NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #20

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Path: sparky!uunet!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!pacific.mps.ohio-state.edu!linac!att!ucbvax!ucdavis!hardaker From: hardaker@eecs.ucdavis.edu (Wes Hardaker) Newsgroups: comp.lsi.cad Subject: Comp.lsi.cad FAQ/WA (part 1/1) Keywords: late, faq, neato, keeno Message-ID: <16869@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu> Date: 9 Sep 92 19:18:10 GMT Sender: usenet@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu Organization: Division of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, UC Davis Lines: 1069 Ok, so I'm two days late... Welcome to comp.lsi.cad, comp.lsi, this is the biweekly posting of fre- quently asked questions with anwers. Before you post a question such as "Where can I ftp spice from?", please make sure that the answer is not already here. If you spot an error, or if there is any information that you think should be included, but is not, please send us a note. Bret Rothenberg <rothenbe@eecs.ucdavis.edu> Wes Hardaker <hardaker@eecs.ucdavis.edu> Mike Altarriba <altarrib@eecs.ucdavis.edu> (Please mail to clcfaq@eecs.ucdavis.edu for suggestions/comments.) Solid State Circuits Research Laboratory Electrical Engineering and Computer Science University of California, Davis. 95616 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- $Id: comp.lsi.cad.FAQ.ms,v 1.25 92/08/24 11:50:21 $ Frequently Asked Questions with Answers 1: Mosis Users' Group (MUG) ?2: Improved spice listing from magic. 3: Tips and tricks for magic (Version 6.3) 4: What can I use to do good plots from magic/CIF? 5: What tools are used to layout verification? 6: How are people doing netlist conversion and what about EDIF? 7: What layout examples are available? 8: How can I get my lsi design fabbed and how much will it cost? ?9: Mosis fab experience. 10: Archive sites for comp.lsi.cad and comp.lsi 11: Other newsgroups that relate to comp.lsi* 12: Simulation programs tips/tricks/bugs 13: Getting the latest version of the FAQ 14: Converting from/to GDSII/CIF/Magic 15: CFI (CAD Framework Initiative Inc.) 16: What free tools are there available, and what can they do? 17: Berkeley Spice (Current version 3e2) 18: Octtools (Current version 5.1) 19: Lager (Current version 4.0) 20: BLIS (Current version 2.0) 21: ITEM 22: PADS logic/PADS PCB 23: Another PCB Layout Package 24: Magic (Current version 6.3) 25: PSpice 26: Esim 27: Isplice3 (Current version 2.0) 28: Watand 29: Caltech VLSI CAD Tools 30: Switcap2 (Current version 1.1) 31: Test Software based on Abramovici text 32: Atlanta and Soprano automatic test generators 33: Olympus Synthesis System 34: OASIS logic synthesis 35: CAzM, a Spice-like table-based analog circuit simulator + : new item ! : changed ? : additional information for this subject would be appreciated. 1: Mosis Users' Group (MUG) (From the MUG newsletter) The MOSIS Users' Group (MUG) Newsletter is distributed only via elec- tronic means to about 1200 individuals throughout the world who have expressed an interest in VLSI systems design and specifically in using MOSIS, the Metal-Oxide Semiconductor Implementation Service, that fabri- cates integrated circuit prototypes inexpensively. We hope that you enjoy receiving this newsletter and find it useful. Comments and suggestions should be directed to the Editor along with any change in address. If you prefer not to receive messages of this type, which will occur no more often than monthly, please contact the Editor. MUG Newsletter Editor Prof. Don Bouldin Electrical & Computer Engineering University of Tennessee Knoxville, TN 37996-2100 Tel: (615)-974-5444 FAX: (615)-974-5492 Email: bouldin@sun1.engr.utk.edu Compmail II: D.Bouldin A variety of design files and CAD tools contributed by the members of the MOSIS Users' Group (MUG) are now available via anonymous ftp from "venera.isi.edu" (128.9.0.32) in directory "pub/mug". The files "readme" and "index" should be retrieved first. These files are provided "as is", but may prove very helpful to those using the MOSIS integrated circuit prototyping service. 2: Improved spice listing from magic. (If someone has put together a working solution for some or all of the following issues, send me a note. It would be great if this issue could be resolved once and for all. Preferably, also for standard mosis tech- nology.) Hierarchical extractions with net names: ext2spice done by Andy Burstein <burstein@zabriskie.berkeley.edu>. Poly and well resistance extraction: There are persistent rumors that people have this working, however, all I have seen is extracted poly resistor with each end shorted together, ie each end has the same node name/number. (This is the most annoying problem that I typically encounter daily. If ANYONE knows a fix for this, please tell us! I wrote a real quick and dirty set of scripts/programs to edit the magic file. It will break the poly contacts and relabel them. This is a real hack, but all other solu- tions require modification of the magic code itself. This procedure only works with an extractor that handles labeled nodes, i.e. ext2spice from above. --WH) Area/perimeter of source and drain extraction: Magic 6.3 does not appear to correctly extract the geometry into the .ext file, and so any ext2spice program that uses the .ext value is incorrect. 