Look Inside GDSII
In an attempt to address that helpless feeling that comes when a GDSII file will sometimes not work,
a simple CPP program has been written to be able to look inside and experiment with a GDSII binary file.转存失败重新上传取消
An IC layout essentially involves the placement of objects often referred to as geometries.
Geometries are things like boxes (polygons), paths (wires), text (strings), etc.
Transistors are made out of a collection of geometries grouped together in a file which is called a cell.
A circuit mainly involves just placing a bunch of transistor cells together and wiring all their nodes up using metal layer wires.
Text can (should) be added to make the layout process much easier.
The layout below adds an example of all those geometries.
Both GDSII and layout files are normally stored in binary format.
ICEDIT also has a way to print out a layout in text format.
==============================ICEDIT.txt========================================
! Selected components in M1TEST:
ADD BOX LAYER=MET1 ID=1 AT (-23.1, 12.5) (-6.4, 32.5)
ADD CELL "AT_ZERO" ID=5 AT ( 0.0, 0.0)
ADD TEXT="VCC2" LAYER=MET1 ID=4 SIZE=2.000 JUST=LB R1 AT (-18.7, 14.4)
ADD TEXT="VCC" LAYER=MET1 ID=3 SIZE=3.000 JUST=LB AT (-17.0, 25.4)
ADD WIRE LAYER=MET2 ID=6 TYPE=2 WIDTH=1.800 AT ( -0.7, 5.9) (6.2, 5.9) (6.2,-5.3)
ADD WIRE LAYER=MET1 ID=2 TYPE=2 WIDTH=1.400 AT (-12.1, 23.0) &
( 25.6, 23.0) (25.6, 11.7) (40.4, 11.7)
! layer: perimeter area wire length
!- MET1 206.600 425.28 130.400
!- MET2 43.400 35.82 19.900
When a GDSII file is translated to text format (shown below) is in a similar style.
Each piece of data in a GDSII is stored in own self contained block of code.
The first two bytes read in tell how big the block is.
The second two bytes tell what the block does.
And the remaining bytes are read into a simple byte array which can either be a number(s) or text.
==============================GDSII.txt========================================
HEADER Release # 3
BGNLIB LIBNAME = M1TEST.DB FONTS = GDSII:CALMAFONT.TX
GENERATIONS 3 UNITS = 0.001 1e-09
BGNSTR STRNAME = M1TEST
BOUNDARY LAYER = 8 DATATYPE = 0
XY = -23100 32500 -23100 12500 -6400 12500 -6400 32500 -23100 32500
ENDEL
PATH LAYER = 8 DATATYPE = 0
PATHTYPE 2 WIDTH 1400
XY = -12100 23000 25600 23000 25600 11700 40400 11700
ENDEL
TEXT LAYER = 8 TEXTTYPE 0 PRESENTATION 8 STRANS none MAG 3
XY = -17000 25400
STRING VCC
ENDEL
TEXT LAYER = 8 TEXTTYPE 0 PRESENTATION 8 STRANS none MAG 2 ANGLE 90
XY = -18700 14400
STRING VCC2
ENDEL
SREF SNAME AT_ZERO STRANS none XY = 0 0
ENDEL
PATH LAYER = 10 DATATYPE = 0
PATHTYPE 2 WIDTH 1800
XY = -700 5900 6200 5900 6200 -5300
ENDEL
ENDSTR
BGNSTR STRNAME = AT_ZERO
BOUNDARY LAYER = 50 DATATYPE = 1
XY = -1000 0 -1000 -1000 0 -1000 0 0 -1000 0
ENDEL
BOUNDARY LAYER = 50 DATATYPE = 1
XY = 0 1000 0 0 1000 0 1000 1000 0 1000
ENDEL
ENDSTR
ENDLIB
The listing above is from a printout from a simple GDSII file reader.
This programs just reads each block one at a time and prints out the Block Name ID and the value(s) contained within.
Hopefully it should be possible to read and printout a troublesome GDSII stream file until it gets into trouble.
And then go in and maybe adjust some code to look at troublesome areas .
There are some name changes between the ICEDIT format and GDSII.
Boxes (polygons) are indicated by the BOUNDARY ID.
Wires (path) are PATHS which have a width.
A Cell seems to the geometries contained inside the BGNSTR and ENDSTR IDs.
The placement of a cell appears to use the SREF ID.
All Cells which are referenced are completely contained in the GDSII file.
