different testbenches is use the xrun command for each after compiling your DUT. But what exactly is IXCOM, and how does one start using it? This quick RAK can help—here, you’ll learn the basics of using MSIE features with IXCOM, complete with an example to get you started. Using MSIE can vastly improve your build times with Palladium and using IXCOM is the best way to shrink that tedious rebuild time as small as it can get. Check out this RAK here.

3)  JasperGold Control and Status Register Verification App Automates UVM Register Map Verification

New to the JasperGold Control and Status Register (CSR) Verification App for your UVM testbenches? Don’t worry; there’s a RAK for that! This eponymous RAK can get you up and running with this in no time, helping you automate your checks from UVM register map specs. With this RAK, you’ll learn the basics of the JasperGold CSR, how to use JasperGold CSR’s Proof Accelerator, and more. CSR features a model-based approach to predicting a register’s expected value, supports pipeline interfaces, all IP-XACT access policies, and it can fully model any expected register value. It also supports register aliases, read and write semantics, and separate read/write data latencies in any given field.

If this functionality sounds up your alley, you can take a look at this RAK here.

Our customers’ tests have become more complex, longer, and consume more resources than before. This increases the need to optimize the regression while not compromising on coverage.

Some advanced customers of Specman use Machine Learning based solutions to optimize the regressions while some use simpler solutions. Based on a request of an advanced customer, we added a new Coverage API in Specman 19.09 called Coverage Callback. In 20.03, we have further enhanced this API by adding more options. Now there are two Coverage APIs that provide coverage information during the run (the old scan_cover API and this new Callback API). This blog presents these two APIs and compares between them while focusing on the newer one.

Before we get into the specifics of each API, let’s discuss what is common between these APIs and why we need them. Typically, people observe the coverage model after the test ends, and get to know the overall contribution of the test to the coverage. With these two APIs, you can observe the coverage model during the test, and hence, get more insight into the test progress.

Are you wondering about what you can do with this information? Let’s look at some examples.

1. Recognize cases when the test continues to run long after it already reached its coverage goal.
2. View the performance of the coverage curve. If a test is “stuck” at the same grade for a long time, this might indicate that the test is not very good and is just a waste of resource.

These analyses can be performed in the test itself, and then a test can decide to either stop the run, or change something in it configuration, or – post run. You can also present them visually for some analysis, as shown in the blog: Analyze Your Coverage with Python.

scan_cover API (or “Scanning the Coverage Model”)

With this API you can get the current status for any cover group or item you are interested in at any point in time during the test (by calling scan_cover()). It is very simple to use; however it has performance penalty. For getting the coverage grade of any cover group during the test, you should
1. Trigger the scan_cover at any time when you want the coverage model to be scanned.
2. Implement the scan_cover related methods, such as start_item() and end_bucket(). In these methods, you can query the current grade of group/item/bucket.
The blog mentioned earlier: Analyze Your Coverage with Python describes the details and provides an example.

Callback API

The Callback API enables you to get a callback for a desired cover group(s), whenever it is sampled. This API also provides various query methods for getting coverage related information such as what the current sampled value is. So, in essence, it is similar to scan_cover API, but as the phrase says: “same same but different”:

1. Callback API has almost no performance penalty while scan_cover API does.
2. Callback API contains a richer set of query methods that provide a lot of information about the current sampled value (vs just the grade with scan_cover).
3. Using scan_cover API, you decide when you want to query the coverage information (you call scan_cover), while with the Callback API you query the coverage information when the coverage is sampled (from do_callback). So, scan_cover gives you more flexibility, but you do need to find the right timing for this call.

There is no absolute advantage of either of these APIs, this only depends on what you want to do.  

Callback API details

The Callback API is based on a predefined struct called: cover_sampling_callback. In order to use this API, you need to:

1. Define a struct inheriting cover_sampling_callback (cover_cb_save_data below)
   1. Extend the predefined do_callback() method. This method is a hook being called whenever any of the cover groups that are registered to the cover_sampling_callback instance is being sampled.
   2. From do_callback() you can access coverage data by using queries such as: is_currently_per_type(), get_current_group_grade() and get_current_cover_group() (as in the example below) and many more such as: get_relevant_group_layers() and get_simple_cross_sampled_bucket_name().
2. Register the desired cover group(s) to this struct instance using the register() method.