3: Tips and tricks for magic (Version 6.3) Searching for nets: Yes, magic does actually let you search for node names. Use :specialopen netlist. Then click on the box underneath label, you will be prompted for the name of the label you want to search for. Enter the name, and then press enter twice. Click on show, and then find, magic will then highlight the net. Bulk node extraction: Problems with getting the bulk node to extract correctly? Try labeling the well with the node name that it is connected to. Painting Wells: Supposedly :cif in magic will automatically paint in the wells correctly. However this is not always the case. If you are using mosis 2u technol- ogy, and your wells are getting strange notches in them, you might try changing the grow 300 shrink 300 lines in your lambda=1.0(pwell) and lambda=1.0(nwell) cif sections of your tech file to grow 450 shrink 450. (Remember you can use :cif see CWN to see nwell, if :cifostyle is nwell, or :cif see CWP to see pwell if its pwell technology to preview what will be done with the well. You may use :feedback clear to erase what it shows you.) Magic notes available from gatekeeper.dec.com (16.1.0.2): (Located in pub/DEC/magic) Magic note.1 - 9/14/90 - ANNOUNCEMENT: Magic V6 is ready Magic note.2 - 9/19/90 - DOC: Doc changes (fixed in releases after 9/20/90) Magic note.3 - 9/19/90 - GRAPHICS: Mode problem (fixed 9/20/90) Magic note.4 - 9/19/90 - HPUX: rindex macro for HPUX 7.0 and later Magic note.5 - 9/19/90 - GCC: "gcc" with magic, one user's experience Magic note.6 - 9/19/90 - FTP: Public FTP area for Magic notes Magic note.7 - 9/20/90 - RSIM: Compiling rsim, one user's suggestions & hints Magic note.8 - 9/26/90 - GENERAL: Magic tries to open bogus directories Magic note.9 - 9/26/90 - GRAPHICS: Mods to X11Helper Magic note.10 - 10/5/90 - DOS: Magic V4 for DOS and OS/2 Magic note.11 - 10/11/90 - GENERAL: reducing memory usage by 600k Magic note.12 - 12/19/90 - EXT2xxx: fixes bogus resistances Magic note.13 - 12/19/90 - EXTRESIS: fixed bug in resis that caused coredump. Magic note.14 - 12/19/90 - EXTRESIS: new version of scmos.tech for extresis Magic note.15 - 12/19/90 - TECH: documentation for contact line in tech file Magic note.16 - 12/19/90 - EXTRACT: bug fix to transistor attributes Magic note.17 - 5/13/91 - CALMA: Incorrect arrays in calma output Magic note.18 - 5/14/91 - CALMA: Extension to calma input Magic note.19 - 6/28/91 - IRSIM: Some .prm files for IRSIM Magic note.20 - 7/18/91 - EXTRESIS: fixes for Magic's extresis command Magic note.21 - 2/7/92 - FAQ: Frequently asked questions Magic note.22 - 11/6/91 - CALMA: how to write a calma tape Magic note.23 - 11/4/91 - EXT2xxx: fix for incorrect resistor extraction Magic note.24 - 11/8/91 - EXTRESIS: fix 0-ohm resistors Magic note.25 - 11/15/91 - NEXT: porting magic to the NeXT machine Magic note.26 - 11/21/91 - IRSIM: fix for hanging :decay command Magic note.27 - 12/17/91 - RESIS: fix for "Attempt to remove node ..." error Magic note.28 - 1/28/92 - MAGIC: anonymous FTP now available Magic note.29 - 3/27/92 - PLOT: support for Versatec 2700 Magic note.30 - 4/8/92 - PATHS: Have the ":source" command follow a path Magic note.31 - 4/10/92 - MPACK: Mpack now works with Magic 6.3 Magic note.32 - 3/13/92 - AED: Using AED displays with Magic 6.3 Magic note.33 - 3/13/92 - OPENWINDOWS: Compilation for OpenWindows/X11 Magic note.34 - 2/14/92 - OPENWINDOWS: fix mouse problem 4: What can I use to do good plots from magic/CIF? (Thanks to Douglas Yarrington <arri@ee.eng.ohio-state.edu> and Harry Langenbacher <harry@neuronz.Jpl.Nasa.Gov>, for feedback here.) CIF: CIF stands for CalTech Intermediate Form. It's a graphics language which can be used to describe integrated circuit layouts. cif2ps version 2 (Gordon W. Ross, MITRE): A much better version of cif2ps, extending the code of cif2ps (Marc Lesure, Arizona State University) and cifp (Arthur Simoneau, Aerospace Corp). It features command line options for depth and formatting. Can extend one plot over several pages (up to 5 by 5, or 25 pages). By default, uses a mixture of postscript gray fill and cross-hatching. Options include rotating the image, selecting the hierarchy depth to plot, and plotting style customization. Plots are in B/W only. It was posted to comp.sources.misc, and is available by ftp from uunet.uu.net(192.48.96.2) as: comp.sources.misc/volume8/cif2ps.Z. cifplot: Cifplot plots CIF format files on a screen, printer or plotter. Cifplot reads the .cif file, generates a b/w or color raster dump, and sends it to the printer. Plots can be scaled, clipped, or rotated. Hierarchy depth is selectable, as well as the choice of colormap or fill pattern. An option exists which will compress raster data to reduce the required disk space. For those plotting to a Versatec plotter, there is also a printer filter/driver available called vdmp. cifplot (m2c version, from chiang@m2c.org <Rit Chiang>): The cifplot program from M2C is not in public domain. However, we do provide P.D. CAD tools to university for a fee of $2500/year to cover our cost on distribution, telephone hotline support, documentation and tutorials, etc., under our CUME (Clearinghouse for Undergraduate Microelectronics Education) program. This program, in the past, was sub- sidized by NSF. The cifplot program was modified by M2C to support plotting for B&W PostScript and color PostScript printers, besides the versatec