I would like to know of the freeware/tools for learning VLSI design. Cadence/Mentor Graphics are the best preferred ones usually but they are licensed and quite costly too. So are there any similar tools which would carry out the same functionalities and in similar environments for analog/digital design? Suggestions appreciated.
Regards,
Raghu
A lot of them, but i refrain from recommending. Because everything i tried is garbage compared to Cadence.
Another problem is foundry support. Cadence is supported by everyones PDK. Few PDK supports Synopsis. More accessible alternatives like Agilent (EEsoft)layout edit or free "Magic" layout editor are supported by none. So you can learn any software, but to design real VLSI you use Cadence. Some digital gurus use Synopsis..but it equally difficult to pay and much less capable compared to recent versions of Cadence SoC software(even comparing digital-only design).
No doubt, Cadence, Mentor Graphics and Synopsis and may be some other capture the market. However you can try NGSPICE (free ware) for simulation using PTM (predictive technology model) parameters for your learning and research point of view in digital circuits. There could be one more option, OsCAD, recently develop by IITian in India, however I have not use yet.
Ok , I will see to the options said. Thank you Zia and Oleg.
i have done many analog , digital and mixed signal IC design uing that to dee the functionality and performances , it works nice
I suggest TANNER more than Cadence. pertaining to the fact that Cadence is the best in terms of technology and optimization techniques but is quite bulky and not that much user friendly. Tanner on the other side is user friendly and easy to handle than Cadence IC suite
Hi, I have one collegue who is teaching Analog Design to Electronic Engineers using only free tools (Glade as layout editor and SpiceOpus for simulation). You can find the complete lab course at his webpage :
http://www.cnm.es/~pserra/uab/syllabus.html
If you want a free cell layout synthesis tool I can suggest: https://code.google.com/p/gme-ufrgs/
Thank you so much Jithin, Jojre and Ziesemer. And am Very Sorry for my late response.
This post is really helpful, thank you for suggestions and to the person who posted the question.....
Raghu
I use ngSPICE daily, from www.partsim.com/ via the internet.
DigiKey supports this site. Has built-in BOM .
Many drag-drop exact components from ADI, MAXIM, etc.
along with the basic generic models.
Registraton is free, and password controlled.
The PartSIM java tools are downloaded each logiin,
and run on your PC.
Have had upwards of 150 progressing designs saved there.
At PartSIM,
Have run modeling on 20 stages of MFB multi-frequency band-pass audio filters, with probes at each stage.
Transient response analysis is very helpful in tracing phase relations.
Glen
See the web Page of the French University:
https://www-soc.lip6.fr/en/
there are links in the middle of the page to the own developed EDA tools:
Alli@ance: Digital CAD toolchain :
https://www-soc.lip6.fr/equipe-cian/logiciels/alliance/
Coriolis: Digital P&R Place&Route tool:
https://www-soc.lip6.fr/equipe-cian/logiciels/coriolis/
Tas/Yagle : Static Timing Analyser
https://www-soc.lip6.fr/equipe-cian/logiciels/tasyagle/
Oceane: Analog Design
https://www-soc.lip6.fr/equipe-cian/logiciels/oceane/
___________________________________________________________
Beside of this there are other analog EDA layout tools:
Magic Layout Tool:
http://opencircuitdesign.com/magic/
http://opencircuitdesign.com/magic
Klayout: Layout Viewer and Editor:
http://www.klayout.de/
________________________________________________________
and there is a very cheap (below 1k):
Juspertor Layout Editor from Munich, Bavaria, Germany:
http://layouteditor.net/
https://www.juspertor.com/
Electric VLSI Design System along with LTSpice may serve the purpose for academic use.
You can find good tutorials for both at cmosedu.com
K-layout : https://www-soc.lip6.fr/fileadmin/user_upload/soc/events/klayout_20180404.pdf
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