Virtuoso XL Layout Editor User Guide

Generating Your Layout with Virtuoso XL Layout Editor

Note: if there are multiple shapes on the prBoundary or cellBoundary layers, a message box appears (only once) asking you to select which one is the top-level boundary.

Working with Template Files

Options from the Pin Placement, Partitioning, Placement Planning, Layout Generation, and Update Components and Nets commands are saved to the cellview. These options can be copied from the cellivew into template files. The template files can then be used to update or redo sections of your design.

Use the Design – Save To Template command to create template files. You can chose to save;

■Boundary Information

■I/O pin layers, multiplicity, sizes, and types.

■Pin locations

■Pin constraints

■Partitioning information

■Row information

Templates can contain all of the available sections or just a subset of the available sections. For example, you might use separate templates for your I/O pin constraints and row information.

Table 7-1 Template Sections and Contents

Virtuoso XL Layout Editor User Guide

Generating Your Layout with Virtuoso XL Layout Editor

Saving Form Contents

Use the Design-Save to Template command to save the form information to an ASCII file.

The template file is used to modify/delete the design data or create new data in the design.

To be able to reuse this information you must create template files. Specify the information that you want to save on the Template File form and that information is written from the cellview to the template file.

Note: If you exit out of dfII and do not save the design then the form settings are not saved to the cellview. Use the Design – Save command to save the form settings.

All the information on the forms will be updated to the cellview when clicking the OK or Apply button. Then you can save the information to a template file by using theDesign – Save To Template command.

The template file name is stored in the cellview. The template file name is then used by default when opening the form.

Loading Template Files

You can load template files while working with several different command forms. The type of template information you can save or load depends on what is appropriate to the current task.

Table 7-2 Commands and Template Sections

Modifying Templates

To modify templates, edit the file with a text editor. Follow the syntax rules described in Template File Syntax.

Virtuoso XL Layout Editor User Guide

Generating Your Layout with Virtuoso XL Layout Editor

Modifying a template file using VI has no effect on any cellview until you load it into that cellview.

If you modify the form then that information is read into the cellview.

Loading Template Files

To load existing information about pins, the design boundary, partitions, or rows from a template file into the corresponding form, follow these steps.

1.From the layout window, select either Place – Pin Placement, Place – Partitioning,

Place – Placement Planning, Design-Gen From Source, or Connectivity-Update

-Components and Nets.

2.Type in the template name in the Template field.

Note: In the Pin Placement form click the Template file button to choose the template file from the Load Template File form.

3.If you would like a different template select Browse.

Virtuoso XL Layout Editor User Guide

Generating Your Layout with Virtuoso XL Layout Editor

The OpenFile form appears.

Note: You can also load a template as part of Layout Generation [see Generating a Layout with Components Not Placed (Gen From Source)] or Update Components and Nets [see Updating Components and Nets (Engineering Change Order Mode)] in

Chapter 15.

Creating Template Files

There are two ways to create a template:

■From the Design – Save To Template form.

■Create the file with a text editor.