plotters. We also provide plotting services for people who sent us a cif file. The cost is $20/per 24" color versatec plot for University and $50 for oth- ers. For more information on the CUME program or the plotting service, please send e-mail to hotline@m2c.org. oct2ps (available as part of the octtools distribution): It is possible to convert your .mag file to octtools, and then you may use oct2ps to print it. Both cif2ps and oct2ps work well for conversion to postscript. They do look slightly different, so pick your favorite. Note that cif2ps can be converted to adobe encapsulated postscript easily by adding a bounding box comment. oct2ps does convert to color postscript, which can be a plus for those of you with color postscript printers. Flea: Flea ([F]un [L]oveable [E]ngineering [A]rtist) is a program used to plot magic and cif design files to various output devices. Parameters are passed to flea through the flags and flag data or through .flearc files and tech files. Supports: HP7580 plotter, HP7550 hpgl file output, HP7550 plotter lpr output, Postscript file output, Laser Writer lpr out- put, Versatec versaplot random output. Options include: Does line draw- ings with crosshatching for postscript, versatec, and hp plotters. Many options (depth, label depth, scale, path, format...) Available by ftp from zeus.ee.msstate.edu in pub/flea.tar.Z. pplot: Can output color PostScript from CIF files. The source is available from: tesla.ee.cornell.edu in /pub/cad/pplot.tar.Z. It only generates PS files (including color PS), and there's no support for EPS files. It is lim- ited in its support of cif commands. (Wire, roundflash, and delete are not supported.) It only supports manhattan geometry (Polygons and rota- tions may only be in 90 degree multiples.) vic: Part of the U. of Washington's Northwest Lab, for Integrated Systems Cad Tool Release (previously UW/NW VLSI Consortium). Does postscript and HP pen plotters. Only available as part of the package. CIF/Magic -> EPS -> groff/latex Currently no prgram here directly generates EPS files. It is possible to add an EPS bounding box (%% BoundingBox: l t b r) to the output from these programs to get an EPS file. Alternatively, ps2eps or ps2epsf may be used. 5: What tools are used to layout verification? Gemini: This is an excellent program that was done by Carl Ebeling. I am not sure if he is still working on developing additional features or not. The program will compare two sim format netlists, and check w/l values. As far as I know it only supports three terminal devices. Contact: Carl Ebeling Computer Science Department, FR-35 University of Washington Seattle, WA 98195 ebeling@cs.washington.edu Wellchecker: (from MUG) ftp venera.isi.edu (128.9.0.32) netcmp: Part of the caltech tools (see the "Caltech VLSI CAD Tools" section) 6: How are people doing netlist conversion and what about EDIF? (From Nigel Whitaker <nigelw@computer-science.manchester.ac.uk>) The following are published by the Electronic Industries Association: The EDIF Version 2 0 0 Reference Guide (ISBN 0 -7908-0000-4) EIA-1 -- Introduction to EDIF (User Guide) EIA-2 EDIF Connectivity (User Guide) Using EDIF 2 0 0 for Schematic Transfer (TSC Application Note EDIF/P-1) and are available from: Electronic Industries Association Standard Sales Department (Attn: Cecelia Fleming) 2001 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Washington D.C. 20006, USA and American Technical Publishers 27--29 Knowl Piece, Wilbury Way, Hitchin, Hertfordshire, SG4 0SX, UK Tel: +44 462 437933 The University of Manchester publish a set of `Questions and Answers'. These are user's technical questions about EDIF answered by the EDIF technical committee. There are currently 5 volumes. There is also a University of Manchester Technical Report which presents a description of the semantics of EDIF Version 2 0 0. This includes an Information Model of part of EDIF Version 2 0 0 written in EXPRESS. The title of this report (UMCS-6-91) is `Proposal for an Information Model for EDIF', by Rachel Lau. The Questions and Answers and the technical report are available from: Julie Spink EDIF Technical Advisory Centre, Depeartment of Computer Science University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PL, UK Tel: +44 61 275 6289, FAX: +44 61 275 6280, e-mail: edif-support@cs.man.ac.uk EDIF Version 2 0 101 was announced at the Design Automation Conference (DAC) on 8th June 1992. It is a draft for Version 2 1 0 which is due out in September 1992 and will be the version that is officially balloted as an EIA standard. From June 8th the BNF for Version 2 0 101 (as well as a syntax checker / parser, test files and other EDIF related sources / information) will be available for anonymous ftp from edif.cs.man.ac.uk (130.88.229.234) in subdirectories of /pub/edif, it includes: Version 2 0 101 BNF Version 2 0 0 BNF Example EDIF files. A table driven 2 0 101 Parser/Syntax checker. Information about conferences/workshops and EDIF related documents. New files are being added, as we have time. If you have any suggestions for things which we should put up for FTP, please email us. We also need people to contribute example EDIF files, which can be made publically available, to our collection, again please email us. (email address is: edif-support@cs.man.ac.uk) 7: What layout examples are available? From MUG: Analog neural network library