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Xic Reference Manual

Whiteley Research Incorporated
456 Flora Vista Avenue
Sunnyvale, CA 94086

Release 3.2.25
April 1, 2012

© Whiteley Research Incorporated, 2006.

Xic is part of the XicTools software package for integrated circuit design. Xic was authored by S. R. Whiteley, with help from various public domain software libraries. Technical support for registered users of Xic and other XicTools software is available via electronic mail at xic@wrcad.com, and by telephone at (408) 735-8973.

Xic and subsidiary programs and utilities are offered as-is, and the suitability of these programs for any purpose or application must be established by the user as Whiteley Research, Inc. does not imply or guarantee such suitability.

Contents
Introduction to Xic
- Xic Graphical Editor Overview
- A Quick Tour of Xic Capabilities
- A Quick Tour of the Xic Menus
- Database Overview
  - Cell Hierarchy Digest
  - Database Resolution
- Starting Xic
- Main Window Layout and Operations
- Text Entry Windows
  - Selections and Clipboards
  - Single Line Key Bindings
- The Text Editor
  - Text Editor Key Bindings
- The WR Button: Email Client
- The IT Button: Clear Current Transform
- The LT Button: Restore Last Transform
Using Xic
- Physical Layout Editing
- Electrical Schematic Editing
- Cell Organization and Libraries
- Batch Mode
- Server Mode
  - The Response Message Format
  - Operation
- Template (Parameterized) Cells
- Cadence^TM Compatibility
The Help Menu: Obtain Program Documentation
- The Help Button: Obtain Help
- The Multi-Window Mode Button: Set Multi-Window Help Mode
- The About Button: Program and Legal Info
- The Release Notes Button: View Release Notes
- The Log Files Button: Access Log Files
The Side Menu: Geometry Creation
- The arc Button: Create Arcs
- The box Button: Create Rectangles
- The break Button: Cut Objects
- The deck Button: Save SPICE File
- The devs Button: Device Menu
  - Terminal Devices
  - SPICE Devices
- The donut Button: Create Donut Object
- The erase Button: Erase or Yank Geometry
- The iplot Button: Interactive Analysis Plotting
- The label Button: Create/Edit Labels
  - Device Property Labels
  - Spicetext Labels
  - Hypertext
  - ``Long Text'' Capability
  - Script Labels
  - Label Size Issues
  - Label Font File
- The logo Button: Create Physical Text
  - The Logo Font Setup Panel
- The nodmp Button: Show Node Name Mapping
- The plot Button: Generate SPICE Plot
- The polyg Button: Create/Edit Polygons
  - Polygon Vertex Editing
  - Wire to Polygon Conversion
- The put Button: Extract From Yank Buffer
- The round Button: Create Disk Object
- The run Button: Run SPICE Analysis
- The shapes Button: Add Predefined Features
- The sides Button: Set Rounded Granularity
- The spcmd Button: Execute WRspice Command
- The spin Button: Rotate Objects
- The style Button: Set/Change Wire Style
- The subct Button: Set Subcircuit Connections
  - Terminal Ordering
  - Virtual Terminals
  - Bus Connectors
- The symbl Button: Symbolic Representation
- The terms Button: Show Subcircuit Connections
- The wire Button: Create/Edit Wires
  - Wire Vertex Editor
- The xor Button: Exclusive-OR Objects
The File Menu: Xic Input/Output
- The Open Button: Open Cell or File
- The File Select Button: Pop Up File Selection Panel
  - The File Selection Panel
- The Save Button: Save Cell
- The Save As Button: Save Cell, Renaming
- The Print Button: Print Control Panel
  - Print Control Panel
  - The Format Menu: Hardcopy File Formats
- The Files List Button: Path Files Listing Panel
- Cell Hierarchy and geometry Digests
- The Hierarchy Digests Button: List Cell Hierarchy Digests
  - The Open Cell Hierarchy Panel
  - The Configure Cell Hierarchy Digest Panel
- The Geometry Digests Button: List Cell Geometry Digests
- The Open Cell Geometry Digest Panel
- The Libraries List Button: List Open Libraries
- The Quit Button: Exit Xic
The Cell Menu: Xic Cell Navigation and Information
- The Push Button: Push Editing Context
- The Pop Button: Pop Context
- The Symbol Tables Button: Switch Symbol Table
- The Cells List Button: Cell Listing Panel
- The Show Tree Button: Show Cell Hierarchy
The Edit Menu: Edit Layout
- Cell and Object Properties
  - Electrical Mode Properties
  - Physical Mode Pseudo-Properties
- The Enable Editing Button: Enable Cell Editing
