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The Edit Tech Params Button: Edit Layer Keywords

The Edit Tech Params button in the Attributes Menu brings up the Layer Parameter Editor. With the editor, several of the technology file keywords associated with layers can have their specifications added, deleted, or edited. After modification, the Save Tech button in the Attributes Menu can be used to generate a new technology file that incorporates the changes.

The editor is similar to the keyword editors found in the Convert Menu and Extract Menu, and the rule editor found in the DRC Menu. When the editor first appears, the keyword specifications for the current layer are listed. The specifications appear as they would in the technology file. Changing the current layer will update the listing to the parameters for the new current layer. The user can add new lines or modify existing lines as desired.

To add a specification, select the desired keyword in the Keywords menu of the editor. The user will then be asked to enter the associated text on the prompt line.

Clicking on a line in the listing will select the line. The text for the selected line can be edited, or the line deleted, with the Edit and Delete buttons in the editor's Edit menu. The Edit menu also contains an Undo button, allowing the last operation to be undone.

The keywords that can be manipulated with the Layer Parameter Editor are listed below, along with the specification syntax.

LongName longname
This will set (or reset) the long name field of the current layer. If no non-space characters are found after the keyword, the statement is ignored. Leading and training white space is removed from the argument.

Description description_string
This will set the description field of the current layer. If no non-space characters are found after the keyword, the statement is ignored. Leading and training white space is removed from the description string.

Symbolic
If this keyword, which can be applied to physical layers only, is present in a layer block, the layer will not be included in the cross section displays produced with the Cross Section command (in the View Menu).

NoMerge
If this keyword, which can be applied to physical layers only, is present in a layer block, the automatic merging of objects will be suppressed on the layer. This overrides any merging enabled by the Clip and merge overlapping boxes button in the Set Import Parameters panel, and the Merge Boxes, Polys button in the Edit Menu, and the corresponding variables.

Invisible
Layers with this keyword will by default be invisible. The actual visibility status can be changed from the layer table. When a new technology file is generated with the Save Tech button in the Attributes Menu, the Invisible keyword will be applied only to layers with the Invisible keyword set, whether or not the layer is currently visible.

CrossThick thickness
This keyword, which can be applied to physical layers only, sets the layer thickness as rendered in the Cross Section command in the View Menu. The thickness is given in microns.

CrossField dark | clear
This sets the layer polarity assumed in the Cross Section command. If set to ``dark'', then inverse polarity (dark field) will be used in the cross section display, which is appropriate for via layers, where the colored areas in the normal layout display actually represent a hole through the insulator.

If the CrossThick or CrossField keywords are not set, in Xic, the Cross Section command will obtain values from the extraction system. These are overridden by the CrossThick and CrossField keywords, if set. In XicII and Xiv, the extraction system is not available.


next up previous contents index
Next: The Main Window Button: Up: The Attributes Menu: Set Previous: The Edit Layers Button:   Contents   Index
Stephen R. Whiteley 2012-04-01