of cells, 66-bit Manchester carry-skip adder, static ram fabricated at 2-micron, an analog op amp, ftp venera.isi.edu (128.9.0.32) Located in pub/mug. 8: How can I get my lsi design fabbed and how much will it cost? (From Mosis) Information is available from mosis for pricing and fab schedules through an automatic email system: Mail to mosis@mosis.edu with the message body as follows: REQUEST: INFORMATION TOPIC: TOPICS REQUEST: END for general information and a list of available topics. If you need to contact a person at mosis, you may mail to mosis@mosis.edu with REQUEST: ATTENTION. (From chiang@m2c.org <Rit Chiang>) M2C can also provide low-cost, low- volume prototyping fab services. The current technology available to the public is the 2um NWell single-poly double-metal process. For pricing information and fab schedule, please send e-mail to hotline@m2c.org. (Contributed by Don Bouldin of the University of Tennessee) Recently, I contacted several foundries to determine which com- panies are interested in fabricating small to moderate lots of wafers for cus- tom CMOS designs. I believe many of the readers of this column are designers who wish to have fabricated only 1,000 to 20,000 parts per year. There are currently several prototyp- ing services (e.g. MOSIS and Orbit) that can produce fewer than 100 parts for about $100 each and there are also several foun- dries which are willing to produce 100,000 custom parts for $5- $20 each (depending on the die size and yield). My purpose was to identify those companies filling the large gap between these two services. The prices in the table below are a result of averaging the data sup- plied by four foundries. The raw data varied by more than +/- 40% so the information should be used only in the early stages of budgetary plan- ning. Once the design specifications are fairly well known, the designer should contact one or more foundries to obtain specific budgetary quotes. As the design nears comple- tion, binding quotes can then be obtained. The following assumptions were made by the foundries: All designs will require custom CMOS wafer fabrication using a double-metal, single-poly process with a feature size between 2.0 and 1.2 microns. The designs may contain some analog circuitry and some RAM so the yield has been calculated pessimistically. The dies will be pack- aged and tested at 1 MHz using a Sentry- type digital tester for 5-10 seconds per part. The customer will furnish the test vectors. Piece Price includes Wafer Fabrication+Die Packaging+Part Testing Size Package Quantity |1,000 | 5,000 | 10,000 | 20,000 |100,000 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 2 mm x 2 mm; 84 PLCC: | $ 27 | $ 6 | $ 5 | $ 4 | $ 3 | 5 mm x 5 mm; 84 PLCC: | $ 31 | $ 12 | $ 8 | $ 7 | $ 6 | 5 mm x 5 mm; 132 PGA: | $ 49 | $ 30 | $ 25 | $ 22 | $ 18 | 7 mm x 7 mm; 132 PGA: | $ 65 | $ 44 | $ 36 | $ 31 | $ 27 | Lithography charges: $ 20,000 - $ 40,000 Preferred Formats: GDS-II or CIF Tapes Additional charges for Second-Poly: $ 5,000 (This is from MUG 19, there is also a list of foundries that these prices were derived from. In the interested of saving space, I have ommitted the list. The list is available from MUG's ftp site included in MUG newsletter #19.) 9: Mosis fab experience. Would anyone like to comment on experiences or problems that they have seen with MOSIS, or parametric testing results that are of general interest? Perhaps, experience with mosis nwell low noise versus standard nwell. 10: Archive sites for comp.lsi.cad and comp.lsi (None of these are comprehensive archives, rather, they have about 3 postings each) comp.lsi.cad: cnam.cnam.fr in /pub/Archives/comp.archives/auto/comp.lsi.cad cs.dal.ca in /pub/comp.archives/comp.lsi.cad srawgw.sra.co.jp in /.a/sranha-bp/arch/arch/comp.archives/auto/comp.lsi.cad 11: Other newsgroups that relate to comp.lsi* alt.cad comp.cad.cadence comp.lang.verilog comp.lang.vhdl comp.sys.mentor sci.electronics 12: Simulation programs tips/tricks/bugs Berkeley spice: Pspice: Hspice: If your simulation won't converge for a given DC input, you can ramp the input and print the DC operating point and then set the nodes that way for future simulations. 13: Getting the latest version of the FAQ: Mail to clcfaq@eecs.ucdavis.edu with the subject "send faq". 14: Converting from/to GDSII/CIF/Magic Magic version 6.3 is capable of reading and writting to all three for- mats. (From the magic man page): calma [option] [args] This command is used to read and write files in Calma GDS II Stream for- mat (version 3.0, corresponding to GDS II Release 5.1). This format is like CIF, in that it describes physical mask layers instead of Magic layers. In fact, the technology file specifies a correspondence between CIF and Calma layers. The current CIF out- put style (see cif ostyle) controls how Calma stream layers are generated from Magic layers. cif [option] [args] Read or write files in Caltech Intermediate Form (CIF). 