* New: In KatanaEngine::digitalInit(), when using a "VH,2RL" style,
protect all RoutingPads of each net, because unlike "2RL+" style,
the standard cell RoutingPads are not in a "below" layer only
used inside the cell, but on the V layer. So the area of the RP,
even if not fully used to connect, must be protected.
* Change: In NegociateOverlapCost(), when computing cost from a fixed
or blockage, do not set the infinite flag if it's the *same* net.
* New: In KatanaEngine::protectRoutingPads(), add a new "flags" argument
to pass on whether we want to protect the the RP candidates or just
the non-used ones.
* Change: In protectRoutingpad(), change the formula (again) to compute
the berth to give to a fixed segment... Should really try to
summarize all the case.
* Change: In TrackFixedSegment::getNet(), no longer return the blockage
net if the real net is tagged as clock.
* Bug: In Anabatic::AutoHorizontal::_makeDogleg(), the up/down flag
was incorrectly computed when the RoutingGauge RL where not the
lower one. This was leading to making doglegs in non-routable
layers (but present in the gauge for other purposes).
* New: In Katana::Configuration, added option:
"cfg.katana.disableStackedVias" (default to false), so the router
do not stack VIAs on top of each other.
* Bug: In NegociateWindow::loadRoutingPads(), create TrackMarkers using
the right depth when the gauge starts with non-routable ones.
* New: In Track::addOverlapCost(), when disableStackedVias is active,
uses the markers from the below terminals to tag the cost as
"infinite", so the track *cannot* be used by the marker's net
owner. Can be refined by checking that we are not at a segment's
end but will do for now.
* New: In cumulus/block.bigvia, add a getBoundingBox() method.
* New: In cumulus/block.configuration.GaugeConf.rpAccess(),
add a vertical strap segment in case the RP is not high enough to
accomodate the potential offset of the contact.
In case of gauge with only two routing layers, if the RP
is vertically accessed, do not put a VIA12 but just a METAL2
contact (there will be *no* turn).
* Change: In cumulus/chip.CoreWire.drawWire(), the wire at *chip level*
going to the pad was shrunk of 3 pitch when *not* in the preferred
routing direction. Removing it as it creates gaps in some cases.
This was likely needed for a specific kind of I/O pad so should
be re-enabled on targeted cases in the future.
* Change: In cumulus/chip.corona.VerticalRail, manage in a smarter way
the conflicts when a rail is accessed from both sides overlapping
on an Y position. That is, from the supply I/O pads *and* from the
*core* supply lines.
Formerly, we just didn't connect the core power line, which was
a mistake potentially leaving power rails unconnected (it it did
occur on both sides).
Also checks if the conflict really arise, that is, the power lines
are both on top or bottom.
* Change: In cumulus/chip.pads.Side._placePad(), manage I/O pads with
a bottom left corner of abutment box *not* at (0,0). Argh!
* Bug: In cumulus/chip.pads, create the filler pad instances in the
chip, not in the corona.
* Change: In Etesian::BloatChannel, when two DFFs are side by side, if
they are not separated by at least one pitch, the track avoid
mechanism will not be able to work. Hence the minimal one pitch.
* Change: In cumulus/plugins.chip.configuration, do not add an extra
slice height to the minHCorona & minVCorona. Now seems a bit overkill
on small chips.
* New: In CRL::RoutingLayerGauge, two new types of gauge are supported:
- Unusable : just do nothing with it, but the layer is stacked.
- BottomPowersupply : can be used for supply routing only, and
is *below* the normal routing layers (instead of on top as
usual).
Both new types must be *below* the real routing layers.
* New: In CRL::RoutingGauge, add a new attribute "firstRoutingLayer"
to give the index (depth) of the first layer usable for routing.
(not Unusable and not BottomPowerSupply)
* New: In Anabatic::Session & Anabatic::NetBuilder, in order to build
the initial wiring, provides (Session) and use (NetBuilder) the
new functions:
- getBuildRoutingLayer(depth)
- getBuildContactLayer(depth)
Thoses functions takes into account (offset) the unusable layers
so depth 0 is the first usable routing layer, and so on.
