Provided by: electric_9.07+dfsg-7_all bug

NAME

       electric - a VLSI design system

SYNOPSIS

       electric [OPTIONS]

DESCRIPTION

       Electric  is a general purpose system for all electrical design.  It currently knows about
       nMOS,  CMOS,  Bipolar,  artwork,  schematics,  printed-circuit  boards,  and  many   other
       technologies.   It  has a large set of tools including multiple design-rule checkers (both
       incremental and hierarchical),  an  electrical  rules  checker,  over  a  dozen  simulator
       interfaces,  multiple  generators  (PLA and pad frame), multiple routers (stitching, maze,
       river), network comparison, compaction, compensation,  a  VHDL  compiler,  and  a  silicon
       compiler that places-and-routes standard cells.

       In addition to the text terminal used to invoke the program, Electric uses a color display
       with a mouse as a work station.  Separate windows are used for text and graphics.

       If a library disk file is mentioned on the command line, that file is read as the  initial
       design for editing.  In addition, the following switches are recognized:

OPTIONS

       -mdi
              multiple document interface mode

       -sdi
              single document interface mode

       -NOMINMEM
              ignore minimum memory provided for JVM

       -s <script name>
              bean shell script to execute

       -version
              version information

       -v
              brief version information

       -debug
              debug mode. Extra information is available

       -threads <numThreads>
              recommended size of thread pool for Job execution.

       -logging <filePath>
              log server events in a binary file

       -socket <socket>
              socket port for client/server interaction

       -batch
              batch mode implies 'no GUI', and nothing more

       -server
              dump trace of snapshots

       -client <machine name>
              replay trace of snapshots

       -help
              this message

REPRESENTATION

       Circuits  are  represented  as networks that contain nodes and connecting arcs.  The nodes
       are electrical components such as transistors, logic gates, and contacts.   The  arcs  are
       simply  wires that connect the nodes.  In addition, each node has a set of ports which are
       the sites of arc connection.  A technology, then, is simply a set of primitive  nodes  and
       arcs that are the building blocks of circuits designed in that environment.

       Collections  of  nodes  and  arcs can also be aggregated into facets of cells which can be
       used higher in the hierarchy to act as nodes.  These user-defined nodes  have  ports  that
       come  from  internal  nodes  whose  ports are exported.  Facets are collected in libraries
       which contain a hierarchically consistent design.

       Arcs have properties that help constrain the design.   For  example,  an  arc  may  rotate
       arbitrarily  or  be  fixed  in  their  angle.  Arcs can also be stretchable or rigid under
       modification of their connecting nodes.  These constraints propagate  hierarchically  from
       the bottom-up.

TECHNOLOGIES

       A  large  set  of  technologies  is  provided in Electric.  These can be modified with the
       technology  editor,  or  completely  new  technologies  can  be  created.   The  following
       paragraphs describe some of the basic technologies.

       The  nMOS  technologies  have  arcs  available  in Metal, Polysilicon, and Diffusion.  The
       primitive nodes include normal contacts, buried  contacts,  transistors,  and  "pins"  for
       making  arc  corners.   Transistors  may  be  serpentine  and  the pure layer nodes may be
       polygonally described with the node trace command.  The "nmos" technology has the standard
       Mead&Conway design rules.

       The  CMOS  technologies  have  arcs  available  in Metal, Polysilicon, and Diffusion.  The
       Diffusion arcs may be found in a P-well implant or in a P+ implant.  Thus, there  are  two
       types  of  metal-to-diffusion  contacts,  two  types  of  diffusion pins, and two types of
       transistors: in P-well and in P+ implant.  As with nMOS, the transistors may be serpentine
       and  the  pure layer primitives may be polygonally defined.  The "cmos" technology has the
       standard design rules according to Griswold; the "mocmos" technology has design rules  for
       the MOSIS CMOS process (double metal); the "mocmossub" technology has design rules for the
       MOSIS CMOS Submicron process (double poly and up to 6 metal); the "rcmos"  technology  has
       round geometry for the MOSIS CMOS process.

