Tanner Tools v13.0 Release Notes
Tanner Tools v13.0 Release Notes
Hierarchical Find
A new "Hierarchical Find" dialog is available in S-Edit. This dialog searches for specified objects through the hierarchy, and allows stepping through each object one at a time. Cells and Views are opened automatically when an object is found in a new view. Scripts allow for detailed specification of search criteria. Scripts also facilitate actions that can be applied to modify found objects.
Library Navigator
An option to sort cells by modified date is added to the Library Navigator.
Bug Fixes
Verilog export now properly exports arrays without exploding them into individual nets. Performance improvements in saving designs and loading EDIF. The SPICE setup window can now be closed without setting an analysis type. The "property get" tcl command returns properties as strings. A -double option is added which returns the value as a number. It returns an error if the numeric conversion fails (or if the property does not exist). The order of properties in the EDIF file is now consistent across multiple design saves. This fixes unnecessary changes flagged when using revision control tools on the design database. Fixed problems in current annotation. Extra views are no longer exported when exporting EDIF for a specified cell and hierarchy. Opening a new schematic in a new window now opens to full view Custom toolbars are now saved between sessions. Cells in a design are now prevented from being instanced in library. Push In / Pop Out problems with multiple pages are fixed. Copy Cell now displays the new cell after copy
Known Issue
When cross-probing and back-annotating subcircuit pin currents and charges for subcircuits which are external to S-Edit (ie. defined in T-Spice model libraries), if a net is attached to more than one boundary pin of a subcircuit, then the displayed current (or charge) will be the sum of the currents through all of those pins.
Known Issues
There are known issues with convergence and performance for the Verilog-A examples, due to problems in the Verilog-A models. In some cases, T-Spice performance has slowed down since v12.6. Performance will be improved in the next release.
SDL Autorouter
New to v13, Schematic Driven Layout now contains an automatic routing capability. The router supports any number of layers, with user specified width and spacing rules for each layer. Keepouts may also be specified on a per layer basis. The user may choose to route the entire netlist, or only selected nets. Incremental routing is supported by allowing nets to be ripped-up and re-routed as needed. Manual routing may be integrated with auto routing by identifying the active net prior to manual routing. The autorouter is currently in Beta release. Contact Tanner EDA Sales if you are interested in becoming a Beta site.
LVS
Asymmetrical mosfets (M, B, J and Z) and BJTs are now supported. A default polarization can be specified for FETs, BJTs, R, C and L, and exceptions to the default can be specified (by model name). Parsing .lib files when folder has space now works. Drag and drop of VDB files into LVS is now available.
Bug Fixes
Arraying instances by stretching may now be enabled or disabled using the Instance Stretching option in Setup Application > General tab. Implicit Selection is now an option on the Setup Application > Selection tab. Highlighting implicit selections is also an option. Paste buffer is no longer cleared after using Setup Layer Palette dialog
Fixed occasional crashes in Nudge of multiple selections. Import Virtuoso Setup now allows listing all files using *.* in the browse dialog. Sorting in cell open dialog is improved. Setup Standard DRC dialog is now resizable Fixed problems with LCell_GenerateLayers_v11_10. Crash in LVS when exporting a batch file is fixed.
Bug Fixes
HiPer Verify command file parser can now handle large deeply nested implicit layer definitions. The single layer INT operation now only compares edges from the same polygon for edge layer input. Polygon input was working correctly, but not edge input. This will eliminate certain false errors from the INT operation on edge layers. Polygon containment tests are now performed correctly for edge layer input. This will eliminate certain false errors on INT, EXT and ENC commands. Obtuse angle violations on DRC checks are now correctly found. They were previously not found. Expand Edge Outside By now parses correctly. Implicit layer definitions now work correctly in the STAMP command.