* New: In Technology, in order to support symbolic technology on top
of a real technology using non-generic layer names, it comes in
handy to be able to define layer alias names. Generic *real*
layer names could be defined as alias over the technology
specific ones. Then, we can build the symbolic layers upon
the generic names (so *that* part of the init code can be
shared between techs).
Adds Technology::addLayerAlias()
The semantic of Technology::getLayer() changes a little, it
return the techno layer associtated to the name *or* the
aliased name.
* Bug: In Technology::_addPhysicalRule(), in case of a rule redefinition,
we were using it's name *after* the deletion of the rule object.
Nasty crash.
Improve the error message by giving the name of the conflicting
rule.
* In CRL/helpers.analogtechno, add an addDevice() function to load
analogic devices descriptors (copied from the old init system).
* In CRL/ApParser, if an exception is catched, tells in which file and
line it did occur.
* In Oroshi/dtr.Rules, add a translation step to get the rule names
from the technology. From generic names to actual technology
layer names.
Add some documentation.
* In Oroshi/stack.Stack, get the layers names through dtr.Rules to get
the layers names translated.
* Bug: In NetBuilder::construct(), the xG_xM1 topologies where wrongly
redirected towards xG_1M1, so only one M1 was connected, all others
left floating.
Now direct them towards xG_xM1_xM3.
* Bug: In NetBuilderHybridVH, activate topology management for 2G_1M1.
* Change: In Etesian::SubSlice::getUsedVTracks(), now take blockages
into account for used vertical tracks.
* Bug: In Etesian::SubSlice::avoidTrack(), right free interval for
shifting was wrongly computed, effectively allowing *any* shift.
This was creating cells overlap!
* New: In Hurricane::BasicLayer & Layer, establish a two way link
between the blockage layer and routing layer. Now we can access
the routing layer from the blockage.
* New: In NetBuilderHybridVH::_do_1G_xM1_1PinM1(), added configuration
to manage pins on the north/south sides for VH,2RL.
* Bug: In NetBuilderHybridVH::doRp_xG_xM1_xM3(), correct misplaced
vertical creation (buildind invalid topologies).
* New: EtesianEngine::toColoquinte(), display histograms of the cells
widths (in pitch) before and after bloating to get a better feeling
of the behavior.
* New: In EtesianEngine, add support for track avoidance. Portions of
tracks to avoid are specified by a Box, which should flat and on
the axis of the request track. This feature is used by the H-Tree
to clear the vertical tracks under the tree from any terminal.
* New: In Etesian::Area, Slice and SubSlice, add support for track
avoidance. Exported to the Python wrapper.
* New: SubSlice::getUsedVTracks() to get a set of tracks blocked by
the cell.
* New: SubSlice::trackAvoid(), shift left/rigth the cell under the
requested vertical track. Try only to move the cell under the
track and not it's neighbor, so it assume that there is sufficient
space left or right of the cell.
* Bug: In cumulus/plugins.block.configuration.BlockConf, the Cfg
parameters may be read too early from the Cfg space into the
various sub-conf objects (like FeedsConf). Delay the reading
of the parameters in a _postInit() functions.
Modify Block and CoreToChip to call _postInit().
* New: In cumulus/plugins.block.configuration.BlockConf._loadRoutingGauge,
allow the cell gauge name to differ from the routing gauge name.
* New: In cumulus/plugins.block.configuration.FeedsConf, allow to
select the default feed to be used with 'etesian.defaultFeed'
parameter.
* New: In cumulus/plugins.block.spares.BufferPool, allow to control
whether or not we want tie to either side of the pool.
(for latch up).
* New: In cumulus/plugins.block.HTree._connectLeaf(), add support
for track avoidance.
* Bug: In cumulus/plugins.block.HTree._connectLeaf(), the TL2 contact,
the one on the *top* auxiliary buffer seemed to have been badly
positioned until now (too low, not using tl2Y).
