Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts with the label Microwind

YAML in Semiconductor EDA: From Configuration Language to Reusable Design-Flow Methodology

Hello Dear Readers,   Today in this post, I will provide some deep insight about yaml langauge for CAD flow developments with detailed examples. YAML is not a programming language in the same sense as Python, Tcl, C++, or Verilog. It is primarily a human-readable data serialization/configuration language . In semiconductor EDA, that distinction is important because YAML generally describes what a flow should do , while Python/Tcl/Shell and the EDA tools execute the flow . The official YAML specification describes it as a data serialization language designed to be human-friendly and portable across programming languages. For the semiconductor angle, this becomes particularly interesting because YAML can act as a configuration layer between design methodology and EDA implementation . Frameworks such as Hammer explicitly use YAML/JSON configuration and an intermediate representation to standardize information exchanged between design, technology, and tool plugins. 1. Introduction M...

What is Computer-Aided Design (CAD) Tools ? How it Help Us in the Integrated Circuit Production.

  Hello Dear Readers,   Today in this post I will provide some deep insight into Computer-Aided Design (CAD) Tools.  So let's start.   Computer-aided design (CAD) tools have advanced significantly during the past decade, and nowadays digital design is performed using a variety of software tools. Prototypes or even final plans can be created without discrete components and interconnection wires. Fig. 1 illustrates the steps in modern digital system design. Like any engineering design, the first step in the design flow is formulating the problem, stating the design requirements , and arriving at the design specification . The next step is to develop the design at a conceptual level, either at a block diagram level or at an algorithmic level. Fig. 1: Design Flow in Modern Digital System Design  Design entry is the next step in the design flow. Previously, this would have been a hand-drawn schematic or blueprint. Now with CAD tools, the design conceptualized in th...

The Microwind MOS Generator

  Hello Dear Readers, Today, I will explain how to use Microwind inbuilt MOS generator. My first post regarding  Microwind  got responses as expected so I will try to make complete series of the Microwind tutorial which makes you technically stronger. So Let's start with how to use Microwind to create our transistor layouts. Launch Microwind and examine the screen. The palette window appears. The top portion of the palette menu is shown in Fig.1. Notice the button which is a circle by a blue pen that looks like a FET circuit symbol. This provides access to the MOS generator routine in Microwind. When you click on it will be brought up on the dialog screen. Fig.1 MOS Layout Generator button The MOS Layout Generator has several options, all of which are controlled by the screen shown in Fig.2. The Channel length L is preset by the selected process. Normally the channel length will be left at the default value, but the designer adjusts the value of W according to the circui...