VLSI Toolchain Update

I’ve managed to get most of the Mentor toolchain working together. At present, I’m testing it with the following software versions:

• ICFlow 2006.1 (this is the latest version of Mentor that supports the AMS 0.35u DK)
• AdMS 2005.3 (this is listed as compatible with both ICFlow 2005.1 and 2006.1)
• Calibre 2006.1 (this seems to work correctly so far)
• LeonardoSpectrum 2005b
• Modelsim 6.1b

I’ve stuck all the customisations in /usr/local/apps/mentor/AMS_Linux/cuedlib/. This includes: startup scripts that set all the necessary environment variables in /bin, compiled digital libraries for Modelsim simulation (C35_CORELIB) in /modelsim.

This is a potential process flow for the project. It would be possible to split the project by digital/analogue. DMH has suggested that it might be useful to get the students to build a transmission gate for the analogue side instead of just a random logic gate. He also suggested that a DVM might be a suitable project if we can get access to the AMS 0.35u analogue cells. According to the AMS website, they have opamps, dac, adc,comparators and much more. I’ve already mailed EUROPRACTICE to find out if we can get a copy of the analogue cells.

Assuming that we get the analogue cells, I would imagine that it’ll slot into the standard SDL flow. Then, we should be able to design a fairly complex analogue sub-system. Then, the digital sub-system will also need to be more complex. For the DVM, it should be more than just a simple counter.