Cadence 6.1 Setup

Cadence 6.15 Setup

This tutorial is designed to help students set up their accounts in order to run Cadence 6.15 with the NCSU Cadence Design Kit.

Setup

Once you have successfully logged into your account on a Linux machine, you need to take a few steps before you can start using the IC design tools. The following steps will only need to be perfromed once.

• Set Bash Shell for your account
  • Login to http://www.asw.iastate.edu
  • Click on: Manage user <net-id>
  • Select: "/bin/bash"
  • Click on: Update Shell
  • Click on: Logout
  • Note: These changes will take overnight to take effect. Until that time you will need to set your shell manually by typing bash at the command prompt. You will only need to do this for the first day and then your shell will default to the Bash Shell.

• Creat a .bashrc File

You will need to create a ~/.bashrc file which contains the following 3 lines:

if [ -f /etc/bashrc ]; then
   ./etc/bashrc
fi

• After making sure that these lines are present in the ~/.bashrc file, you need to source this file. You can do this by typing

source ~/.bashrc

• Create a ~/.software File

1. Edit your .software file (loading the environment setting of the desired tools) in your home directory using

gedit ~/.software

It should include at least MMSIM, ASSURA and IC. CALIBRE and IUS may be included if they are needed. A sample file may look like this

MMSIM
CALIBRE
IUS
ASSURA
IC

2. Edit your .cdsenv file (setting the default setup of your Cadence environment) in your home directory (Skip this if you are using Hspice simulator.)

gedit ~/.cdsenv

and add the following scripts to .cdsenv

;--------------------------------------------------------------------------
; Analog Artist Simulation Environment Defaults
; FORMAT: tool[.partition] varName type value private {choices, minmax} comment
;--------------------------------------------------------------------------
asimenv.startup       simulator       string  "spectre"

;--------------------------------------------------------------------------
; Graphics Editor and Design Editor Environment Variables
;--------------------------------------------------------------------------
graphic       drfPath string  "/usr/local/cadence/iclocal/local/cdssetup/display.drf"

;--------------------------------------------------------------------------
; spectre environment variables
;--------------------------------------------------------------------------
spectre.envOpts    modelFiles       string  "$CDK_DIR/models/spectre/standalone/tsmc25N.m \
                                             $CDK_DIR/models/spectre/standalone/tsmc25P.m \
                                             $CDK_DIR/models/spectre/standalone/tsmc35N.m \
                                             $CDK_DIR/models/spectre/standalone/tsmc35P.m \
                                             $CDK_DIR/models/spectre/standalone/ami06N.m \
                                             $CDK_DIR/models/spectre/standalone/ami06P.m"

spectre.envOpts controlMode string "batch"

to set the default simulator as Spectre and set the correct model files (TSMC0.25um, TSMC0.35um, and AMI0.5um CMOS) for NCSU PDK.

You may also add the following script to setup the default directory to store simulation results.

asimenv.startup       projectDir      string  "~/cadence/simulation"

3. If you are using NCSU PDK, copy cdsinit file to your working directory

cd <path to your working directory>
cp $CDK_DIR/cdssetup/cdsinit .cdsinit

4. If you need to use Calibre, add the following script to your .cdsinit file in the working directory.

;; Calibre setup

;; Load Calibre Skill Interface if environment var is set
mgc_home=getShellEnvVar("MGC_HOME")

if( mgc_home!=nil && isDir(mgc_home) && isReadable(mgc_home) then
    ; Load calibre.skl for Cadence versions 4.4 and greater
    load(strcat(mgc_home "/shared/pkgs/icv/tools/queryskl/calibre.skl"))
else
    ; MGC_HOME is not set
    printf("Calibre Skill Interface not loaded.\n")
)
;; End of Calibre Skill Interface

5. If you ever use $CDS_SITE in your configuration files, define CDS_SITE in your .basrhc file. (You probably need it if you use Cadence 5.4 in the linux servers before July 2011.)

gedit ~/.bashrc

and add

export CDS_SITE /usr/local/cadence/iclocal/local