ATTACH, CONNECT, LABEL ORDER, and SCONNECT with DIRECT option are now ignored. Direct verification set commands are not run in Calibre. Fixes to SCONNECT and STAMP are made. Secondary keywords may now be used as layer names in any operation, except the operation itself that uses that name as a secondary keyword. Many layer names that would previously cause errors are now allowed. The secondary keyword INTERSECTING is now allowed as an abbreviation of INTERSECTING ONLY. Problems with NET AREA RATIO commands split over multiple lines are fixed. Problems when using WITH WIDTH in a rule deck with DRC INCREMENTAL CONNECT YES are fixed. Parsing of include file paths is fixed. "Negative Edge output is now working correctly for edge input layers, for example Rule { EXT (Layer1) Layer2 <= d } where Layer1 is an edge layer. TOUCH and NOT TOUCH with constraints are now working correctly. WITH WIDTH now supports the != constraint. Parser correctly handles auxiliary layers placed after NETLIST ELEMENT in a DEVICE statement. TRUNCATE is now allowed as well as TRUNC in the extract property language. The EXCLUDE SHIELDED option in INT, EXT, and ENC is now parsed and ignored. A problem with EXPAND EDGE is fixed. False errors reported by ENCLOSE with constraints is fixed. Missing errors on EXT with PERPENDICULAR ONLY option is fixed. SCONNECT now reports hierarchical results without unnecessary flattening. Incorrect results on RECTANGLE operation with >= constraint is fixed. False errors in INSIDE operation are fixed.
HiPer-PX is a new tool for accurate modeling of parasitics. Parasitic resistances within conductive layers (metals, diffusions and polysilicons) are calculated, as are capacitances between structures on the same and on different layers. Also, substrate capacitance as well as substrate resistance can be extracted. HiPer PX is a physics-driven extractor, in which a field solver uses the 3-D physical dimensions of the objects, together with their electrical and dielectrical characteristics, to calculate these parasitics. Both finite element and boundary element calculations are performed. Also, the extractor operates in either 3-D or 2-D modes; the latter is fast and hierarchical, and can use precomputed 3-D models for user-specified cells. To run HiPer PX invoke Tools > Parasitic Extractor.
Additional Information
Minimum System Requirements
Microsoft Windows XP, Windows Vista Intel Pentium 4 processor or Pentium 4 equivalent with SSE support 512 MB RAM 100 MB of available disk space with an additional 100 MB during installation A video card with at least 64 MB of memory 3 button mouse
Installation
Install Tanner Tools from the Windows operating system. To begin, insert the distribution CD into your CD-ROM drive. The setup program should start automatically; if it does not, then you should navigate to the main CD directory from a file browser window, and double click SETUP.EXE to run setup. The Tanner Tools setup program will provide information on how to proceed. Administrator Privileges are required to install Tanner Tools v13. Power users are no longer able to install Tanner Tools, as they could in previous versions.
Licensing
Tanner Tools is licensed software; to use the program, you must have a license from Tanner Research, Inc. Tanner Tools will verify the license either from License Server, installed on your company network, or from a hardware lock attached to your computer's parallel port. Tanner Tools is available in node- or network-locked licensing. When using the Interlink or LapLink utilities over the same port as the Tanner Research Sentinel C-Plus-B hardware lock, the user must first remove the hardware lock from the parallel port. This must be done in order to keep the Sentinel C-Plus-B lock functional.
Technical Support
Tanner Research, Inc. 825 South Myrtle Avenue Monrovia, CA 91016-3424, USA Telephone: Fax: E-mail: Web: 1-877- 304-5544 (Toll Free) 1-626-471-9700 1-626-471-9800 [email protected] www.tannereda.com
Japan Tanner Research Japan K.K. Kioicho WITH Bldg. 4F3-32 Kioicho, Chiyoda-ku Tokyo 102-0094 Japan Telephone: +81 (3) -3239-2840 Fax: +81 (3) -3239-2848 Email: [email protected] Web: www.tanner.jp Europe EDA Solutions Limited Unit D, 58 Botley Street Park Gate Southampton, SO31 1BB United Kingdom Phone: +44 (0) 1489 564253 Fax: +44 (0) 1489 557367 Email: [email protected] Website: www.eda-solutions.com