[Magic-dev] Re: Web Site Comments

[R. Timothy Edwards]

Dear Calin,

> Are there any plans to "port" the technology files to Magic 7.3 ?
> Or do the old technology files still work with magic 7.3 because i 
> understood that there are some differences between mmagic pre 7.3
> technology files and magic 7.3 technology files.

There are enhancements to the technology file format in 7.3, but the
original technology files work fine.  The only real behavioral
difference is that contacts do not stack unless this is explicitly
spelled out in the tech file.  In the original tech27 format, some
people relied on the ability to draw, for example, a m345 contact
on top of a m123 contact to create a m12345 structure.  Apparently,
this actually worked, although I have difficulty understanding how
it can work without completely screwing up the database.  At any
rate, my recommendation is to insert the keyword "stackable" at the
end of the "contact" section of the techfile, and stop using the
stacked contact types (e.g., "m123c"---just draw "m3c" on top of
"m2c").

There is a program I wrote called "convert" that makes some attempt
to convert format-27 technology files into format-30 files, mainly
by removing the stacked contact types (this makes the technology
file quite a bit smaller).  It works on everything except the
"cifinput" section, which will probably need to be hand-edited if
you want to import CIF/GDS files.  The source code and some comments
on the program are at http://opencircuitdesign.com/magic/; click on
the "Technology Files" button, and go to the section titled "The New
Technology Files".

I have now taped out 6 or 7 major chip designs using magic-7.3, in
five different technologies (AMI .35, TSMC .18 and .09, Jazz .18, and
Peregrine 0.25).  All of them (so far) have worked (I wouldn't say
"flawlessly", but this is experimental stuff).

What we in the magic-dev community really need to do is to push to
get this stuff back up on download sites for MOSIS and, hopefully,
other fab facilities as well.  It is less a matter of porting
technology files than of writing scripts and documentation to put
together an environment equivalent to a Cadence toolkit.  It has
been suggested to me by several people, including Rajit, that it
would be extremely helpful to have tools to convert from Cadence
to magic.

						---Tim

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| Dr. R. Timothy Edwards (Tim)   | email: tim.edwards at multigig.com     |
| MultiGiG, Inc.                 | web:   http://www.multigig.com      |
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