This is strange because it should have caused disconnections,
but I didn't see it in the wiring and the regressions tests didn't
flag anything wrong. Still a bit weird and worrying.
Previously, the relevant NetBuilder and routing strategies where
directly guessed from the RoutingGauge traits. This is no longer
doable as the combinations increases. Now to configure both the
global and detailed router we need three "parameters" :
1. The routing gauge itself (tells which layers are in which
directions) and how to make the VIAs.
2. The NetBuilder to use, they are identified by strings.
Currently we support:
* "HV,3RL+", for all SxLib derived standard cells.
* "VH,2RL", for hybrid routing (over the cell, but terminals
are also in the first RL).
* "2RL-", for strict channel routing.
* "VH,3RL+", an attempt for FreePDK 45, not optimized enough
to be considered as usable.
3. The routing style, mostly affect the way the GCell grid will be
built.
* VH : first RL is V.
* HV : first RL is H.
* OTH : Run in full over-the-cell mode (needs at least 3RL).
* Channel : Run in *strict* channel routing mode (no routing over
the standard cells).
* Hybrid : Create channels, but can use H tracks over the
standard cells.
Thoses three parameters are partly overlapping and must be sets in
a consistent manner, otherwise strange results may occurs.
* New: CRL::RoutingGauge::getFirstRoutingGauge(), to get the lowest
layer available for routing (not a PinOnly, not a PowerSupply).
* Change: In CRL::RoutingGauge::isHV() and isVH(), were previously
always returning false when the gauge was 2RL only. Now, check
on the first usable RL.
* Bug: In cumulus/plugins.block.configuration._loadRoutingGauge(),
there was a bad computation of the deep RLs when the top layer
was not defined. Occured for 2RL gauges only.
* Bug: In Anabatic::RpsInRow::slacken() (LayerAssign), forgotten curly braces
in the test to skip METAL2 terminals.
* Change: In Etestian::BloatChannel::getDx(), adjust the bloating
policy to converge on Arlet6502. Always ensure that there is
a 50% ratio between terminal used V-tracks and free ones.
If there is more than 80% of terminals, add one more track.
* Bug: In AnabaticEngine & KatanaEngine, KatanaEngine is a derived
class of AnabaticEngine. They uses Anabatic::Configuration
and Katana::Configuration that also derives from each other.
I though I had made one configuration attribute in the base
class that was using the right Configuration. But no. I did
have two configurations attributes, one in AnabaticEngine and
one in KatanaEngine, the later "shadowing" the former. As a
results, parameters modified in AnabaticEngine, *after* the
initial creation of the tool *where never seen* at Katana
level (due to it's own duplicate). What a mess.
Now there is only one attribute in the *base* class Anabatic,
which is created through a new virtual function _createConfiguration()
called in _postCreate() which allocate the right Configuration
according to the dynamic type of the tool (KatanaEngine).
In KatanaEngine, access the configuration through the
attribute (_configuration) and not the accessor (getConfiguration()).
* Bug: In KatanaEngine, no longer directly use the _configuration attribute
(which is not accessible anyway) but the getConfiguration() accessor.
The accessor perform a static_cast from the Super::getConfiguration()
into Katana::Configuration.
Complete cleanup of the various configuration accessors.
* New: AnabaticEngine::setupNetBuilder(), perform an early check
of the requested NetBuilderStyle. The NetBuilderStyle is just a
string that will be matched against the (hard-coded) supported
NetBuilders. Then check the topological characteristics against
the capabilities of the gauge (HV, VH and so on).
Still a bit too hard-coded for now.
This function has been split from AnabaticEngine::_loadGrByNet().
* Change: AnabaticEngine::isChannelStyle() renamed from isChannelMode().
* New: In Anabatic::Configuration, two new attributes to select the
topology and routing style:
- _netBuilderStyle to explicitely select the NetBuilder to use.
It's a string, which is provided by each NetBuilder.
- _routingStyle to define how the overall routing will work.
