MICROELECTRONIC SYSTEMS NEWS

FILENUMBER: 1078 BEGIN_KEYWORDS FREE VLSI DESIGN SOFTWARE UNIX WINDOWS MACS ELECTRIC END_KEYWORDS DATE: August 2002 TITLE: FREE VLSI DESIGN SOFTWARE FOR UNIX, WINDOWS AND MACS
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TITLE: FREE VLSI DESIGN SOFTWARE FOR UNIX, WINDOWS AND MACS

The Electric VLSI Design System was written by Steven  Rubin  and
is available at no charge on-line.  Electric is a highly flexible
and powerful software system that can handle many different types
of  circuit  design (MOS, Bipolar, schematics, printed circuitry,
hardware description languages, etc.) The geometry can be at  any
angle,  not just Manhattan.  Layout is done by placing and wiring
electrical components. Although this  is  standard  practice  for
schematics,  it  is  unusual  for  chip layout. Electric has many
analysis tools, including design-rule checking,  simulation,  and
network  comparison  (LVS).  It  also  has  many synthesis tools,
including   routing,   compaction,   silicon   compilation,   PLA
generation, and compensation. Artisan standard cell libraries can
be used; however, the supplied auto place and route software uses
the  old  style  of  alternating  standard-cell rows with routing
rows.  Electric interfaces well with SPICE, IRSIM and DRACULA and
includes   a   FPGA  architecture  which  can  be  configured  or
programmed.  The software provides for  3-D  visualization  of  a
layout  which  facilitates  the  understanding of the interaction
among layers.  The user interface is quite sophisticated and runs
on  all  popular  workstations (Windows, Macintosh, and UNIX). It
also provides interpretive languages (Lisp, TCL,  and  Java)  for
advanced users. The most interesting feature of the system is its
global enforcement of connectivity which provides top-down design
capability and ease of post-design modifications.

In addition to extensive on-line documentation for the  software,
a  textbook  entitled  "Computer  Aids  for  VLSI Design" is also
available at no  charge  on-line.   For  additional  information,
contact:

      Static Free Software
      4119 Alpine Road
      Portola Valley, California 94028
      TEL: (650)-851-2927
      FAX: (650)-851-9095
      strubin@staticfreesoft.com
      http://www.staticfreesoft.com

=== Added Jan. 03:

>From David Harris 

I've been using Electric for three years at Harvey Mudd  College.
The  tool  has  improved  remarkably  over this time.  It runs on
Windows, Unix, and Mac.  It works fairly well  for  basic  design
tasks:    schematics,   layout,   DRC,   ERC,  LVS,  switch-level
simulation  (with  IRSIM),  and   SPICE   netlisting.    It   has
rudamentary   place-and-route  capability  and  a  Java  language
interface.  It's biggest limitation at this point in  my  opinion
is  the  inability to read CIF or GDS into geometry that Electric
can usefully manipulate.  New releases come out often,  but  some
are more stable than others.

I have a sequence of five labs in which students design an  8-bit
MIPS  microprocessor.  We are about to use the labs for the third
year at HMC.  You can download them at:  E158

The first lab teaches most of  what  you  need  to  know  to  get
started  with Electric.  We have successfully fabricated a number
of chips with MOSIS in the AMI 1.5 and 0.6 micron  processes  and
have  a  pad  frame  generator  for  the 0.6 micron process.  Sun
Microsystems Laboratories also uses Electric for research  chips.
I'm happy to share our work to increase the Electric user base.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
^ Prof. David Harris                       email: David_Harris@hmc.edu ^
^ Department of Engineering           URL: http://www3.hmc.edu/~harris ^
^ Harvey Mudd College                                                  ^
^ 301 E. Twelfth St.                           (909) 607-3623 (office) ^
^ Claremont CA 91711 USA                          (909) 621-8967 (fax) ^
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