- The Constrain 45 Button: Constrain Angles
- The Merge Boxes, Polys Button: Automatic Box/Poly Merging
- The Merge, Clip Boxes Only Button: Merge/Clip Boxes Only
- The Current Transform Button: Current Transform Panel
- The Place Button: Cell Placement Control Panel
- The Create Cell Button: Create New Cell
- The Flatten Button: Flatten Hierarchy
- The Join Button: Join/Split Objects
- The Layer Expression Button: Evaluate Layer Expression
- The Properties Button: Property Editor Panel
- The Cell Properties Button: Edit Cell properties
The Modify Menu: Modify Geometry
- The Undo Button: Undo Operation
- The Redo Button: Redo Last Undo
- The Delete Button: Delete Objects
- The Erase Under Button: Erase Under Objects
- The Move Button: Move Objects
- The Copy Button: Copy Objects
- The Stretch Button: Stretch Objects
- The Chg Layer Button: Change Layer
The View Menu: Alter Presentation
- The View Button: Select Cell View
- The Physical Button: Show Physical Mode
- The Electrical Button: Show Electrical Mode
- The Expand Button: Expand Subcells
  - Peek Mode
- The Zoom Button: Zoom In/Out
- The Viewport Button: Create Sub-Window
- The Peek Button: Show Layer Composition
- The Cross Section Button: Show Cross Section
- The Rulers Button: Create Rulers
- The Info Button: Display Information About Objects
- The Allocation Button: Show Memory Allocation
The Attributes Menu: Set Display Attributes
- The Save Tech Button: Update Technology File
- The Key Map Button: Assign Keys and Macros
- The Set Attributes Button: Set Window Attributes
- The Connection Dots Button: Show Connections
- The Set Cursor Button: Set Cursor Mode
- The Set Font Button: Set Window Fonts
- The Set Color Button: Set Colors Panel
- The Set Fill Button: Fill Pattern Edit Panel
- The Edit Layers Button: Edit Layer Table
- The Edit Tech Params Button: Edit Layer Keywords
- The Main Window Button: Attributes sub-menu
The Convert Menu: Data Format Conversion
- Feature Availability Table
- Cell Name Mapping
- Cell Name Alias File
- Layer Names
- Layer Filtering and Aliasing
- GDSII Layer Mapping
- Reference Cells
- The Set Export Params Button: Set Export Parameters Panel
  - Format-Independent Settings
  - GDSII Settings
  - OASIS Settings
  - CIF Settings
  - CGX Output
- The Cell Table Listing Panel: Set Override Cells
- The Advanced OASIS Export Parameters Panel: Set
  OASIS Parameters
- The Write Layout File Button: Write Layout File Panel
- The Set Import Params Button: Set Import Parameters Panel
- The Read Layout File Button: Read Layout File Panel
- Windowing Control Module
  - Windowing
  - Flattening
  - Empty Cell Filtering
- The Convert Button: Conversion Panel
  - Generating ASCII Output from Layout Data
- The Assemble Button: Layout File Merge Tool Panel
  - Overview
  - The Source Page
  - Layer Filtering Module
  - Scaling
  - Cell Name Modification
  - Top-Level Cells List
  - Basic Transformations
  - Advanced Operations
  - Merge Tool Menus
  - The File Menu
  - The Options Menu
  - The Help Menu
- The Cut and Export Button: Export Cell Region
- The Compare Layouts Button: Find Differences
  - Comparison Mode Pages
  - Property List Comparison
  - Custom Property Filtering
- The Text Editor Button: Edit Cell Text
- The Edit Tech Params Button: Edit Conversion Parameters
The DRC Menu: Design Rule Checking
- Layer Expressions
- Built-In Design Rules
- User-Defined Design Rules
- Assigning Design Rules
- The Clear Errors Button: Clear Error List
- The Set Defaults Button: Set Default Limits
- The Set Flags Button: Set Skip Flags
- The Enable Interactive Button: Set Interactive Checking
- The No Pop Up Errors Button: Suppress Error Report
- The Check In Foreground Button: Check Region or Cell
- The Check In Background Button: Initiate Check in Background
- The Check In Region Button: Check Objects
- The Query Errors Button: Print Error Text
- The Dump Error File Button: Save Errors to File
- The Update Highltghting Button: Create Highlighting from File
- The Show Errors Button: Show Next Error
- The Create Layer Button: Create Error Region Layer
- The Edit Rules Button: Rule Editor Panel
  - The Design Rule Parameters Panel
The Extract Menu: Extraction and Verification
- Extraction Setup and Configuration
- Extraction Methodology and Overview
- The Extraction View Button: Display Extraction Layers