15: CFI (CAD Framework Initiative Inc.) (From Randy Kirchhof <rkk@cfi.org>) For those of you who may be unfamiliar with our work, The CAD Framework Initiative Inc. was formed in May 1988. We're located in Austin, TX, although we're a distributed company. We're a not-for- profit consortium formed under the laws of the state of Delaware. Our charter is to gain consensus from industry users, the academic community, and vendors, to develop guidelines for an industry acceptable CAD framework implementa- tion. A CAD framework is a software infrastructure which provides a common operating environment for CAD tools. Through a framework, a user should be able to launch and manage tools, create, organize, and manage data, graphically view the entire design process and perform design management tasks such as configuration management, version management, etc. CFI is well into the final stages prior to release 1.0. We recently returned from the DAC convention in Anaheim, where there was an extraor- dinary amount of interest shown in our Pilot project demonstrations. We were able to demonstrate robust, working CFI-compliant software from a large number of member companies. Cooperation in our ongoing effort has been very good from our outset. Also, please be aware that CFI has virtually all of our working documents online, available via anonymous FTP to cfi.org. (192.138.153.1) There is also an e-mailserver. Send an empty message to cfi-server@cfi.org. The mail server & FTP use the same directory. CFI Release 1.0 is on schedule, up for final ballot in October and will be formally released in December of this year. Many vendors will ini- tially release CFI compliant software as early as 2Q 1993. 16: What free tools are there available, and what can they do? (This section can be viewed as a cross reference to the detailed descrip- tion of software that follows.) Analog VLSI and Neural Systems: Caltech VLSI CAD Tools Automated place and route: octtools, Lager Lsi (polygon) schematic capture: magic, octtools(vem) Layout Verification: caltech tools (netcmp), gemini (Washington Univerity), wellchk (MUG) PCB auto/manual place and route: PADS pcb, PCB (Just for testing lsi designs, of course :) Simulation: irsim(comes with magic), esim, pspice, isplice3, watand, switcap2 Synthisis: octtools, bliss, Lager, item Standard schematic capture: PADS logic, PSPICE for windows 17: Berkeley Spice (Current version 3e2) (From spice_info on ic.berkeley.edu) Berkeley Spice this is no longer freely distributable. (This includes even old versions of spice3.) Documentation is available on ic.berkeley.edu. General information is available from "spice@berkeley.edu". For more information on how to acquire Spice, please send your physical mailing address to "cindy@janus.berkeley.edu" and request a software catalog. This will give you all of the necessary information for ordering Spice3e2 and other Berkeley CAD software, including an order form and use agreements. At last check, the cost for spice3e2 was $250.00 (this price may change without notice). Spice3e2 has been compiled on the following systems: DECstation/VAXstation/VAX Ultrix 4.x X11r4 Sun3/Sun4 SunOS 4.x X11r4 IBM RS/6000 AIX V3 X11r3 SGI Personal Iris Irix 3.2 Sequent Symmetry or Balance Dynix 3.0 X11r4 HP 9000/300 HP-UX 7.0 NextStation Next 2.0 IBM PC (or compatible) MS-DOS 3.x/Microsoft C 5.1 or later Spice3e2 is distributed in source form only. The C compiler "gcc" has been used successfully to compile spice3e2, as well as the standard com- pilers for the systems listed above. Note the the X11 interface to Spice3 requires the "Athena Widgets Toolkit" ("Xaw") which may be avail- able only in the "unsupported" portion of your vendor software. Spice3 displays graphs under X11, PostScript, or a graphics-terminal independent library, or as a crude, spice2-like line-printer plot. On the IBM PC, CGA, EGA, and VGA displays are supported through the MicroSoft graphics library. Note in particular that there is no Suntools interface. Note that for practical performance a math co-processor is required for an IBM PC based on the 286 processor. A math co-processor is also recom- mended for the more advanced IBM PC systems. The Unix distribution comes on 1/2" 9-track tape in "tar" format. The MS-DOS distribution comes on several 3.5" floppy diskettes (both high and low density) in the standard MS-DOS format. The contents of both distri- butions are identical, including file names. Spice versions are numbered "NXM", where "N" is a number representing the major release (as in re-write), "X" is a letter representing a feature change reflected by a change in the documentation, and "M" is a number indicating a minor revision or bug-patch number. We anticipate that FUTURE distributions will also come on QIC-150 1/4" (a.k.a. "Sun cartridge tape" high density or 150MB 1/4" tape), and a compressed tar files on two 3.5" diskettes for Sun or VAX systems with 3.5" drives. * Note that these future formats are anticipated but not guaranteed and do NOT apply for Spice3e2 *. There is no anonymous ftp access for the Spice3 source. The manual for spice3e2 (in it's troff/me format or postscript format) is available via anonymous ftp from "ic.berkeley.edu" in the directory "pub/spice3". Patches or upgrades for Spice3 are _not_ normally supplied, however we have made exceptions to this rule. Beorn Johnson Spice maintenance UC Berkeley, EECS/ERL/CAD Group (beorn@ic.berkeley.edu) Please direct inquiries to "spice@berkeley.edu" or "spice- bugs@berkeley.edu" 18: Octtools (Current version 5.1) (From the ANNOUNCE-5.1 that comes with it) Octtools is a collection of programs and libraries that form an integrated system for IC design. The system includes tools for PLA and multiple-level logic synthesis, state assignment, standard-cell, gate- matrix and macro-cell placement