AAE Migration Guide

EDI AAE Migration Guide
Cadence Design Systems, Inc.

Application Note
Encounter® Digital Implementation

System
EDI13
AAE Migration Guide
Product Versions: EDI 13.22, ETS13.16

April 2014
COPYRIGHT © 2014, CADENCE DESIGN SYSTEMS, INC.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. PAGE 1
Table of Content
Purpose ....................................................................................................................... 4
Terms ....................................................................................................................... 4
Audience ...................................................................................................................... 4
Introduction .................................................................................................................. 4
Commands used to control AAE .............................................................................. 5
Related commands .................................................................................................. 5
AAE Supported Library Formats .............................................................................. 5
A brief history of delay and SI calculation in EDI ............... 6

Important AAE use model changes ............................................................................. 6
EDI10........................................................................................................................... 6
Postroute optimization using Gigaopt....................................................................... 6
New AAE-SI options................................................................................................. 7
EDI 11.......................................................................................................................... 8
New features ............................................................................................................ 8
New features USR1 ................................................................................................. 8
New features USR2 ................................................................................................. 9
Changes USR2 ........................................................................................................ 9
Changes USR3 ........................................................................................................ 9
EDI 12.......................................................................................................................... 9
EDI 13.1....................................................................................................................... 9
Changes ................................................................................................................... 9
New ........................................................................................................................ 10
EDI 13.2..................................................................................................................... 10
Changes ................................................................................................................. 10
New ........................................................................................................................ 11
Changes USR3 ...................................................................................................... 11
Comparison of AAE versus SS-CeltIC............................. 12

Delay calculation........................................................................................................ 12
SI Analysis options ................................................................................................. 13
SI options mapping ................................................................................................ 14
Example scripts ...................................................................................................... 16
The EDI design flow with AAE ......................................... 17

Implementation commands .................................................................................... 18
Differences between the old optimizer and Gigaopt ............................................... 18
EDI 13.2 sample script............................................................................................... 19
Foundation Flow settings for AAE .......................................................................... 20

EDI 13.2 AAE-SI correlation ............................................ 21

TimeEx Utility ......................................................................................................... 21
Essential settings ................................................................................................... 21
Correlation settings ................................................................................................ 21
The following settings can be used to fine tune SI delays further: ......................... 21
EDI versus ETS key differences............................................................................. 23
EDI 13.2 settings for ETS (CeltIC) v13.16-s015_1 (ISR6) ......................................... 23
Base delays ........................................................................................................... 23
SI correlation .......................................................................................................... 24
EDI 13.2 settings for ETS (AAE) v13.16-s015_1 (ISR6) ............................................ 24
Base timing ............................................................................................................ 24
EDI SI settings ....................................................................................................... 24
EDI 13.2 settings for Third Party Correlation (TPC) ................................................... 25
Recommended settings ......................................................................................... 25
PTSI Correlation Checklist ..................................................................................... 26
Debug commands ............................................................ 27
KPNS ............................................................................... 28
getSIMode .............................................................................................................. 28
License ................................................................................................................... 28
References....................................................................... 29

Purpose
This document is a migration guide for the new Encounter® Digital Implementation (EDI)
delay calculator, the Advanced Analysis Engine (AAE). The key areas covered are:
 Differences between the old and the new engines
 Using AAE for optimization in EDI
 EDI settings for correlation to sign off timing analysis results
Terms
AAE Advanced Analysis Engine
EDI Encounter® Design Implementation (System)
ETS Encounter Timing System
NLDM Liberty library format: basic non linear delay model
CCS Liberty library format: Composite Current Source model
ECSM Cadence® Current Source Model (Liberty syntax)
CDB Cadence noise library format, used in conjunction with a timing library
SI Signal Integrity (delay and glitches caused by crosstalk)
SS SignalStorm®: Cadence base delay calculation only engine
Celtic Cadence SI noise delay and glitch engine
QOR Quality of Results (frequency, area, power)
Tri-Libs Accurate interpolation method over a range of voltages with 3 libraries
EWM Equivalent Waveform Model
TW Timing windows
TPC Third Party Compatible; timing correlation setting
OCV On Chip Variation
FF Foundation Flow
Audience
This document is intended for EDI 13.x users who want to understand more about the
differences between the previous generation delay calculation methods and engines
(SS-Celtic®) compared to AAE.
Introduction
AAE is a unified delay calculation engine that supports simultaneous base and SI delay
computation, key features in EDI include:
• fast incremental SI delay computation during timing optimization
• good correlation to signoff analysis
• highly scalable multithreading
• support for industry standard library formats
See References 1, “Introduction to Advance Analysis Engine (AAE)” for more details on
AAE.