Take a look at the following code:

// Define a coverage callback.
// Its behavior – print to screen the current grade.
struct cover_cb_save_data like cover_sampling_callback {
    do_callback() is only {
       // In this example, we care only about the per_type grade, and not per_instance
       if is_currently_per_type() {           
            var cur_grade : real = get_current_group_grade();
            sys.save_data (get_current_cover_group().get_name(), cur_grade);
        };//if
    };//do_callback()
};// cover_cb_send_data


extend sys {
    !cb : cover_cb_save_data;

   // Instantiate the coverage callback, and register to it two of my coverage groups
    run() is also {
       cb  = new  with {
        var gr1:=rf_manager.get_struct_by_name("packet").get_cover_group("packet_cover");
        .register(gr1);
        var gr2:=rf_manager.get_struct_by_name("sys").get_cover_group("mem_cover");
       .register(gr2);
       };//new  
    };//run()

  save_data(group_name : string, group_grade : real) is {
        //here you either print the values to the screen, update a graph you show or save to a db 
  };// save_data
};//sys

In the blog Analyze Your Coverage with Python mentioned above, we show an example of how you can use the scan_cover API to extract coverage information during the run, and then use the Specman-Python API to display the coverage interactively during the run (using plotting Python library - matplotlib). If you find this usage interesting and you want to use the same example, by the Callback API instead of the scan_cover API, you can download the full example from GIT from here: https://github.com/efratcdn/cover_callback.

Specman Team

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All engineers can enhance their mixed-signal low-power structural verification productivity by learning while doing with a PIEA RAK (Power Intent Export Assistant Rapid Adoption Kit). They can verify the mixed-signal chip by a generating macromodel for their analog block automatically, and run it through Conformal Low Power (CLP) to perform a low power structural check.  

The power structure integrity of a mixed-signal, low-power block is verified via Conformal Low Power integrated into the Virtuoso Schematic Editor Power Intent Export Assistant (VSE-PIEA). Here is the flow.

Applying the flow iteratively from lower to higher levels can verify the power structure.

Cadence customers can learn more in a Rapid Adoption Kit (RAK) titled IC 6.1.5 Virtuoso Schematic Editor XL PIEA, Conformal Low Power: Mixed-Signal Low Power Structural Verification.

• To read the overview presentation, click on following link: PIEA Overview
• To download this PIEA RAK click on following link: PIEA RAK Download

The RAK includes Rapid Adoption Kit with demo design (instructions are provided on how to setup the user environment). It Introduces the Power Intent Export Assistant (PIEA) feature that has been implemented in the Virtuoso IC615 release.  The power intent extracted is then verified by calling Conformal Low Power (CLP) inside the Virtuoso environment.

• Last Update: 11/15/2012.
• Validated with IC 6.1.5 and CLP 11.1

The RAK uses a sample test case to go through PIEA + CLP flow as follows:

• Setup for PIEA
• Perform power intent extraction
• CPF Import: It is recommended to Import macro CPF, as oppose to designing CPF for sub-blocks. If you choose to import design CPF files please make sure the design CPF file has power domain information for all the top level boundary ports
• Generate macro CPF and design CPF
• Perform low power verification by running CLP

It is also recommended to go through older RAKs as prerequisites.

• Conformal Low Power, RTL Compiler and Incisive: Low Power Verification for Beginners
• Conformal Low Power: CPF Macro Models
• Conformal Low Power and RTL Compiler: Low Power Verification for Advanced Users

To access all these RAKs, visit our RAK Home Page to access Synthesis, Test and Verification flow

Note: To access above docs, use your Cadence credentials to logon to the Cadence Online Support (COS) web site. Cadence Online Support website https://support.cadence.com/ is your 24/7 partner for getting help and resolving issues related to Cadence software. If you are signed up for e-mail notifications, you can receive new solutions, Application Notes (Technical Papers), Videos, Manuals, and more.

You can send us your feedback by adding a comment below or using the feedback box on Cadence Online Support.

