In-design Sign-off Metal Fill Flow in Innovus

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Before inserting sign-off metal fill, stream out a GDSII stream file of the current database. Specify the mapping file and units that match with the rule deck you specify while inserting metal fill. If necessary, include the detailed-cell (-merge option) Graphic Database System (GDS).

PVS:

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streamOut -merge $GDSFile -mode ALL -units $GDSUNITS -mapFile $GDSMAP -outputMacros pvs.fill.gds
run_pvs_metal_fill -ruleFile $DUMMYRULE -defMapFile $DEFMAP -gdsFile pvs.fill.gds -cell [dbgDesignName]

Pegasus: 

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streamOut -merge $GDSFile -mode ALL -units $GDSUNITS -mapFile $GDSMAP -outputMacros pegasus.fill.gds
run_pegasus_metal_fill -ruleFile $DUMMYRULE -defMapFile $DEFMAP -gdsFile pegasus.fill.gds -cell [dbgDesignName]

Just replace run_pvs_metal_fill with run_pegasus_metal_fill

Note: Innovus metal fill (e.g. addMetalFill, addViaFill, etc.) does not support 20nm and below node design rules. We strongly recommend the Pegasus/PVS metal fill solution for 20nm and below. If you have sign-off metal fill rule deck for 28nm and above available, we recommend you to move to Pegasus/PVS solution too.

  1. trimMetalFillNearNet does not check DRC rules. It only removes the metal fill with specified spacing

  2. Do not perform ECO operations after dump in sign-off metal fill (by run_pvs_metal_fill or run_pegasus_metal_fill), especially, at 20nm and below nodes.

  3. If you perform an ECO action, the tool cannot get DRC clean because trimMetalFill does not support 20nm and below node design rules.

  4. The sign-off metal fill typically does not cause DRC issues with regular wires.

The run_pvs_metal_fill command does the following:

  • Runs PVS with the fill rules to create a GDSII output file.
  • Converts the GDSII to a DEF format file based on the GDSII to DEF layermap provided.
  • Loads the resulting DEF file into Innovus.

Pegasus is similar to PVS, shown as below,

The run_pegasus_metal_fill command does the following:

  • Runs Pegasus with the fill rules to create a GDSII output file.
  • Converts the GDSII to a DEF format file based on the GDSII to DEF layermap provided.
  • Loads the resulting DEF file into Innovus.

Reference:

Innovus User Guide, Product Version 21.12, Last Updated in November 2021