==============================BiCMOSLAYERS.cmd========================================
VIEW OFF
$ MENU "M1"; KEEP_LIBRARY_CELLS=ASK; DISPLAY CELL_DEPTH=100;
PATTERN "SAMPLE"; FILL MIXED ON
AUTOPAN ON PIXELS=100 SECONDS=0.5; ARROW MODE=EDIT
DISPLAY CELL_LABELS=ON OUTLINE_DEPTH=1 EDIT_STACK=OFF CURSOR 1 SNAP=ON
SPACER OFF SPACE=0.0 TRACK_LAYERS=OFF STYLE=1
VIEW LIMIT ON SCALE=0.100 DEPTH=1 DOTS=0 UNITS=0.0 SHOW_LAYERS 1:*
ARRAY DRAW_MODE=SIDES CELL_LIMIT=1024
TEXT LOWER_CASE=DISABLED MULTI_LINE_TEXT=DISABLED ORIENTATIONS=2 DISPLAY_ORIGINS=OFF
USE TEXT_JUSTIFICATION=LB WIRE_TYPE=2 ARC_TYPE=2 N_SIDES=16
RESOLUTION STEP=0.100 MODE=SOFT
SNAP ANGLE=45 STEP=(0.100,0.100) OFFSET=(0.000,0.000)
NEAR UNITS=0.05 DOTS=4
GRID 1 ON COLOR=RED DOTS STEP=1.0
GRID 2 ON COLOR=CYAN CROSSES STEP=5
GRID 3 OFF COLOR=WHITE LINES STEP=50000
LAYER 1 NAME=NWEL WIDTH=1.300 SPACE=4.200 DIM_BLUE PAT=13 PEN=16 NO_CIF STREAM=1,0
LAYER 2 NAME=COMP WIDTH=1.000 SPACE=1.700 ORANGE PAT=29 PEN=* NO_CIF STREAM=2,0
LAYER 3 NAME=PFIELD WIDTH=4.300 SPACE=2.200 GRAY PAT=0 PEN=* NO_CIF STREAM=3,0
LAYER 4 NAME=POLY WIDTH=1.000 SPACE=1.000 GREEN PAT=20 PEN=* NO_CIF STREAM=4,0
LAYER 5 NAME=NPLUS WIDTH=1.300 SPACE=0.000 YELLOW PAT=15 PEN=* NO_CIF STREAM=5,0
LAYER 6 NAME=PPLUS WIDTH=1.300 SPACE=0.000 ORANGE PAT=15 PEN=* NO_CIF STREAM=6,0
LAYER 7 NAME=CONT WIDTH=1.000 SPACE=1.000 WHITE PAT=1 PEN=* NO_CIF STREAM=7,0
LAYER 8 NAME=MET1 WIDTH=1.400 SPACE=1.200 CYAN PAT=3 PEN=* NO_CIF STREAM=8,0
LAYER 9 NAME=VIA WIDTH=1.000 SPACE=1.000 YELLOW PAT=1 PEN=* NO_CIF STREAM=9,0
LAYER 10 NAME=MET2 WIDTH=1.800 SPACE=1.400 RED PAT=13 PEN=* NO_CIF STREAM=10,0
LAYER 40 NAME=NBURIED WIDTH=1.000 SPACE=0.000 YELLOW PAT=34 PEN=* NO_CIF STREAM=21,0
There are some detail set by Process_Layer_File which will define things like resolution and calma number for each layer.
A edited version of this file is shown above.
==============================Cell_Placement_Details========================================
Things like cell rotation and hierarchy need to be included in a GDSII file as well.
The text printout for this layout above shows only cell placement and rotation information.转存失败重新上传取消
==============================ICEDIT.txt========================================
ADD CELL "NMOS" ID=143 AT (-1.8, 7.3)
ADD CELL "AT_ZERO" ID=141 AT ( 0.0, 0.0)
ADD CELL "NMOS" ID=146 MY AT ( 6.3,-1.5)
ADD CELL "NMOS" ID=145 MX AT (16.4, 7.3)
ADD CELL "NMOS" ID=144 R1 AT ( 7.5, 6.6)
This is not a problem for layout since the all the cell are usually contained in one directory.
But the GDSII file needs to contain all cell geometries including cells that are placed inside other cells.