Sumeet Aggarwal

I noticed some very interesting news last week, widely reported in the technical press, and you can find the source press release here. In a nutshell, the Embedded Microprocessor Benchmark Consortium (EEMBC) has formed a group to look at benchmarks for ultra low power microcontrollers. Initially chaired by Horst Diewald, chief architect of MSP430^TM microcontrollers at Texas Instruments, the group's line-up is an impressive "who's who" of the microcontroller space, including Analog Devices, ARM, Atmel, Cypress, Energy Micro, Freescale, Fujitsu, Microchip, Renesas, Silicon Labs, STMicro, and TI.

As the press release explains, unlike usual processor benchmark suites which focus on performance, the ULP benchmark will focus on measuring the energy consumed by microcontrollers running various computational workloads over an extended time period. The benchmarking methodology will allow the microcontrollers to enter into their idle or sleep modes during the majority of time when they are not executing code, thereby simulating a real-world environment where products must support battery life measured in months, years, and even decades.

Processor performance benchmarks seem to be as widely criticized as EPA fuel consumption figures for cars - and the criticism is somewhat related. There is a suspicion that manufacturers can tune the performance for better test results, rather than better real-world performance. On the face of it, the task to produce meaningful ultra low power benchmarks seems even more fraught with difficulties. For a start, there is a vast range of possible energy profiles - different ways that computing is spread over time - and a plethora of low power design techniques available to optimize the system for the set of profiles that particular embedded system is likely to experience. Furthermore, you could argue that, compared with performance in a computer system, energy consumption in an ultra low power embedded system has less to do with the controller itself and more to do with other parts of the system like the memories and mixed-signal real-world interfaces.

EEMBC cites that common methods to gauge energy efficiency are lacking in growth applications such as portable medical devices, security systems, building automation, smart metering, and also applications using energy harvesting devices. At Cadence, we are seeing huge growth in these areas which, along with intelligence being introduced into all kinds of previously "dumb" appliances, is becoming known as the "Internet of Things." Despite the difficulties, with which the parties involved are all deeply familiar, I applaud this initiative. While it may be difficult to get to apples-to-apples comparisons for energy consumption in these applications, most of the time today we don't even know where the grocery store is. If the EEMBC effort at least gets us to the produce department, we're going to be better off.

Pete Hardee 

DAC is right around the corner! On the demo floor at Cadence® Booth #2214, we will demonstrate how to use the Cadence mixed-signal and low-power solution to design, verify, and implement a microcontroller-based mixed-signal design. The demo design architecture is very similar to practical designs of many applications like power management ICs, automotive controllers, and the Internet of Things (IoT). Cadene tools demonstrated in this design include Virtuoso® Schematic Editor, Virtuoso Analog Design Environment, Virtuoso AMS Designer, Virtuoso Schematic Model Generator, Virtuoso Power Intent Assistant, Incisive® Enterprise Simulator with DMS option, Virtuoso Digital Implementation, Virtuoso Layout Suite, Encounter® RTL Compiler, Encounter Test, and Conformal Low Power. An extended version of this demo will also be shown at the ARM® Connected Community Pavilion Booth #921.

For additional highlights on Cadence mixed-signal and low-power solutions, stop by our booth for:

• The popular book, Mixed-signal Methodology Guide, which will be on sale during DAC week!
• A sneak preview of the eBook version of the Mixed-signal Methodology Guide
• Customer presentations at the Cadence DAC Theater
  • 9am, Tuesday, June 4  ARM  Low-Power Verification of A15 Hard Macro Using CLP 
  • 10:30am, Tuesday, June 4  Silicon Labs  Power Mode Verification in Mixed-Signal Chip
  • 12:00pm, Tuesday, June 4  IBM  An Interoperable Flow with Unified OA and QRC Technology Files
  • 9am, Wednesday, June 5  Marvell  Low-Power Verification Using CLP
  • 4pm, Wednesday, June 5  Texas Instruments  An Inter-Operable Flow with Unified OA and QRC Technology Files
• Partner presentations at the Cadence DAC Theater
  • 10am, Monday, June 3  X-Fab  Rapid Adoption of Advanced Cadence Design Flows Using X-FAB's AMS Reference Kit
  • 3:30pm, Monday, June 3  TSMC TSMC Custom Reference Flow for 20nm -  Cadence Track
  • 9:30am,Tuesday, June 4  TowerJazz   Substrate Noise Isolation Extraction/Model Using Cadence Analog Flow
  • 12:30pm, Wednesday, June 5  GLOBALFOUNDRIES  20nm/14nm Analog/Mixed-signal Flow
  • 2:30pm, Wednesday, June 5  ARM  Cortex®-M0 and Cortex-M0+: Tiny, Easy, and Energy-efficient Processors for Mixed-signal Applications
• Technology sessions at suites
  • 10am, Monday, June 3    Low-power Verification of Mixed-signal Designs
  • 2pm, Monday, June 3      Advanced Implementation Techniques for Mixed-signal Designs
  • 2pm, Monday, June 3      LP Simulation: Are You Really Done?
  • 4pm, Monday, June 3      Power Format Update: Latest on CPF and IEEE 1801  
  • 11am, Wednesday, June 5   Mixed-signal Verification
  • 11am, Wednesday, June 5   LP Simulation: Are You Really Done?
  • 4pm, Wednesday, June 5   Successful RTL-to-GDSII Low-Power Design (FULL)
  • 5pm, Wednesday, June 5   Custom/AMS Design at Advanced Nodes

We will also have three presentations at the Si2 booth (#1427):

• 10:30am, Monday, June 3   An Interoperable Implementation Solution for Mixed-signal Design
• 11:30am, Tuesday, June 4   Low-power Verification for Mixed-signal Designs Using CPF
• 10:30am, Wednesday, June 5   System-level Low-power Verification Using Palladium

We have a great program at DAC. Click the link for complete Cadence DAC Theater and Technology Sessions. Look forward to seeing you at DAC!     

There is no better way other than a self-help training kit -- (rapid adoption kit, or RAK) -- to demonstrate the Incisive Enterprise Simulator's IEEE 1801 / UPF low-power features and its usage. The features include:

• Unique SimVision debugging 
• Patent-pending power supply network visualization and debugging
• Tcl extensions for LP debugging
• Support for Liberty file power description
• Standby mode support
• Support for Verilog, VHDL, and mixed language
• Automatic understanding of complex feedthroughs
• Replay of initial blocks
• ‘x' corruption for integers and enumerated types
• Automatic understanding of loop variables
• Automatic support for analog interconnections

Mickey Rodriguez, AVS Staff Solutions Engineer has developed a low power UPF-based RAK, which is now available on Cadence Online Support for you to download.

• This rapid adoption kit illustrates Incisive Enterprise Simulator (IES) support for the IEEE 1801 power intent standard. 

Patent-Pending Power Supply Network Browser. (Only available with the LP option to IES)

• In addition to an overview of IES features, SimVision and Tcl debug features, a lab is provided to give the user an opportunity to try these out.

The complete RAK and associated overview presentation can be downloaded from our SoC and Functional Verification RAK page:

We are covering the following technologies through our RAKs at this moment:

Synthesis, Test and Verification flow
Encounter Digital Implementation (EDI) System and Sign-off Flow
Virtuoso Custom IC and Sign-off Flow
Silicon-Package-Board Design
Verification IP
SOC and IP level Functional Verification
System level verification and validation with Palladium XP

Please visit https://support.cadence.com/raks to download your copy of RAK.

We will continue to provide self-help content on Cadence Online Support, your 24/7 partner for learning more about Cadence tools, technologies, and methodologies as well as getting help in resolving issues related to Cadence software. If you are signed up for e-mail notifications, you're likely to notice new solutions, application notes (technical papers), videos, manuals, etc.

Note: To access the above documents, click a link and use your Cadence credentials to log on to the Cadence Online Support https://support.cadence.com/ website.

Happy Learning!

Sumeet Aggarwal and Adam Sherer

Key findings: 5X to 32X faster low-power verification using Palladium XP emulation

It’s hot in July in Korea, and not just the temperature; the ideas, too. The ideas that flowed at CDNLive Korea were exciting, and that includes a very interesting talk by Jiyeon Park from the System LSI division of Samsung Electronics.  His talk, titled “Enabling Low-Power Verification using Cadence Palladium XP,” struck a chord with the audience and the highlights bear sharing in this forum. This blog captures some of the highlights from the public talk in Seoul this summer.

