I'm trying to work up a list of missing features/ ...
# analog-design
m
I'm trying to work up a list of missing features/ tools in the open source ASIC EDA space. From the analog perspective, what are the most critical missing tools?
r
Check the meeting notes from that meeting we had like a month or two ago with all of the analog designers
• TLDR: Full wave solvers, inductance extraction, RF IC design. Big gap needs urgent filling. • Other types of analysis - harmonic balance, transient noise, periodic steady state. They exist but we don’t know how reliable they are.
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so anything else?
a
EM/IR
Good scope viewers. The existing ones are terrible
r
Integration with QUCS
t
Full mixed-signal co-simulation. Xyce has some kind of digital gate representation but it's missing the generic lookup-table device type that makes the "xspice" feature of ngspice so useful. Xyce can do cosimulation with iverilog, though. ngspice can do cosimulation with iverilog, but it's in a little-known development branch and nobody is maintaining it in the regular code base (also, it has a few limitations which need to be addressed, although I've been able to use it). The "xspice" method (and Xyce's equivalent) are good for fast simulation of digital portions of a mixed-signal system, but the verilog co-simulation is critical for writing complicated testbenches to provide digital input into a mixed-signal system (FYI, by "co-simulation" I mean that both ngspice (or Xyce) and iverilog run at the same time, and share data through a pipe or socket).
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Openlane is pretty clueless about doing analog routing, meaning that all top-level routing of analog components has to be done by hand if you want your analog circuit to actually work right. I do not know if this is a limitation of openlane or of OpenROAD, but I suspect it's just openlane. The DEF file format supports all sorts of analog routing features like non-minimum-size routes, shielded routes, etc.; although the router also needs to know things like how to make sure there isn't any significant I-R drop near analog components, that analog components are not placed near digital noise sources, and that analog signal lines are kept away from digital clock signals or other digital noise sources, etc., etc. In principle, one would prefer not to hand-route the top level, and routing tools should be able to treat all the analog requirements as just another optimization problem, and if everything is well-specified, the automated tools ought to be able to do a better job of it.
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m
This would be helpful: • continuous spice models • transient noise simulation, MC (I am not sure if it is there in ngspice or xyce) • Better Power planning and special routing in Physical Design tools
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s
It's already been said, but what I would like is transient noise, harmonic-balance, and periodic-steady-state simulations.
2
l
Transient noise is a must have. Without it, we can't reliably design a PLL, for example. EMIR tools are a must have too. Our designs could fry after being tested in real world. I saw some projects here with very narrow metal wires that wouldn't survive being powered on.
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c
Apart from the ones mentioned already. • Pcell generator for sky130 in klayout (just like in the new gf180 pdk) • Waveform viewer that integrates well with ngspice/xyce output
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h
simulation of verilog-A models.
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a
@Matt Venn .measure in ngspice is not fully implemented. There is a lot of missing options and measures. .alter is not supported by ngspice. .alter allows to run multiple scenarios in the same ngspice session without weird .control/.endc commands. Even better if there is API like PrimeWave to be able to simulate as many scenarios as you want with nice and neat configuration GUI Sorry for reviving old thread.
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r
1. xschem to magic porting. Similar to commercial tools. Like you create a xschem schematic and if you port that to magic , you should see same layout components in the window. 2. Flylines support in magic 3. point to point routing in magic