- The Show Groups Button: Show Conductor Groups
- The Show Nodes Button: Show Node Numbers
- The Show Terminals Button: Show All Terminals
- The Net Selections Button: Path Selection Control Panel
  - Resistance Measurement
- The Device Selections Button: Show/Select Devices
- The Device Extraction Settings Panel
- The Edit Terminals Button: Place Connection Terminal
- The Find Terminals Button: Locate Terminal
- The Source SPICE Button: Update From SPICE File
- The Source Physical Button: Update Electrical From Physical
- The Dump Phys Netlist Button: Dump Physical Netlist
- The Dump Elec Netlist Button: Dump Electrical Netlist
- The Dump LVS Button: Test Layout vs. Schematic
- The Extract RLC Button: Extract Parameters
  - The FastCap/FastHenry Interface
  - The RLC Extraction Panel
- The Misc Config Button: Misc. Extraction Settings
- The Edit Tech Params Button: Set Parameters
The User Menu: User Commands and Xic Scripts
- Script Menus: User-Defined Sub-Menus
- Script Libraries: Code Sharing
- Encrypted Scripts
- The Debug Button: Enter Script Debugger
- The Rehash Button: Rebuild User menu
- Supplied Example Scripts
The Xic Scripting Language
- The Macro Preprocessor
  - Predefined Macros
  - Generic Macro Keywords
- Introduction to Xic Scripts
- The Scripting Language
- Error Reporting
- Data Types
- Math Operators
  - Operator Overloading
- Control Structures
- ``Preprocessor'' Directives
- Math Functions
- User-Defined Functions
- The exec Keyword -- Immediate Execution
- Static and Global Variables
- Predefined Constants
- HTML Forms and Scripts
  - Introduction to HTML Forms
  - Interfacing Forms to Xic Scripts
- The Tcl/Tk Interface
- Example Script
Keyboard `!' Commands
- Compression
  - The !gzip Command: Compress Files
  - The !gunzip Command: Uncompress Files
- Create Output
  - The !sa Command: Save Cells
  - The !sqdump Command: Save Selections as Native Cell
  - The !assemble Command: Merge Archives
  - The !splwrite Command: Split an Archive
- Current Directory
  - The !cd Command: Change Directory
  - The !pwd Command: Print Directory
- Diagnostics
  - The !time Command: Show Elapsed Time
  - The !timedbg Command: Show Internal Run Times
  - The !xdepth Command: Show Transform Depth
  - The !bincnt Command: Database Object Allocation
- Design Rule Checking
  - The !showz Command: Show DRC Test Areas
  - The !errs Command: Regenerate DRC Error Highlighting
  - The !errlayer Command: Create Error Polygons
- Electrical
  - The !calc Command: Calculate Parameter Expression
  - The !check Command: Database Consistency Check
  - The !regen Command: Regenerate Labels
  - The !devkeys Command: Print Device keys
  - The !sced2xic Command: Convert Old Format
- Extraction
  - The !antenna Command: Check MOS Antenna Effect
  - The !netext Command: Batch Physical Net Extraction
  - The !addcells Command: Add Missing Cells
  - The !find Command: Find Devices
  - The !ptrms Command: Default Terminal Locations
  - The !ushow Command: Show Unassociated Elements
  - The !fx Command: Control FastCap/FastHenry Interface
  - The !fxcell Command: Create Cell From RLC Extraction Interface
- Graphics
  - The !setcolor Command: Set Attribute Colors
  - The !display Command: Export Rendering
- Grid
  - The !sg Command: Save Grid in Register
  - The !rg Command: Set Grid From Register
- Help
  - The !help Command: Help Interface
  - The !helpfont Command: Set Help Font
  - The !helpfixed Command: Set Help Fixed Font
  - The !helpreset Command: Clear Help Cache
- Layers
  - The !ltab Command: Modify Layer Table
  - The !ltsort Command: Alphanumerically Sort Layer Table
- Layout Editing
  - The !array Command: Manipulate Instance Arrays
  - The !layer Command: Generate Layers
    - Examples
    - Extended Layer Names
    - Advanced Examples
  - The !mo Command: Move Objects
  - The !co Command: Copy Objects
  - The !ro Command: Rotate Objects
  - The !rename Command: Rename Cells
  - The !cont Command: Read Contents of Native Cell
  - The !svq Command: Save Selections in Register
  - The !rcq Command: Recall Selections from Register
  - The !box2poly Command: Object Type Conversion
  - The !path2poly Command: Outline to Polygon Conversion
  - The !poly2path Command: Polygon to Outline Conversion
  - The !bloat Command: Expand Objects
  - The !join Command: Join Adjacent Objects