Motivation

If you are familiar with the breadth of the product lines at Samsung Electronics, you will appreciate the diversity of the end-market requirements that they must fulfill. These markets and products include:

Mobile/Handheld

• Smartphones
• Tablets
• Laptops

Consumer/Digital Home

• High-definition/ultra-high-definition TV
• Gaming consoles
• Computers 

Networking/Data Center

• Servers
• Switches
• Communications

What all of these markets have in common is that energy efficiency is now an integral and leading part of the value equation. For design teams, a good knowledge of power helps the evaluation and use of a host of critical decisions. From design architecture, IP make-versus-buy decisions, and manufacturing process selection, to the use of low-power design techniques, all are critically influenced by power.

Using simulation for low-power verification

Once the decision to overlay power reduction design techniques, such as power shutdown, has been made, new dimensions have been added to the already complex SoC verification task. The RTL verification environment is first augmented with a power intent file; in this case, IEEE 1801 was the format.  The inclusion of this power intent information enables the examination of power domain shutdown, isolation operations, proper retention, and level shifting.

Figure 1: Incisive SimVision power verification elements example

Low-power verification using emulation

Simulation for low-power verification works well, so why emulation? One word—complexity!  It is easy to forget that “design complexity” (usually measured in gates or transistors) is not that same as “verification complexity” (which is really hard to measure). Consider a design with four power domains, three of which are switchable and one that is switchable but also has high- and low-voltage states. That yields nine basic states, and 24 modes of operation to test. Although some of those modes may not be consequential, when paired with hundreds or even thousands of functional tests, you can begin to understand the impact of overlaying low power on the verification problem. Thus, it becomes very desirable to enlist the raw computational power of emulation.

Power off/on scenario on Palladium XP platform

A typical functional test would be augmented to include the power control signals. For power shutoff verification, for instance, the cycles for asserting isolation begin the sequence, followed by state retention, and then finally a power shutdown of the domain must be asserted to verify operation. The figure below calls out a number of checks that ought to be performed.

Figure 2: Power shutoff sequence and associated checks to make

IEEE 1801 support in Palladium XP platform

The IEEE 1801 support found in the Palladium PX platform includes some noteworthy capabilities, as well as some implications to the user. First is a patented memory randomization provided by the Palladium XP platform. This capability includes randomization of memory during shutdown and power up, control over read value during the power-off state, non-volatile memory state retention, and freezing of data on retention. The user should be aware there is about a 10%-20% capacity overhead associated with IEEE 1801-driven low-power verification.

Figure 3: Palladium low-power verification enables schedule improvement

Palladium low-power verification flow

The great thing about the emulation work flow for IEEE 1801 power verification is that the only change is to include that IEEE 1801 power intent file during the compilation stage!

Considerations for emulation environment bring-up

A Universal Verification Methodology (UVM) approach was taken by the Samsung team. This provides a unique structure to the testbench environment that is very conducive to a metric-driven methodology.  Using a testbench acceleration interface, teams can run the testbench on a software simulator and the design on the emulator. In addition, the formalism allows for the case of incomplete designs that do not hinder the verification of the parts that are completed.

Experimental results

The most exciting part of the paper was the results that were obtained. For a minor overhead cost in compile time and capacity, the team was able to improve runtimes of their tests by 5X to 32X. Being able run tests in a fraction of the time, or many more tests in the same time, has always been a benefit for emulation users. Now low-power verification is a proven part of the value provided to Palladium XP platform users.

Figure 4: Samsung low-power verification emulation results

Conclusions

The key conclusions found were:

• No modification was needed for IEEE 1801
• There is a small capacity and compile time overhead
• The emulation and simulation match
• The longer the test, the more the net speed up versus software simulation
• Run times improved from 5X to 32X!

With this flow in place, the teams has begun power-aware testing that includes firmware and software verification to go along with the hardware testing. This expansion enables more capability in optimization of the power architecture. In addition, they are seeing faster silicon bring-up in the context of an applied low-power strategy.

