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The DRC Menu: Design Rule Checking

The DRC Menu contains commands which control checking of design rules. The menu is accessible only in physical mode, and design rule checking can only be applied in physical mode. Xic has the capability of checking for design rule violations as any object is created or modified, and for checking regions and cells interactively or in batch mode. The algorithm fully supports non-Manhattan geometry. Design rules are provided in the technology file, or interactively using the Edit Rules command.

The table below lists the commands found in the DRC Menu, and supplies the internal command name and a brief description.

DRC Menu
Label Name Pop-up Function
Setup limit DRC Parameter Setup Set limits and other parameters
Set Skip Flags sflag none Set skip flags
Enable Interactive intr none Set interactive DRC
No Pop Up Errors nopop none No interactive errors list
Batch Check check DRC Run Control Initiate DRC run
Check In Region point none Test rules in region
Clear Errors clear none Erase error indicators
Query Errors query none Print error messages
Dump Error File erdmp none Dump errors to file
Update Highlighting erupd none Update highlighting from file
Show Errors next sub-window Sequentially display errors from file
Create Layer erlyr none Write highlight error regions to objects on layer
Edit Rules dredt Design Rule Editor Edit rules for layers

After a check is performed, violating objects are shown on-screen with the border highlighted, and a highlighting border is drawn around the test region containing the error. These objects are not removed from the database. It is up to the user to fix or ignore errors as they are indicated.

Presently, the indication of a violation is not saved as the cell is written.

Design rules are specified in the technology file, or with the Design Rule Editor made visible with the Edit Rules button in the DRC Menu. The rules are specified by a keyword, followed by an optional source region specification, followed by parameters. In addition to the built-in rule primitives to be described, a capability exists for users to define specialized or more complex tests.



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Next: Layer Expressions Up: xicmanual Previous: The Text Editor Button:   Contents   Index
Stephen R. Whiteley 2024-09-29