It's a set of flags (StyleFlags):
* VH : first RL is V.
* HV : first RL is H.
* OTH : Run in full over-the-cell mode (needs at least 3RL).
* Channel : Run in *strict* channel routing mode (no routing over
the standard cells).
* Hybrid : Create channels, but can use H tracks over the
standard cells.
* New: In anabatic/Constants, add StyleFlags to define how the router
should operate (see above).
* Bug: In Anabatic::GCell, in CTOR, no reason to set up the HChannelGCell flag.
* Bug: In Anabatic::GCell::updateDensity(), when computing layers non contiguous
saturation, do not systematically skip RL 0, but only if it's PinOnly.
* Change: In Anabatic::NetBuilder, rename isTwoMetal by isStrictChannel.
* Change: In Anabatic::NetBuilderHV, rename doRp_AccessNorthPin() in
doRp_AccessNorthSouthPin(). More accurate.
* Bug: In NetBuilderHV::_do_1G_xM1_1PinM2(), the wires to connect the M1
terminals where created *twice*. Uterly stupid, there where placed in
overlap by the router!
* New: In AnabaticEngine, new accessors to the NetBuilderStyle and
RoutingStyle, proxies towards Configuration.
* Bug: In Manipulator::relax(), if there are two doglegs to be done, but
they are in the same GCell, only do one (the conflicting interval)
is short.
* Change: In Katana::Session, rename isChannelMode() into isChannelStyle().
* Change: In TrackSegment::isUnbreakable() and isStrap(), return false
when the base segment is a *weak global* (aligned with a global one).
* Change: In Katana::Row::createChannel(), correctly distinguish between
*strict channel* style and *hybrid* style. Tag the GCells as std cells
row or channels only in the former case.
* Change: In AutoSegment::canReduce(), allow reduction, when in channel
mode, for bottom connected jumpers at depth 1. Forbidden otherwise
as it may cause problems with the terminals (in OTC).
* Change: In TrackSegment::canRealign(), allow realignement of reduced
segments. What really needs to be checked is that it do not have
perpandiculars in reduced state.
* New: In Katana::NegotiateWindow::_negociate(), if the realign stage is
enabled, perform a second stage of repair after it. To do this we
need to reverse the state of events marked as FailedRepair to Repair.
We isolate the repair stage in a new dedicated function,
NegociateWindow::_negociateRepair(). Maybe should do the same for
each other negociate stage.
* New: Hurricane::ErrorWidget, new widget exported to Python to replace
helpers.io.ErrorWidget.
* New: Hurricane::AboutWindow, new window exported to Python to replace
cumulus/plugins.aboutwindow.AboutWidget.
* Change: In cumulus/plugins.sram.sram_256x32, add a new parameter to
__init__() so the user can choose the model name of the generated
SRAM.
* Change: In cumulus/plugins.sram.sram.BaseSRAM.placeInstance(),
placement status must be FIXED instead of PLACED so the placer do
not "unplace" them.
The Cell.updatePlacedFlag() method must also be called once
the model if fully built.
* New: In CRL::DefExport, checkStatus() has a second argument to display
a more comprehensive error message.
Applied throughout all the DEF callbacks.
* Bug: In CRL::DefExport, the UNIT statement and associated toDefUnits()
functions where wrong. Now always use a UNITS of 1000 in microns.
Then toDefUnits() converts DbU into microns and multiply by 1000.
* Change: In CRL::defExport::_netCbk(), enable the net name renaming
only when the ProtectNetNames flag is set.
* New: In CRL::PyDefExport, also export the flag values to Python.
* Change: In CRL::LefImport::LefParser, layers defined in the LEF file
are matched *in order* to the ones from the technology *in order*
(not by name matching). But if there is a mismatch, that is more
layers in the techno than in LEF, we got a shift. Now we can tell
the parser to ignore a set of layers by setting up the configuration
variable:
LefImport.unmatchedLayers = 'DIFFP,POLY2,SMURF'
Robert Taylor
Jean-Paul Chaput