       The  "schematic"  technology  provides  basic  symbols  for  doing  schematic capture.  It
       contains the logic symbols: BUFFER, AND, OR, and XOR.  Negating bubbles can be  placed  by
       negating a connecting arc.  There are also more complex components such as flip-flop, off-
       page-connector, black-box, meter, and power source.  Finally,  there  are  the  electrical
       components: transistor, resistor, diode, capacitor, and inductor.  Two arc types exist for
       normal wires and variable-width busses.

       The "artwork" technology is a sketchpad environment for  doing  general-purpose  graphics.
       Components can be placed with arbitrary color and shape.

       The "generic" technology exists for those miscellaneous purposes that do not fall into the
       domain of other technologies.  It has the universal arc and pin which can connect  to  ANY
       other  object and are therefore useful in mixed-technology designs.  The invisible arc can
       be used for constraining two nodes without making a connection.  The unrouted arc  can  be
       used  for  electrical connections that are to be routed later with real wires.  The facet-
       center primitive, when placed in a facet, defines the cursor origin on instances  of  that
       facet.

DESIGN-RULE CHECKING

       The  incremental  design-rule  checker  is normally on and watches all changes made to the
       circuit.  It does not correct but prints error messages when design  rules  are  violated.
       Hierarchy is not handled, so the contents of subfacets are not checked.

       The hierarchical checker looks all the way down the circuit for all design-rules.  Another
       option allows an input deck to prepared for ECAD's Dracula design-rule checker.

COMPACTION

       The compactor attempts to reduce the size of a facet by removing unnecessary space between
       elements.  When invoked it will compact in the vertical and horizontal directions until it
       can find no way to compact the facet any further.  It does not do hierarchical compaction,
       does  not guarantee optimal compaction, nor can it handle non-manhattan geometry properly.
       The compactor will also spread out the facet to guarantee no  design-rule  violations,  if
       the "spread" option is set.

SIMULATION

       There  are  many  simulator interfaces: ESIM (the default simulator: switch-level for nMOS
       without timing), RSIM (switch-level for MOS with timing), RNL (switch-level for  MOS  with
       timing  and  LISP  front-end),  MOSSIM (switch-level for MOS with timing), COSMOS (switch-
       level for MOS with timing), VERILOG (Cadence simulator), TEXSIM (a commercial  simulator),
       SILOS  (a  commercial  simulator), ABEL (PAL generator/simulator for schematic), and SPICE
       (circuit level).  MOSSIM, COSMOS,  VERILOG,  TEXSIM,  SILOS,  and  ABEL  do  not  actually
       simulate: they only write an input deck of your circuit.

       In preparation for most simulators, it is necessary to export those ports that you wish to
       manipulate or examine.  You must also export power and ground ports.

       In preparation for SPICE simulation,  you  must  export  power  and  ground  signals  and.
       explicitly  connect  them  to  source  nodes.   The source should then be parameterized to
       indicate the amount and whether it is voltage or current.  For example, to make a  5  volt
       supply,  create  a  source  node and set the SPICE card to: "DC 5".  Next, all input ports
       must be exported and connected to the positive side of sources.  Next, all values that are
       being  plotted must be exported and have meter nodes placed on them.  The node should have
       the top and bottom ports connected appropriately.

PLA GENERATION

       There are two PLA generators, one specific to nMOS layout, and another  specific  to  CMOS
       layout.   The  nMOS PLA generator reads a single personality table and generates the array
       and all driving circuitry including power and ground connections.  The CMOS PLA  generator
       reads  two  personality  tables  (AND  and  OR)  and  also  reads  a library of PLA helper
       components (called "pla_mocmos") and generates the array.

