NAME

       qflow - Open-Source Digital Synthesis Flow

SYNOPSIS

       qflow [processes] [options] <module_name>

DESCRIPTION

       This  is  the  main executable for a complete tool chain for synthesizing digital circuits
       starting from verilog  source  and  ending  in  physical  layout  for  a  specific  target
       fabrication  process.  In  the  world  of commercial electronics, digital synthesis with a
       target application of a chip design is usually bundled into large EDA software systems. As
       commercial   electronics  designers  need  to  maintain  cutting-edge  performance,  these
       commercial toolchains get more and more expensive, and have largely priced themselves  out
       of  all  but  the established integrated circuit manufacturers. This leaves an unfortunate
       gap where startup companies  and  small  businesses  cannot  afford  to  do  any  sort  of
       integrated circuit design.

       Qflow tries to fill this gap.

PROCESSES

       synthesize
              Synthesize verilog source

       place  Run initial placement

       sta    Static timing analysis

       route  Run placement and route

       decongest
              Run congestion analysis, final place and route

       clean  Remove temporary working files

       display
              Display routed result

       build  Run scripts synthesize to route

       all    Run scripts synthesize to display

OPTIONS

       -T, --tech <name>
              Use technology <name>  (Default: osu035)

       -p, --project <name>
              Project root directory is <name>

USAGE

       The simplest way to use qflow is to be in a directory with one Verilog file called input.v
       and execute:

          qflow build input.v

       This will run all the necessary steps in order  to  produce  a  layout  of  the  specified
       Verilog file. If only certain steps are desired, one may first run:

          qflow input.v

       and then open qflow_exec.sh and uncomment the desired steps, and at last run:

          ./qflow_exec.sh

       It  is also possible to change other "project-specific" details in the files qflow_vars.sh
       and project_vars.sh which also have been created in the current directory.

TECHNOLOGY

       qflow looks for technology files under  /usr/share/qflow/tech.  A  shell  script  must  be
       placed in a sub directory there declaring where each of the technology files are located:

         /usr/share/qflow/tech/[TECHNAME]/[TECHNAME].sh

       Usually, the files needed are placed in the following locations:

         /usr/share/qflow/tech/[TECHNAME]/SCN4M_SUBM.20.tech
         /usr/share/qflow/tech/[TECHNAME]/[TECHNAME].magicrc
         /usr/share/qflow/tech/[TECHNAME]/[TECHNAME].prm
         /usr/share/qflow/tech/[TECHNAME]/[TECHNAME]_stdcells.v
         /usr/share/qflow/tech/[TECHNAME]/[TECHNAME]_stdcells.lef
         /usr/share/qflow/tech/[TECHNAME]/[TECHNAME].par
         /usr/share/qflow/tech/[TECHNAME]/[TECHNAME]_stdcells.sp
         /usr/share/qflow/tech/[TECHNAME]/[TECHNAME]_stdcells.lib

       If  no technology name is specified on the command line with the -T/--tech option, it will
       attempt to use the default technology which is "osu035".

       If the technology files are located somewhere else, this can be specified in qflow_vars.sh
       which  is  created  when  running  qflow.  The  variables "techdir" and "techname" must be
       changed accordingly.

AUTHOR

       This manual page was written by Ruben Undheim  <ruben.undheim@gmail.com>  for  the  Debian
       project (and may be used by others).

                                         11 October 2015                                 QFLOW(1)