and routing, custom-cell design, circuit, switch and logic-level simulation, and a variety of utility programs for manipulating schematic, symbolic, and geometric design data. Most tools are integrated with the Oct data manager and the VEM user interface. The software requires UNIX, the window system X11R4 including the Athena Widget Set. The design manager VOV and a few other tools require the C++ compiler g++. Octtools-5.1 have been built and tested on the following combinations of machines and operating systems: DECstation 3100, 5000 running Ultrix 4.1 and 4.2; DEC VAX running Ultrix 4.1 and 4.2; Sun 3 and 4 running OS 4.0 and Sun SparcStation running OS 4.0. The program has been tried on the following machines, but is not supported: Sequent Symmetry, IBM RS/6000 running AIX 3.1. To obtain a copy of Octtools 5.1 (8mm, tk50, or 1/4inch cartridge QIC150) and a printed copy of the documentation) for a $250 distribution charge, contact: Cindy Manly-Fields Industrial Liaison Program 479 Cory Hall University of California Berkeley, CA 94720 19: Lager (Current version 4.0): (From MUG 18) The LAGER system is a set of CAD tools for performing parameterized VLSI design with a slant towards DSP applications (but not limited to DSP applications). A standard cell library, datapath library, several module generators and several pad libraries comprise the cell library. These tools and libraries have originated from UC Berkeley, UCLA, USC, Missis- sippi State, and ITD. The tool development has been funded by DARPA under the Rapid Prototyping Contract headed by Bob Brodersen (UC Berke- ley). LAGER 3.0 was described in MUG 15. Send email to reese@erc.msstate.edu if you are interested in obtaining the toolset via FTP. If you cannot get the distribution via ftp then send one 1/4" 600 ft. tape OR an 8 mm tape (Exabyte compatible) to Bob Reese by phone at (601)-325-3670 or at one of the following addresses: (US Mail Address) P.O. Box 6176 Mississippi State, MS 39762 (FEDEX) 2 Research Boulevard Starkville, MS 39759 Be sure to include a return FEDEX waybill we can use to ship your tape back to you. Instead of sending a tape and FEDX waybill, you can also just send us a check for $75 and we will send you back a tape. Make the check payable to Mississippi State Univ. The tape will be written on a high density tape drive (150 Mb). Older low density SUN tape drives (60 Mb) cannot read this format so you need to have access to one of SUN's newer tape drives. 20: BLIS (Current version 2.0): (From their announcement posted here) BLIS (Behavior-to-Logic Interactive Synthesis) is an environment for the synthesis of digital circuits from high-level descriptions. Version 2.0 supports functional-level synthesis starting from the ELLA hardware description language. Other languages can easily be supported by inter- facing a parser to the internal data-flow representation of BLIS. BLIS is distributed through the Industrial Liason's Program (ILP) Office of the UCB EECS department. The cost of $250 covers media and distribu- tion charges. Binaries are provided for SUN4 and DEC MIPS architectures but BLIS should compile on most other machines supported by the GNU C and C++ compilers (e.g. HP, vax, etc). ELLA language documentation and simu- lator are not supplied with the BLIS distribution, but can be obtained from Computer General. Ordering information can be obtained from: Cindy Manly-Fields EECS/ILP Software Distribution 479 Cory Hall University of California Berkeley, CA 94720 Telephone: (510) 643-6687 Electronic Mail Address: cindy@hera.Berkeley.edu 21: ITEM (Taken from the item.news file contained in the package:) The first public release of ITEM, UCSC's logic minimizer using if-then- else DAGs, was made 2 January 1991. The system is available by anonymous ftp from ftp.cse.ucsc.edu, in directory pub/item as a compressed tar archive (item.tar.Z). Also available are tech reports about the algo- rithms and data structures (88-28, 88-29, and 90-43). ITEM can also be found at ftp.cse.ucsc.edu in the pub/item directory. 22: PADS logic/PADS PCB: While this is a commercial product, they have just recently made avail- able a shareware version. This version is fully functional and indenti- cal to their schematic capture and PCB autoplace and route software except that it is limited to about 50 components. It is available for IBM PC/PC compatibles directly from PADS, or from anynonmous ftp at several sites including wuarchive.wustl.edu in /mirrors/msdos/cad/pads*.zip. There is a $50 registration fee if you would like to get future updates from them. 23: Another PCB Layout Package: (from Randy Nevin <randyn@microsoft.com>:) I'm distributing a freely-copyable software package to do autorouting of (1- and 2-layer) printed circuit boards on a PC or compatible. It is written in C (with a little .asm), and all source code is included. There is an autorouter, a board viewer, a rat nest viewer, and some output filters which generate postscript and hp laserjet output files. There is no charge, but I maintain the copyright (it is not public domain). If you want to read about it, I published an article on autorouting algorithms in the sept '89 dr. dobb's journal. ega is required (for the viewing pro- grams). If you'd like to get the software, send me a stamped, self- addressed floppy mailer and a floppy. I can handle 5.25" 360K or 1.2M, or 3.5" 1.4M, but if you send 360K there is some extra code that I won't be able to fit on the disk, so high density is better. I developed this software at home on my own time, and it is not related to what I do for my employer, so I will not use my employer's email resource to distribute it. however, it is available for anonymous ftp access on wsmr-simtel20.army.mil in PD1:<MSDOS.CAD>PCB.ARC, last I heard. I do not keep simtel up to date. But the version there is useable, and does include all source code. Randy Nevin 24135 SE 16th PL Issaquah, WA 98027 24: Magic (Current version 6.3): This is a polygon based lsi layout editor. It is capable of reading and writing magic, calma (version 3.0, corresponding to GDS II Release 5.1), and cif. It is available for anonymous ftp from gatekeeper.dec.com in /pub/DEC/magic. 