Common Library Reference

This section walks through the common library included in mflowgen, using standard commercial tools to synthesize an RTL design, place and route the gates, generate a layout, and verify it with a set of signoff steps.

This section provides a high-level overview of running an entire pipe cleaner before doing deeper dives into the open-source technology files, submodular node organization, the DC synthesis node, the Innovus Foundation Flow, the Innovus nodes, how to run each step, and which scripts and reports are the most important to inspect.

Pipe cleaners are small designs that run through the flow quickly and help to identify errors early. It is good practice to frequently run pipe cleaners while developing the flow before running your full design. We will be using the GcdUnit design as a pipecleaner.

Contents:

• Greatest Common Divisor Pipe Cleaner
• FreePDK45 and the Nangate Open Cell Library
• Sub-Modular Node Design
• Synthesis
• The Innovus Foundation Flow
• Design Initialization and Floorplanning
• Power Strategy
• Placement
• Clock Tree Synthesis
• Route, Postroute, and Signoff
• Design Rule Check (DRC)
• Layout-vs-Schematic (LVS)
• List of mflowgen Common Library Nodes