==============================GDSII.txt========================================
HEADER Release # 3
BGNLIB LIBNAME = MYCELL.DB FONTS = GDSII:CALMAFONT.TX
GENERATIONS 3 UNITS = 0.001 1e-09
BGNSTR STRNAME = MYCELL
SREF SNAME AT_ZERO STRANS none XY = 0 0
ENDEL
SREF SNAME NMOS STRANS none XY = -1800 7300
ENDEL
SREF SNAME NMOS STRANS none ANGLE 90 XY = 7500 6600
ENDEL
SREF SNAME NMOS STRANS reflect ANGLE 180 XY = 16400 7300
ENDEL
SREF SNAME NMOS STRANS reflect XY = 6300 -1500
ENDEL
ENDSTR
BGNSTR STRNAME = AT_ZERO
BOUNDARY LAYER = 50 DATATYPE = 1
XY = -1000 0 -1000 -1000 0 -1000 0 0 -1000 0
ENDEL
BOUNDARY LAYER = 50 DATATYPE = 1
XY = 0 1000 0 0 1000 0 1000 1000 0 1000
ENDEL
ENDSTR
BGNSTR STRNAME = NMOS
BOUNDARY LAYER = 5 DATATYPE = 0
XY = -1500 3600 -1500 -3700 1500 -3700 1500 3600 -1500 3600
ENDEL
BOUNDARY LAYER = 7 DATATYPE = 0
XY = 2900 500 2900 -500 3900 -500 3900 500 2900 500
ENDEL
BOUNDARY LAYER = 8 DATATYPE = 0
XY = 2600 800 2600 -800 4200 -800 4200 800 2600 800
ENDEL
BOUNDARY LAYER = 4 DATATYPE = 0
XY = 2200 1100 4500 1100 4500 -1200 2200 -1200 2200 -500 -2600 -500 -2600 500 2200 500 2200 1100
ENDEL
BOUNDARY LAYER = 7 DATATYPE = 0
XY = -500 -1700 -500 -2700 500 -2700 500 -1700 -500 -1700
ENDEL
BOUNDARY LAYER = 8 DATATYPE = 0
XY = -800 -1400 -800 -3000 800 -3000 800 -1400 -800 -1400
ENDEL
BOUNDARY LAYER = 7 DATATYPE = 0
XY = -500 2500 -500 1500 500 1500 500 2500 -500 2500
ENDEL
BOUNDARY LAYER = 8 DATATYPE = 0
XY = -800 2800 -800 1200 800 1200 800 2800 -800 2800
ENDEL
BOUNDARY LAYER = 2 DATATYPE = 0
XY = -1100 -1100 -600 -1100 -600 900 -1100 900 -1100 3100 1100 3100 1100 900 500 900 500
-1100 1100 -1100 1100 -3300 -1100 -3300 -1100 -1100
ENDEL
SREF SNAME AT_ZERO STRANS none XY = 0 0
ENDEL
ENDSTR
ENDLIB
The GFDSII format of storing all information is shown above.
Apparantly a mirror in the X direction is being done with a reflection and a 180 degree rotation.
The simple GDSII_read_Program is given here for reference sake only.
This program is written more in a style to make some hard to see critical details stand out.
It was written on a MacBook and is intended more for personal debugging purposes.
There are several GDSII translation programs online which do the same thing.
The latest mac version is GdsDump-OSX.
So far, the GdsDump-OSX program has yet to crash on a GDSII file.
For information sake, the following are listings of the various types of blocks.
==============================GDSII_REF========================================
Nr Code Mnemonic Data Type description
0 0002 HEADER Two-Byte Signed Integer version number
1 0102 BGNLIB Two-Byte Signed Integer begin of library, last modification date and time
2 0206 LIBNAME Two-Byte Signed Integer name of library
3 0305 UNITS Eight-Byte Real user and database units
4 0400 ENDLIB No Data end of library
5 0502 BGNSTR Two-Byte Signed Integer begin of structure + creation and modification time
6 0606 STRNAME ASCII string name of structure
7 0700 ENDSTR No Data end of structure
8 0800 BOUNDARY No Data begin of boundary element
9 0900 PATH No Data begin of path element
10 0A00 SREF No Data begin of structure reference element
11 0B00 AREF No Data begin of array reference element
12 0C00 TEXT No Data begin of text element
13 0D02 LAYER Two-Byte Signed Integer layer number of element
14 0E02 DATATYPE Two-Byte Signed Integer Datatype number of element
15 0F03 WIDTH Four-Byte Signed Integer width of element in db units
16 1003 XY Four-Byte Signed Integer list of xy coordinates in db units
17 1100 ENDEL No Data end of element
18 1206 SNAME ASCII string name of structure reference
19 1302 COLROW Two-Byte Signed Integer number of colomns and rows in array reference
21 1500 NODE No Data begin of node element
22 1602 TEXTTYPE Two-Byte Signed Integer texttype number
23 1701 PRESENTATION Bit Array text presentation, font
25 1906 STRING ASCII string character string for text element
26 1A01 STRANS Bit Array array reference, structure reference and text transform flags
27 1B05 MAG Eight Byte Real magnification factor for text and references
28 1C05 ANGLE Eight Byte Real rotation angle for text and references
31 1F06 REFLIBS ASCII string name of referenced libraries
32 2006 FONTS ASCII string name of text fonts definition files
33 2102 PATHTYPE Two-Byte Signed Integer type of PATH element end ( rounded, square)
34 2202 GENERATIONS Two-Byte Signed Integer number of deleted structure ?????
35 2306 ATTRTABLE ASCII string attribute table, used in combination with element properties
38 2601 ELFLAGS Two-Byte Signed Integer template data
42 2A02 NODETYPE Two-Byte Signed Integer node type number for NODE element
43 2B02 PROPATTR Two-Byte Signed Integer attribute number
44 2C06 PROPVALUE ASCII string attribute name
45 2D00 BOX No Data begin of box element
46 2E02 BOXTYPE Two-Byte Signed Integer boxtype for box element
47 2F03 PLEX Four-Byte Signed Integer plex number
50 3202 TAPENUM Two-Byte Signed Integer Tape Number
51 3302 TAPECODE Two-Byte Signed Integer Tape code
54 3602 FORMAT Two-Byte Signed Integer format type
55 3706 MASK ASCII string list of layers
56 3800 ENDMASKS No Data end of MASK
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