25: PSpice: This is a commercial product, however, they do have a student version that is available (limited to around 16 transistors). PC dos version: 5c wuarchive.wustl.edu in /mirrors/msdos/education/pspice5c.zip PC windows3 version 5.1: WSMR-SIMTEL20.Army.Mil in pd1:<msdos.windows3> called PSPIC51A.ZIP and PSPIC51B.ZIP Mac version 5.1: wuarchive.wustl.edu in /mirrors/info-mac/app/pspice-51.hqx 26: Esim: A new version of the switch-level simulator ESIM that can handle CMOS transmission gates is available through MUG, ftp venera.isi.edu (128.9.0.32)) 27: Isplice3 (Current version 2.0): This is a high level simulator, I do not know much more then that. It is available via anonymous ftp from uicadb.csl.uiuc.edu. 28: Watand: (From Phil Munro's posting <FC138001@ysub.ysu.edu>) Spice is not the only circuit simulator available. There is one called WATAND (WATerloo ANalysis and Design) which runs on a mainframe (and some other workstations). We use it here under CMS on our mainframe computer. Unlike Spice and its derivatives, Watand is a fully *interactive* pro- gram; that is, one enters an environment where analyses can be run and rerun, values changed and queried, options changed, and even different circuits can be run, all without leaving the environment. "WATAND Users Manual", by Dr. Phil Munro, April 1992, 233 pages, unbound, $7.00 plus whatever shipping charges the bookstore might ask of you. "WATAND Introduction and Examples", by Dr. P. Munro, September 1991, 160 pages, spiral bound, incomplete edition Chapters 1 - 10. The cost is $4 or $5, I think, plus shipping. You should write to Youngstown State University Bookstore Youngstown, Ohio 44555 Watand itself is available from Mark O'Leavey, Waterloo Engineering Software, 22 King St. S., Suite 302, Waterloo, Ontario, CANADA, N2L 1C6. Fax: (519) 746-7931 Phone: (519) 741-8097. It's currently only available for DECStation and Sparcstation. 29: Caltech VLSI CAD Tools: (From John Lazzaro <lazzaro@boom.CS.Berkeley.EDU>) Caltech VLSI CAD Tool Distribution We are offering to the Internet community a pre-release version of the Caltech electronic CAD system for analog VLSI neural networks. This dis- tribution contains tools for schematic capture, netlist creation, and analog and digital simulation (log), IC mask layout, extraction, and DRC (wol), simple chip compilation (wolcomp), MOSIS fabrication request gen- eration (mosis), netlist comparison (netcmp), data plotting (view) and postscript graphics editing (until). These tools were used exclusively for the design and test of all the integrated circuits described in Carver Mead's book "Analog VLSI and Neural Systems". Until was used as the primary tool for figure creation for the book. The distribution also contains an example of an analog VLSI chip that was designed and fabri- cated with these tools, and an example of an Actel field-programmable gate array design that was simulated and converted to Actel format with these tools. These tools are distributed under a license very similar to the GNU license; the minor changes protect Caltech from liability. To use these tools, you need: 1) A unix workstation that runs X11r3, X11r4, or Openwindows 2) A color screen 3) Gcc or other ANSI-standard compiler Right now only Sun Sparcstations are officially supported, although resourceful users have the tools running on Sun 3, HP Series 300, and Decstations. If don't have a Sparcstation or an HP 300, only take the package if you feel confident in your C/Unix abilities to do the porting required; someday soon we will integrate the changes back into the sources officially, although many "ifdef mips" are already in the code. If you are interested in some or all of these tools, 1) ftp to hobiecat.cs.caltech.edu on the Internet, 2) log in as anonymous and use your username as the password 3) cd ~ftp/pub/chipmunk 4) copy the file README, that contains more information. European researchers can access these files through anonymous ftp using the machine ifi.uio.no in Norway; the files are in the directory chip- munk. We are unable to help users who do not have Internet ftp access. 30: Switcap2 (Current version 1.1): This is a switched capactor simulator. It is available from: SWITCAP Distribution centre, 411 Low Memorial Library, New York, N.Y. 10027. 