Electric VLSI Design System

Dr. Steven M. Rubin leads the development of Electric in the VLSI Research Group at Sun Microsystems, Inc.

·         The Google group for the Electric VLSI Design System is http://groups.google.com/group/electricvlsi and the email address is electricvlsi@googlegroups.com

·         The history of the ElectricTM VLSI Design System is found here and at Wikipedia.org.

·         Electric is available in Java (and is very stable) so it can be installed on any platform (Unix, Linux, Mac, Windows).

·         The online user’s manual with tutorial is found here. It can also be accessed while Electric is running by going to Help => User’s Manual or here.

·         Videos illustrating the use of Electric are seen here.

 

Installation (for Windows)

  1. Ensure Java is installed on your computer by going to Java.com
  2. Create a directory C:\Electric
  3. Download the electric (binary release) jar file into this directory
  4. Ensure the file extension is *.jar since Windows may try to change the download to *.zip
  5. Double clicking on the jar file starts Electric

·         Examples are found in (open these libraries after you start Electric): opamp_s07.jelib, ee5410_s07.jelib (save C5_models.txt to C:\Electric) and hundreds from the CMOS book!

 

Setting up an Icon (optional)

  1. Right click on the desktop and select New -> Shortcut
  2. In the type location of item field (assuming version 8.07) enter

 

C:\WINDOWS\system32\java.exe -classpath "C:\Electric\electricBinary-8.07.jar" com.sun.electric.Launcher

 

  1. After selecting a name for the Icon (e.g., Electric CAD) and clicking on “Finish” a generic Icon should appear on the desktop
  2. Next, save Electric’s Icon (right click on the link and select Save Target As) in C:\Electric
  3. Right click on the desktop generic icon and select Properties.

·         Set the Start-In directory as C:\Electric

·         “Change Icon” to the Icon downloaded in step 9

 

  1. Doubling clicking on the desktop Icon starts Electric.

·         Examples are found in (open these libraries after you start Electric): opamp_s07.jelib, ee5410_s07.jelib (save C5_models.txt to C:\Electric) and hundreds from the CMOS book!

 

Installing IRSIM (optional)

  1. Download the IRSIM (binary) jar file into C:\Electric (again ensure that Windows doesn’t change the extension to *.zip)
  2. In step 7 above now enter

 

C:\WINDOWS\system32\java.exe -classpath "C:\Electric\electricBinary-8.07.jar;C:\Electric\electricIRSIM-8.07.jar" com.sun.electric.Launcher

 

Using SPICE (optional)

  1. See: HSPICE, LTspice, or WinSpice for SPICE information.

 

Increasing the Memory limit of the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) for larger designs and to ensure only one window is open when running Electric (optional)

  1. To increase Electric’s available memory (default is 64 MB) go to File -> Preferences -> General -> General and increase the maximum memory size as seen below (where we’ve increased the size to 512 MB)

 

 

 

Setting up the Electrical Rule Check (ERC) for n-well CMOS processes that use n-well resistors or higher than VDD voltages (optional)

Note how we don’t require that the n-well be tied to VDD as we would in a pure digital design that doesn’t use n-well

resistors or PMOS devices with potentials above VDD (as found in a charge pump).

 

 

The Electric Windows registry can be cleared (which eliminates all of your setups including key bindings, colors, preferences, history, etc.) by going to Start -> Run then running regedit (registry edit) and deleting the folder HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\JavaSoft\Prefs\com\sun\electric

 

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CMOS Circuit Design, Layout, and Simulation

CMOS Mixed-Signal Circuit Design

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