  - The !split Command: Atomize Objects
  - The !manh Command: Convert to Manhattan Polygons
  - The !polyrev Command: Reverse Polygon Winding
  - The !noacute Command: Eliminate Acute Angles
  - The !togrid Command: Move To Grid
  - The !tospot Command: Modify for Spot Size
  - The !origin Command: Move Cell Origin
  - The !import Command: Import Cell Data
- Layout Information
  - The !fileinfo Command: Show File Statistics
  - The !summary Command: Print Hierarchy Info
  - The !compare Command: Compare Hierarchies
  - The !diffcells Command: Create Cells from Comparisons
  - The !empties Command: Check for Empty Cells
  - The !area Command: Measure Layer Area
  - The !perim Command: Measure Object Perimeter
  - The !bb Command: Print Bounding Box
  - The !checkgrid Command: Mark Off-Grid Vertices
  - The !checkover Command: Report Subcell Overlap
  - The !dups Command: Select Coincident Objects
  - The !wirecheck Command: Check Wires
  - The !polycheck Command: Check Polygons
  - The !polymanh Command: Select Manhattan Polygon
  - The !polyfix Command: Fix Polygon
  - The !polynum Command: Number Vertices
  - The !setflag Command: Set Internal Cell Flags
- Libraries and Databases
  - The !mklib Command: Create Library File
  - The !lsdb Command: List Special Databases
- Marks
  - The !mark Command: Create User Marks
- Memory Management
  - The !clearall Command: Clear All Memory
  - The !vmem Command: Windows Virtual Memory Info
  - The !mmstats Command: Show Memory Manager Statistics
  - The !mmrecycle Command: Set/Clear Recycle Mode
  - The !mmclear Command: Clear Recycle Free Lists
- Rulers
  - The !dr Command: Delete Rulers
- Scripts
  - The !script Command: Add Script
  - The !exec Command: Execute a Script
  - The !lisp Command: Execute Lisp Script
  - The !tk Command: Execute Tcl/Tk Script
  - The !listfuncs Command: List Saved Functions
  - The !rehash Command: Rebuild User Menu
  - The !rmfunc Command: Remove Saved Function
- Selections
  - The !select Command: Select Objects
  - The !desel Command: Deselect Objects
  - The !zs Command: Zoom to Selected Objects
- Shell
  - The !shell Command: Pop Up Terminal Window
  - The !ssh Command: Connect to Remote System
- Technology File
  - The !dumpcds Command: Create Virtuoso^TM Startup Files
- Update Release
  - The !update Command: Download/Install Update
  - The !passwd Command: Cerate Password File
- Variables
  - The !set Command: Set Variables
  - The !unset Command: Unset Variables
  - The !setdump Command: Dump Variables
- WRspice Interface
  - The !spcmd Command: Run WRspice Command
File Formats
- Technology File
- Resource File
- Design Data File Formats
- OASIS Format
  - OASIS Support in Xic
  - OASIS Interface Notes and Limitations
    - Characteristics of OASIS Output From Xic
    - Requirements And Limitations for Reading OASIS
- Library Files
  - Example Library File
- Device Library File
- Editing Devices
- Model Library Files
  - MOS Model Spatial Binning
- Help Database Files
  - Anchor Text
Property Specifications
- Global Properties
- Special Properties
- Physical Mode Properties
- Device Properties Set By Xic
- Device Properties Set By User
- Special Escapes
Xic Variables
- Special Constructs
- Database
- Paths and Directories
- General Visual
- Keyboard `!' Commands
- Scripts
- Selections
- Side Menu Commands
- SPICE Interface
- File Menu -- Printing
- Cell Menu Commands
- Edit/Modify Menu Commands
- View Menu Commands
- Attribute Menu Commands
- Convert Menu -- General
- Convert Menu -- Input and ASCII Output
- Convert Menu -- Output
- Custom Property Filtering
- Extraction Menu Commands
- FastCap/FastHenry Interface
- Help System
Interface Functions
- Main Functions 1
- Main Functions 2
- Main Functions 3
- Layout File Input/Output Functions
- Geometry Editing Functions 1
- Geometry Editing Functions 2
- Design Rule Checking Functions
  - DRC
- Extraction Functions
- Schematic Editor Functions
The FileTool Utility
- Introduction
- Command Line Options
- FileTool: Setting Variables
- FileTool: Assemble Script File Evaluation
- FileTool: Obtaining File Information
- FileTool: ASCII Text Representation of Layout Files
- FileTool: Layout File Comparison
- FileTool: Layout File Splitting
- FileTool: CHD File Generation
- FileTool: Layout File Merging and Translation
Index
About this document ...

Stephen R. Whiteley 2012-04-01