31: Test Software for Abramovici Text: (Contributed by Mel Breuer of the Univ. of Southern California) Many faculty are using the text by Abramovici, Breuer, and Fried- man entitled "Digital Systems Testing and Testable Design" in a class on testing. They have expressed an interest to supplement their course with software tools. At USC we have developed such a suite of tools. They include a good value simulator, fault simulator, fault col- lapsing module, and D-algorithm-based ATPG module for combinational logic. The software has been specifi- cally designed to be easily understood, modified and enhanced. The algorithms follow those described in the text. The software can be run in many modes, such as one module at a time, single step, interactively or as a batch process. Stu- dents can use the software "as is" to study the operation of the various algo- rithms, e.g. simulation of a latch using different delay models. Also, simple programming projects can be given, such as extend the simulator from a 3-valued system to a 5-valued system; or change the D-algorithm so that it only does single path sensiti- zation. There are literally over 50 interesting software enhancements that can be made by changing only a small part of the code. The system is written in C and runs on a SUN. If you are currently using the Abramovici text and would like a copy of this software, please send a message to Prof. Melvin Breuer at mb@poisson.usc.edu. 32: Test Generation and Fault Simulation Software (Contributed by Dr. Dong Ha of Virginia Tech) Two automatic test pattern generators (ATPGs) and a fault simula- tor for combinational circuits were developed at Virginia Tech, and the source codes of the tools are now ready for public release. ATLANTA is an ATPG for stuck-at faults. It is based on the FAN algorithm and a parallel-pattern, single-fault propaga- tion technique. It consists of optional sessions using random pattern testing, deterministic test pattern generation and test compaction. SOPRANO is an ATPG for stuck-open faults. The algo- rithm of SOPRANO is similar to ATLANTA except two consecutive patterns are applied to detect a stuck-open fault. FSIM is a parallel-pattern, single-fault simulator. All the tools are written in C. The source codes are fully commented, and README files contain user's manuals. Technical papers about the tools were presented at DAC-90 and ITC-91. All three tools are free to univer- sities. Companies are requested to make a contribution of $5000 but will have free technical assistance. For detailed in- formation, con- tact: Dr. Dong Ha Electrical Engineering Virginia Tech Blacksburg, VA 24061 TEL: 703-231-4942 FAX: 703-231-3362 dsha@vtvm1.cc.vt.edu 33: Olympus Synthesis System (From Rajesh K. Gupta <rgupta@sirius.Stanford.EDU>) Recently there have been several enquiries about the Olympus Synthesis System. Here are answers to some commonly asked questions. For details please send mail to "synthesis@chronos.stanford.edu". 1. What is Olympus Synthesis System? Olympus is a result of a continuing project on synthesis of digital cir- cuits here at Stanford University. Currently, Olympus synthesis system consists of a set of programs that perform synthesis tasks for synchro- nous, non-pipelined circuits starting from a description in a hardware description language, HardwareC. The output of synthesis is a technology independent netlist of gates. This netlist can be input to logic synthesis and technology mapping tools within Olympus or to UC Berkeley's mis/sis. Current technology mapping in Olympus is targeted for LSI logic standard cells and a set of PGA archi- tectures: Actel and Xilinx. 2. How is Olympus distributed? The source code and documentation for Olympus is distributed via ftp. 3. What are the system requirements for Olympus? Olympus has been tested on following hardware platforms: mips, sparc, hp9000s300, hp9000s800, hp9000s700, vax. All the programs in Olympus come with a default menu-driven ASCII interface. There is also a graphi- cal user interface, called "olympus", provided with the distribution. This interface is written using Motif procedures. You would need about 40 MBytes of disk space to extract and compile the system. 4. How can I obtain a copy of Olympus? Olympus is distributed free of charge by Stanford University. However, it is not available via anonymous ftp. In order to obtain a copy please send a mail to "olympus@chronos.stanford.edu" where an automatic-reply mailer would send instructions for obtaining Olympus software. 34: OASIS logic synthesis (From William R. Richards Jr. <richards@mcnc.org>) OASIS is a complete logic synthesis system based on the Logic3 HDL develped at MCNC (unfortunately neither VHDL or Verilog compatible). kk@mcnc.org is the person responsible for it. OASIS is available to US universities for $500 and non-US universities for $600. Industrial license is $3000. 35: CAzM, a Spice-like table-based analog circuit simulator (From William R. Richards Jr. <richards@mcnc.org>) Second is CAzM, a Spice-like table-based analog circuit simulator. It offers significant performance advantages over other Berkeley Spice derivatives. It is used fairly extensively in our design community. US university license is $175, non-US $250. Commercial license is $800. It comes with an X11- based signal viewing tool Sigview which is public domain and may be anonymous ftp'd from mcnc.org. I am the primary contact for CAzM at MCNC. _____ / ___ \ Wes Hardaker / / \/ Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science \--/ /\ University of California at Davis __________________ \/ /--\ Davis CA 95616 / Recycle \ /\___/ / (hardaker@bass.eecs.ucdavis.edu) / It's not too late! \ \_____/