Commands used to control AAE

• setDelayCalMode ;# delay calculation options and SI on/off control
• setSIMode ;# SI options
• setDesignMode ;# switches SI mode from cap to current mode at <= 45nm
• setAnalysisMode ;# base timing analysis options
Related commands
• setMultiCpuUsage -localCpu
• placeDesign (timing driven)
• optDesign
• ccopt_design
• routeDesign (timing driven)
• timeDesign
• setExtractRCMode
• report_timing
AAE Supported Library Formats

The following industry standard formats are supported in EDI 13.2:
• NLDM, CCS, CCS-noise, CDB, ECSM, ECSM-noise

• AAE supports NLDM, however ECSM/CCS libraries are required for more
accurate delay calculation
• cdB, CCS-noise or ECSM-noise can be added/used for more accurate glitch
analysis.
• See References 1, “Introduction to Advance Analysis Engine (AAE)” , for more
information on library formats
For best correlation, load your signoff analysis libraries into EDI.
• To reduce library load times, compile CCS/ECSM libraries using write_ldb

A brief history of delay and SI

calculation in EDI
Two engines have previously been used for delay and SI calculation in EDI, including
the SignalStorm® and CeltIC®. Over the past few years, the new Advanced Analysis
Engine has been developed and has incrementally replaced the existing engines for
many tasks throughout the flow, starting with postroute optimization in EDI10. The
fundamental difference in the use model is that SignalStom/CeltIC was used to compute
separate base delays/incremental SI delays, whereas AAE computes base and SI
delays simultaneously.
This section describes the evolution of the commands and their options since their
introduction in 2010.
Important AAE use model changes

In general, any command that calls delay calculation (with the exception of
timeDesign/optDesign –si) supports base+si delay calculation using AAE, such as
report_timing can now be called directly, whereas previously it could only report SI
timing after running timeDesign/optDesign –si.
These commands will print a Warning and exit when AAE-SI is enabled:
• timeDesign –postRoute –si
• optDesign –postRoute –si
These commands will use AAE for base/base+SI delay when AAE/AAE-SI is enabled
• timeDesign –postRoute
• optDesign –postRoute
• report_timing
• in general all commands which generate timing reports
It is recommended that one of timeDesign/optDesign/report_timing is run before issuing

any timing debug commands e.g. reportDelayCalculation –si –from –to, will not analyze
all the nets in the design for SI effects.
EDI10
This section describes the introduction of AAE in EDI10
Postroute optimization using Gigaopt

This release introduced the concept of simultaneous base+SI delay calculation for
postroute optimization. See References 4, “PostRoute Optimization Using the Advanced
Analysis Engine (AAE)”, for more detailed information. Note that Gigaopt always calls

AAE in “opt mode” which uses fast approximations for some calculations to reduce
runtime; it’s tuned to be somewhat pessimistic v signoff tools.
New AAE-SI options

The new SIAware option was introduced for AAE, along with controls for optimization:
• setDelayCalMode –SIAware true | false ;# must be true to enable AAE-SI
• setDelayCalMode -engine {aae | default | feDC | signalStorm} –signoff true | false
default In preRoute will use feDC (or SignalStorm if ECSM or “Tri-Lib” flow)
In postRoute will use signalStorm (if –signoff is true)
else will use AAE (if –SIAware true and –signoff is false)
feDC Enables feDC
signalStorm Enables signalStorm delay calculation
The ”default” option is intended to simplify the settings throughout the flow, I.e. the
engine can be set to “default” for all stages. However it may be more straightforward to
use the “-engine AAE” option, especially as the default engine changes between EDI
versions.
The following new setSIMode options are supported by AAE from USR2:
• -vaThreshold, -vaDecoupleThreshold, -vaMode
The following setSIMode options are supported by both Celtic and AAE:
• –analysisType {default | pessimistic} ;# default is recommended
• -deltaDelayThreshold <seconds>
AAE is generally pessimistic versus signoff tools in this release. Therefore setSIMode –
analysisType pessimistic is not recommended.
Regardless of this setting, a number of internal and undocumented options were
commonly used to achieve good signoff correlation, setDelayCalMode –sgs2set {…}.
These commands were never intended for general use and should be removed when
using later EDI versions.
The following table compares the AAE public SI controls versus the Celtic option in this
release:
Celtic Option Celtic Default AAE setSIMode options AAE Default
set_virtual_attacker -gtol 0.05 -vaDecoupleThreshold same
set_virtual_attacker - > 45nm : cap -vaMode {cap | current} same

