Design Kit Updates

This is a summary and update of what’s known and what’s unknown for all the design kits (DK) that have been tested. As the 0.35u DK was only installed recently, it has not been as extensively tested as the other design kits. However, if the Mentor toolchain is set up properly, the 0.35u DK is more likely to work than the 0.50u/0.70u DK. Our main problem is the incompatibility between toolchain and design kits.

The ideal situation would be to get a copy of the ADK from Mentor. However RJ has not gotten back to me on this. The next best solution is to have the appropriate Mentor software installed but SJM has been unable to do it as yet. According to him, he has been busy trying to fix the security problems and is unable to fix the Mentor problems for now.

HDL Design Entry

• 0.35u – Untested, presumably working as HDL netlist importing is built into DA_IC.
• 0.50u – Tested with ICSTUDIO
• 0.70u – Tested with ICSTUDIO

HDL Behavioral Simulation

• 0.35u – Untested, unknown status
• 0.50u – Tested with MODELSIM. HDL libraries for standard cells are provided.
• 0.70u – Untested, should work like 0.50u as a similar HDL library is provided.

HDL Synthesis

• Untested for ALL as Leonardo Spectrum is unavailable.

NOR2 Gate Schematic

• 0.35u – Schematic entry works. Simulation is untested.
• 0.50u – Working schematic entry + simulation.
• 0.70u – Working schematic entry + simulation.

NOR2 Layout

• 0.35u – Works automagically.
• 0.50u – NOT working.
• 0.70u – NOT working.

Standard Cell Schematic Capture

• 0.35u – Unknown/Untested.
• 0.50u – Working
• 0.70u – Working

Standard Cell ELDO Simulation (ANASIM)

• 0.35u – Unknown/Untested.
• 0.50u – NOT working.
• 0.70u – Tested and working.

Standard Cell MODELSIM Simulation (DIGISIM)

• 0.35u – Unknown
• 0.50u – Should work (partial testing)
• 0.70u – Should work (similar library provided as 0.50u)

Standard Cell Autofloorplan (AFP)

• Untested for ALL as there seems to be a license problem.
• Will presumable work for 0.35u but may not work with 0.50u/0.70u.

Design Rule Check (DRC)

• 0.35u – Tested and working for the custom NOR2 cell layout
• 0.50u – Untested
• 0.70u – Untested

Layout Versus Schematic (LVS)

• 0.35u – Untested but would likely work.
• 0.50u – Tested and failed
• 0.70u – Untested and presumed NOT to work

Parasitic Extraction (XRC)

• All untested

Back-annotation Simulation (BA)

• Untested for all