Steve Carlson

Hello, i have a realy mistick thing going with copying libraries in cadence virtuoso,

When i copy straight forwart the whole library it gives me a warning that accsess was denied,but when i go into the library and copy it as a single file, then it goes fine.

another problem is it doesnt show in the massage console  ALL the files which could not be copied.(which is the much bigger problem,becuase i would have to pass threw all the subdirectories to verify if all files are there)

Is there a way to see which files wasnt able to be copied?

Thanks. 

Hello , i am trying to extract netlist from a circuit  in assembler

I have found the manual shown bellow , however there is no such option in tools in assembler.

how do i view the NETLIST of this circuit?

Thanks.

ASSEMBLER VIEW menu

Virtuoso Version -- IC6.1.7-64b.500.23

Cadence Spectre Version -- 17.10.515

I have a very simple circuit. Please find attached. It is basically a resistor across a port. I run a S-param simulation and can plot the S-params, but unfortunately not the Z-param or Y-param. 

/resized-image/__size/320x240/__key/communityserver-discussions-components-files/33/Capture_5F00_Sch.JPG

/resized-image/__size/320x240/__key/communityserver-discussions-components-files/33/Capture_5F00_Error.JPG

Can anyone point me in the correct direction to sort out this problem? The zpm does work in another design environment, but not in the new design environment (a new project). The virtuoso and the cadence-spectre versions match in both the project environments. I am at a loss at what to look for. 

Hello, I am trying to use two inductors in my LNA as shown bellow to have a S-PARAM response so i will have S11 with lowerst possible values and tweak them for matching network. However when i ran EXPLORER live tuning with SParam as shown bellow i get no change in the response.

I know that Cgs and Cgd with the inductors having a resonance so by Varying L value i should have seen the change in resonance location,

But there is no change.Where did i go wrong?

Thanks. 

Hello, i have built a matching network of 13dB gain and  NF as shown bellow step by step.(including all the plots and matlab )

its just not working at all,i am doing it exacly by the thoery

taking a point inside the circle-> converting its gamma to Z_source->converting gamma_s into gamma_L with the formulla bellow as shown in the matlab->converting the gamma_L into Z_L-> building the matching network for conjugate of Z_L and Z_c.Its just not working.

where did i got  wrong?

Thanks.

gamma_s=75.8966*exp(deg2rad(280.88)*i);
z_s=gamma2z(gamma_s,50);
s11=0.99875-0.03202*i
s12=721.33*10^(-6)+8.622*10^(-3)*i
s21=-188.37*10^(-3)+30.611*10^(-3)*i
s22=875.51*10^(-3)-100.72*10^(-3)*i
gamma_L=conj((s22+(s12*s21*gamma_s)/(1-s11*gamma_s)))
z_L=gamma2z(gamma_L,50)

Hi all,

I am having trouble plotting the IIp3 of gilber RF mixer I made

I have plotted 1 dB compression point using QPSS and QPAC simulation. flo=2.42GHz and frf=2.4GHz , 20 MHz IF

However my IIp3 simulation shows strange results

QPSS and QPAC setup

Hi,

i'm using spectre HB simulation on PA (Power Amplifier) test_bench to perform large signal analysis (i want to plot Output power vs intput power, PAE and Gain)

Although the simulation returns no error, i still can't plot anything. seem like there is an issue with the ports i'm using. (analoglib ports)

i attach an image of my configuration so maybe you can find something helpful in it. 

thank you all for your help

best regards

hi everyone, 

i'm trying to create a netlist for aging simulation. i would like to simulate how power, Gain and PAE (efficiency) are inlfuenced after 3 hours

i would be grateful if someone can correct my syntax in the netlist since i'm trying to make a sweep HB  simulation where the input power is the parameter.

i did it without any error for the sp (S parameters)  simulation.

you can see the images for both sp and hb simulation netlists. (from left to right: sp aging netlist; hb aging netlist)

i will be grateful if someone can provide me some syntax advices.

thanks,

best regards

hello there, i'm a student studying allegro PCB designer.

There are some commands that i can do with GUI, but i want to know what kind of commands i used so that i can route with commands only(ex) skill).

