Route, Postroute, and Signoff

The final steps are less involved from a designer perspective. These steps run detailed route (i.e., the cadence-innovus-route step) and loop until timing is met or until the tool quits (i.e., the cadence-innovus-postroute step). Then the final timing analysis is run and output files are written out (i.e., the cadence-innovus-signoff step). You can run the design up to this step like this:

% cd $top/build
% make cadence-innovus-route
% make cadence-innovus-postroute
% make cadence-innovus-signoff

Here are the inputs, outputs, and scripts and what they do. You should not expect to change these.

input	design.checkpoint	The working Innovus database from the previous step.
output	design.checkpoint	The working Innovus database after the step finishes.
output	design.gds.gz	The GDS layout with all wires and empty holes for the stdcells. The GDS merge step that comes next will combine this one with the stdcell.gds in the ADK (and any SRAM gds) to create the final GDS.
output	design.lvs.v, design.vcs.v, and design.virtuoso.v	These are slightly different versions of the post-place-and-route gate-level netlist for different purposes. The LVS version removes physical-only cells (e.g., fillers) that would cause spurious LVS failures. The Virtuoso version removes decaps that significantly slow down SPICE simulation.
output	design.lef	The LEF view of your final design. This can be used to insert your design into a larger design in another flow.
output	design.pt.sdc	The constraints that Innovus used, meant to tell the timing signoff engine in Synopsys PT what constraints to use.
output	design.spef.gz	This file has parasitic RC values for every net in your design. This is used in timing signoff and power estimation.
script	setup-optmode.tcl	This is where you might set up slack targets for setup/hold. If you are having trouble with small amounts of negative slack, you can set numbers here.
script	generate-results.tcl	This script writes out all the design files after place and route is over.

Here is a list of checks you will want to run through:

• reports/signoff.area.rpt – Compare this area report to the report from synthesis. This area will be higher because it includes not just the gates but also margins, empty space (filler), halos, buffers, and any overheads from floorplan restrictions.

• logs/run.log – Search for violations and make sure the violation count is zero. This is an automated Innovus DRC that is equivalent to clicking Verify DRC in the GUI. Also check the connectivity report in the log right next to the DRC. This is Innovus running LVS on the wires and making sure connections in the layout match those in the netlist.

• reports/signoff.summary – The numbers in this report should be similar to those in the place summary report. The timing engine that generated these numbers is signoff quality, so the exact numbers will be slightly different.

• reports/signoff_hold.summary – This is the hold timing report. This report must only have positive numbers!

• Pull up the GUI – This is a good chance to just look at your final layout and check if anything odd catches your eye. Feel free to do any of the checks from previous steps again.