ROUTING

       The router is able to do river routing, maze routing,  and  simple  facet  stitching  (the
       explicit  wiring  of  implicitly  connected nodes that abut).  River routing runs a bus of
       wires between the two opposite sides of a routing channel.  The connections on  each  side
       must  be in a line so that the bus runs between two parallel sets of points.  You must use
       the Unrouted arc from the Generic technology to indicate the ports to be  connected.   The
       river  router  can also connect wires to the perpendicular sides of the routing channel if
       one or more Unrouted wires cross these sides.

       There are two stitching modes: auto stitching and mimic stitching.  In auto stitching, all
       ports  that  physically  touch  will  be  stitched.  Mimic stitching watches arcs that are
       created by the user and adds similar ones at other places in the facet.

NETWORK COMPARISON

       The network maintainer tool is able to compare  the  networks  in  the  two  facets  being
       displayed  on  the screen.  Once compared, nodes in one facet can be equated with nodes in
       the other.  If the two networks are automorphic or  otherwise  difficult  to  distinguish,
       equivalence  information  can be specified prior to comparison by selecting a component in
       the first facet then selecting a component in the second facet.

AUTHOR

       Steven M. Rubin
          Static Free Software
          4119 Alpine Road
          Portola Valley, Ca 94028

       Also a cast of thousands:
          Philip Attfield (Queens University): Polygon merging, facet dates
          Ron Bolton (University of Saskatchewan): Miscellaneous help
          Mark Brinsmead (Calgary): Apollo porting
          Stefano Concina (Schlumberger): Polygon clipping
          Peter Gallant (Queen's University): ALS simulation
          T. J. Goodman (University of Canterbury) TEXSIM simulation
          D. Guptill (Technical University of Nova Scotia): X-window interface
          Robert Hon (Columbia University): CIF input
          Sundaravarathan Iyengar (Case Western Reserve University): nMOS PLA generator
          Allan Jost (Technical University of Nova Scotia): X-window interface
          Wallace Kroeker (University of Calgary): Digital filter technology, CMOS PLA generator
          Andrew Kostiuk (Queen's University): QUISC 1.0 Silicon compiler
          Glen Lawson (S-MOS Systems): GDS-II input
          David Lewis (University of Toronto): Short circuit checker
          John Mohammed (Schlumberger): Miscellaneous help
          Mark Moraes (University of Toronto): X-window interface
          Sid Penstone (Queens University): many technologies, GDS-II output, SPICE improvements, SILOS simulation, GENERIC simulation
          J. P. Polonovski (Ecole Polytechnique, France): Memory management improvement
          Kevin Ryan (Technical University of Nova Scotia): X-window interface
          Nora Ryan (Schlumberger): Technology translation, Compaction
          Brent Serbin (Queen's University): ALS Simulator
          Lyndon Swab (Queen's University): Northern Telecom CMOS technologies
          Brian W. Thomson (University of Toronto): Mimic stitcher, RSIM interface
          Burnie West (Schlumberger): Network maintainer help, bipolar technology
          Telle Whitney (Schlumberger): River router
          Rob Winstanley (University of Calgary): CIF input, RNL interface
          Russell Wright (Queen's University): Lots of help
          David J. Yurach (Queen's University): QUISC 2.0 Silicon compiler

SEE ALSO

       Rubin, Steven M., "A General-Purpose Framework for CAD Algorithms",  IEEE  Communications,
       Special Issue on Communications and VLSI, May 1991.
       Rubin,  Steven  M., Computer Aids for VLSI Design, Addison-Wesley, Reading, Massachusetts,
       1987.
       Rubin, Steven M., "An Integrated Aid for Top-Down Electrical  Design",  Proceedings,  VLSI
       '83 (Anceau and Aas, eds.), North Holland, Amsterdam, 1983.
       Mead, C. and Conway, L., Introduction to VLSI Systems, Addison-Wesley, 1980.
       Electrical User's Guide.
       Electric Internals manual.

                                             11/12/00                                 electric(1)