Is there any file that i can see what kind of commands i used something like log files or command history?

thank you for reading this long boring question.

I am trying to understand why axlDBTextBlockCompact(nil) on my test case says it can compact the text blocks down to 38, whereas I find only a total of 26 unique text block references in axlDBGetDesign()->text, axlDBGetDesign()->symbols and axlDBGetDesign()->symdefs. Where else are text blocks used besides these three?

Hi experts,

I have a problem with my design as below

ERROR: in SHAPE (-2.3622 2.3622)

  class = ETCH

  subclass = TOP 

  Part of Symbol Def SHAPE_4725X4725.

      Which is part of a padstack as a SHAPE symbol.

  ERROR(SPMHDB-187): SHAPE boundary may not cross itself.

   Error cannot be fixed.

       Object has first point location at (-2.3622 2.3622).

Can you tell me how to solve my problem?

Thanks a lot.

I would like to generate the comparison report of database footprint with library footprint if any mismatch available.

Is there a way to take if it possible means can anyone please guide me or share me the skill code please.

Thanks,

Pradeep

Other tools allow a sanity check of placement density vs available board space.  There is an older post "Skill code to evaluate all components area (Accumulative Place bound area)"  (9 years ago) that has a couple of examples that no longer work or expired.

This would be useful to provide feedback to schismatic and project managers regarding the component density on the PCB and how it will affect the routing abilities.  Thermal considerations can be evaluated as well 

Has anyone attempted this or still being done externally in spread sheets?

I have a script to handle many polys in memory in allegro. 

But after the completion of the script, 

I run the axlPolyMemUse(), it reports (31922 0 0 55076 252482)

Seems too many polys are still in the memory，and they are not being used. 

So how to delete these polys from the memory? And reclaim the memory?

BTW. I have no skill dev license. So gc() function doesn't work. 

Thanks.

Currently I tried this:

axlDBCreateShape(recPolyPlanes t "BOUNDARY/L02" netName sym1)

I get a atom error on car(sym1)

I can do this "static" using ETCH/L02 with out an issue, but I am trying to avoid doing an axlShapeChangeDynamicType().

Thanks,

Jerry

Hi all,

I am creating shapes on plane layers for a coupon and want to void them using axlShapeAutoVoid()

The shapes are attached to a symbol.

I've tried using axlShapeAutoVoid, but this only voids the pins, not the route keepouts created by nc_backdrill.

I also tried selecting the shape, individually, then running axlShapeAutoVoid. That was unsuccessful, also.

planeShapes is a list of shapes I created. The code for voiding:

;run backdrill to get route keepouts
axlShell("setwindow pcb;backdrill setup ;setwindow form.nc_backdrill;FORM nc_backdrill apply ;FORM nc_backdrill close")

foreach(sHape planeShapes
axlShapeAutoVoid(car(sHape))
)

I have made a customized menu in PCB Editor which I now would like to fill with content.

First of all I would like to have commands to add (or delete) layers in the board. I have parameter files (.prm) that describes both the stackup and the artwork for 2, 4, 6 and 8 layers.

I guess I could record a script (macro) where I use the "Import Parameter file" dialogue but this will get windows flickering by etc. Can I do this with SKILL instead?

I realize that it is possible (somehow) to do a SKILL-script that completely builds up the stackup and artworks for boards with different number of layers but I then have to edit the SKILL everytime I need to change anything. My thinking is that it perhaps is easier just to call the prm-file, which is easy to modify from within Allegro without knowing anything about SKILL.

I'm also looking for a solution to remove some Subclasses, containing certain keywords with a SKILL script but since I'm completely new to SKILL I don't really know where to begin.

Any assistance would be much appreciated.

Hi,

I wanted to find the location of a pin in the design using skill program. pin_dbids = axlDBGetDesign()->pins, this gives me all the dbids of the pins that are present in my design. But when im entering that dbid, pad = axlDBGetPad("000001EA8FD8B9F8" "package geometry/assembly_top" "regular") it is throwing an error stating "This dbid is not user defined. Please enter the user defined". So please provide me a snippet so that I can get the exact pin location in the design using skill script.