Cross-platform database validation: Don’t add applications without it!

By James Paris

The OASIS* database format is a widely used industry standard in electronic design automation (EDA) software for integrated circuit (IC) design flows. While the OASIS standard provides a set of rules for the format and content of the file, different EDA tools may create different solutions to represent the same layout in OASIS format. These variations in the content and structure of the resulting databases may cause significant issues in the production IC design implementation flow. To prevent these inconsistencies, computer-aided design (CAD) teams must perform rigorous evaluation and testing of database integrity to validate content equivalency when transitioning to or adding a new application for the production flow. This process should include a comprehensive data comparison of the database produced by the new application against a known good dataset that extends beyond the traditional layout versus layout (LVL) XOR polygon-level comparison, including specific layout object, cell placement, and hierarchy comparisons to ensure compatibility with the production methodology.

The Calibre® DBdiff utility provides an object-based database comparison process that supplies the necessary detail to ensure database consistency, or to find and resolve any incompatibilities. If you have a need for or interest in database consistency in your design flow, download a copy of our technical paper, Cross-platform validation of OASIS layout database generation ensures database consistency throughout IC process flows, to learn how to configure the Calibre DBdiff object comparison application to identify these intrinsic differences between two similar databases and avoid potential issues when implementing new tools into a proven production design flow.*The trade name OASIS is a registered trademark in the USA of Thomas J. Grebinski, Alamo, California and licensed for use exclusively by SEMI