NAME

       cougar - Hierarchical netlist extractor

SYNOPSIS

       cougar [ -v ] [ -c ] [ -f ] [ -t ] [ -ar ] [ -ac ] input_name [ output_name ]

DESCRIPTION

       Lynx  changed  its name to Cougar during May 2002 in order to avoid name conflict with the
       famous text-mode Web browser.  Cougar is a hierarchical layout  extractor.   It  builds  a
       netlist  of  interconnections from a symbolic layout view.  The input argument is the name
       of the symbolic layout cell to be extracted, using as input format the one selected by the
       MBK_IN_PH(1)  environment  variable.   If output is present, the resulting netlist will be
       given this name.  If no output is given, then input will also  be  the  generated  netlist
       name.  The output format is specified by the MBK_OUT_LO(1) environment variable.
       As   most   of   the  Alliance  cad  tools,  cougar  uses  mbk(1)  environment  variables.
       MBK_CATA_LIB(1), MBK_WORK_LIB(1), MBK_IN_PH(1), MBK_OUT_LO(1), RDS_TECHNO_NAME(1).

       Cougar computes capacitances attached to the signals if the -ac  option  is  set.  At  the
       moment,  the  value of these capacitances is computed for a typical one micron technology,
       and cannot be changed by the user through a technology file.  The extracted netlist can be
       simulated for performance evaluation.
       The typical capacitances are given below in 10e-18 farad / lamda^2 :

       POLY                100

       ALU1                50

       ALU2                25

OPTIONS

       Cougar checks the two basic ALLIANCE rules regarding connector names:
              If  two  physical connectors are connected to the same net, they must have the same
              name.
              If two physical connectors have the same name, they must be internally connected to
              the same net.
       As  a  result only one logical connector will appear in the netlist.  A fatal error occurs
       if one of those two rules is violated ( even for power and ground connectors )

       When no options are specified, the current hierarchical level is extracted.  The resulting
       netlist  is  the  list  of  interconnections of the current layout hierarchy level.  Three
       options are available to change cougar behaviour :

       -t     Notifies a transistor level extraction, the symbolic layout cell  is  flattened  to
              transistor layout before extraction.

       -f     The  symbolic layout cell is flattened to the catalog level before extraction.  Use
              "man catal" for detail on  the  catalog file.  If the catalog is empty, or  doesn't
              exist,  the  netlist is an interconection of transistors, if  it isn't, the netlist
              is an interconection of gates or blocks whose names are defined in the catalog.

       -v     Verbose mode on.  Each step of the extraction is displayed on the standard  output,
              along  with some statistics.

       -c     Generates  a  core  file  representing the conflictuel net, when cougar detects two
              external connectors with different names on the same signal, or when it  finds  two
              external  connectors  having the same name but not internally connected to the same
              net, or when it cannot correctly extract an L shaped transistor.

       -ac    Extract capacitance to ground on losig.

       -ar    Extract interconnect resistance and capacitance  to  ground.  Value  of  resistance
              foreach layer can be changed in the RDS file.

EXAMPLES

        prompt> cougar -v amd2901
              Gives  a  logical  netlist  of  the chip amd2901, for one hierarchical level, using
              verbose mode.  This would be typically used to  verify  the  work  of  the  ring(1)
              router, in conjunction with lvx on the specificated netlist and the extracted one.

       prompt> cat $MBK_WORK_LIB/$MBK_CATAL_NAME
       a2_y
       a2p_y
        .
        .
       prompt> cougar -f amd2901
              Gives  a logical netlist of the chip amd2901, after a flatten operation stopping on
              the cells specified in the catalog ( the standard cell library in our case ).

       prompt> cougar -t amd2901
              Gives a logical netlist of the amd2901 chip  at  the  transistor  level.   This  is
              useful with yagle(1), to retrieve logical equations from a layout.

SEE ALSO

       al(5),   MBK_CATA_LIB(1),   MBK_WORK_LIB(1),  MBK_CATAL_NAME(1),  MBK_IN_PH(1),  catal(5),
       RDS_TECHNO_NAME(1).