Cells Tab¶
The Cells tab has features that deal with adding cells, editing cells and ports, cloning cells, adding search plans and scanning areas for matching cells.
The following tools are available in the Cells tab:
Cell Window¶
This toggles the Project Cells window.
This window shows library cells that have been added to the project as well as the cell hierarchy. Many netlist properties and cell instance information windows can be opened from this panel: Project Cells Reference
Display settings¶
Opens the Cell Display Settings panel that controls display settings regarding cells and ports in the overlay window.
Hide Text at this Zoom Level Hides all port, cell and instance names (if applicable) at the current zoom in the overlay. Text will display again when zooming in and will disappear again when at the zoom level this feature was activated at.
Show Port Names Displays the port names for all the cells in the overlay window.
Show Cell Names Toggles the cell names on or off.
Show Cell Instance Names Toggles the instance names of the visible cells.
Fill Cells All cells visible in the overlay are filled to help find unidentified or missing cells.
Select¶
Using the select tool either click inside the desired cell or click and drag around a group of cells to highlight them. With the cell highlighted, tools like move and clone can be used.
Move¶
With a cell highlighted, select the move tool. Clicking and dragging in the overlay will move the cell.
Resize¶
The resize tool adds a node to each corner of the highlighted cell. Any of these nodes can be clicked and dragged to resize the cell.
Note: When resizing a cell all instances of the selected cell are also resized.
Clone¶
With the clone tool selected, clicking anywhere in the overlay will add a clone of the highlighted cell. This new cell will share the same properties as the original but a new instance will be made.
Refine Placement¶
Adjust the placement of all instances of the selected cells such that the ports touch polygons.
Add Cell¶
Create a new cell by adding a rectangular boundary for the cell instance.
Add Cell Instance¶
With a cell highlighted, click and drag to add a copy of this cell instance. This new cell will not add a new entry to the Project Cells list and all ports and electrical properties are replicated.
Add Port¶
With a cell highlighted and the Add Port tool engaged, clicking anywhere in the cell will add a port at that location. A Add Port window appears to collect information about this new port.
This window displays the cell name, cell instance name, the net that the port will be added to and the coordinates of the newly added port. Information about the port is included here including, the port name, the polygon layer associated with the port and the type of port (input, output, VSS, VDD, ect.)
If the port is placed outside the cell boundary an error will appear. Click OK and be sure that the port is in the cell boundary.
Add Section¶
If two overlapping layers exists, a top and bottom layer for instance, a section would be added to separate overlapping child cells into their respective sections rather than placing overlapping cells to the master section TOP.
To change the active section right-click on the desired section in the Project Cells window and select Set as Active Section from the pop-up menu.
Search Plans¶
Opens the Search Plans tool window:
This window allows search plans to be added, deleted, modified or executed.
For more information on search plans see: Search Plans
Area Search¶
Draw a rectangular area that acts as the boundary for the selected search plan.
A pop-up will appear listing all cells in the selected search plan. The scan speed can be decreased to provide more accurate results at the cost of running at a slower speed.
Finally before running the search, individual cells or groups of cells can be selected from the search plan list. By default all cells in the search plan are selected. When ready press the Scan button.
Golden Lib GDS¶
This tool identifies cells by comparing the extracted polygons with an imported GDSII reference library.