mode {cap | current} < 45nm : current
set_param –gtol 0.05 -vaThreshold same

Example usage
• Celtic: setSIMode -insCeltICPreTcl { set_virtual_attacker -gtol 0.015; \
set_virtual_attacker -mode current; \
set_param –gtol 0.03}
• AAE: setSIMode - vaDecoupleThreshold 0.015 \
-vaMode current \
-vaThreshold 0.03
Glitch violation reporting with AAE is less accurate and more pessimistic than Celtic in
this release. Check signoff results before wasting too much time trying to fix glitches.
reported by optDesign. In extreme cases (very long runtimes and/or poor QOR) glitch
fixing can be disabled with the following command:
• setOpMode –fixGlitch false ;# note that setSIMode –fixGlitch is ignored by AAE
SI induced slews are not reported or fixed by AAE in this release (except as a Beta
feature). It’s supported from EDI13.1 using, setOptMode –fixSISlew true.
EDI 11
This section describes what’s new for AAE in version EDI11.
New features
In EDI11, various SI settings where bundled together as different SI analysis types for
correlation to other timing analysis engines and tools. A new celtic_compatible analysis
type was added in USR1, together with the inherent “aae” analysis type. The
pessimistic analysis type was initially fine tuned and recommended for correlation to
PTSI (pre-2012-06), however a TPC specific option, third_party_compatible, was added
in USR2 and later tuned to PTSI (post-2012-06).
Cadence® started to provide additional recommended TPC settings from USR3. Contact
Cadence support for these TPC files.
Ongoing QOR improvements were added to Gigaopt, including significant TNS
reduction and SI prevention when using the high effort flow:
• setDesignMode –flowEffort high
New features USR1
Added new AAE, Celtic and TPC correlation settings for AAE:
• setSIMode -analysisType aae ;# AAE inherent settings
• setSIMode -analysisType celtic_compatible ;# SI settings for Celtic correlation
Set these options to enable preroute Gigaopt:

• setLimitedAccessFeature ediUsePreRouteGigaOpt 1
• setDelayCalMode -engine AAE

Set this option for more accurate glitch analysis using CCS noise libraries:
• setDelayCalMode -sgs2set {useCCSNoise:true}
New features USR2

Added a new third party compatible feature for AAE, this is enabled by:
• setSIMode -analysisType third_party_compatible
Changes USR2
The signoff option, setDelayCalMode –signoff, is now ignored when using AAE in EDI
• previously is disabled AAE when set
Glitch analysis is fully qualified.
• Use CCS-Noise libraries or CDB libraries for more accurate glitch analysis.
Changes USR3
Access to the new third party compatible mode (added in USR2), was placed under
beta control:
• setBetaFeature ediUseThirdPartyCompatible 1
Another option was added to adjust settings to match Old-PTSI (pre-2012.06):

• setSIMode –third_party_mode 0
• This option is no longer actively supported (EDI13.2) and should not be used
EDI 12
This release is not in widespread use, see EDI13.
EDI 13.1
This section describes what’s new for AAE in version EDI13.1
Changes
AAE is now the default delay calculation engine
• Gigaopt is used for preroute optimization by default
• Note that CCS/ECSM models are not used during preroute optimization, but can
be enabled using:
o setDelayCalMode -useECSMInPreRoute true ;# default false
• timeDesign –signoff uses AAE (instead of SignalStorm)

Enhanced TW generation
 optDesign now supports native TWs (like ETS and tempus). Note that native
TWs are not supported when using the celtic_compatible SI analysis type.
• Pessimistic Infinite TWs were used for best signoff correlation using optDesign
prior to this release.
New
SI induced slew
• Use setOptMode -fixSISlew true to enable fixing SI induced slew violations in
postRoute optimization.
Support for Equivalent Waveform Model and Waveform Propagation

• Increases delay calculation accuracy. Calculating delay as a function of input
slew and output load is not accurate enough for newer technologies. To
achieve the required accuracy, the waveform shape must be factored into the
calculation. The EWM computes the equivalent response at the receiver,
based on the waveform shape at the receiver input, and adjusts interconnect
delays accordingly. This adjustment in delay compensates for the
inaccuracies caused by the lack of waveform shape information that delay
calculation incurs in the next stage.
• setDelayCalMode -equivalent_waveform_model_type {none | ecsm}
• setDelayCalMode: -equivalent_waveform_model_propagation {true | false}
o this is not supported by optDesign or timeDesign (except –signoff)
Vectorized Delay Calculation Support
• Use setDelayCalMode -combine_mmmc early_late to combine simulations of a
single corner into one delay calculation simulation.
EDI 13.2
This section describes what’s new for AAE in version EDI13.2
Changes
The old delay calculation engines are retired
• EDI will issue a warning if the feDC or SS engines are selected
• Documentation and help for the setDelayCalMode -signoff and –engine was
removed
Preroute extraction
• improved preroute to postroute extraction correlation
o Pessimism increased by around 10%, resulting in more pessimistic
preroute delay calculation results in EDI13.2.
o Scale factors should be closer to 1.0, but in any case they should be
regenerated per release (generateRCFactor)

New
New third party compatibility option
• A new design mode option was added for general compatibility throughout the
flow (rather than just postroute SI correlation).
o setDesignMode -thirdPartyCompatible true
Changes USR3
The TPC settings are simplified in that the new TPC design mode supersedes all other
compatibility settings
• The best settings files should still be used up to release 13.22

Comparison of AAE versus SS-CeltIC

This section describes the key differences between AAE-SI and SS-Celtic for delay
calculation, base+SI, in EDI. See References 1, “Introduction to Advance Analysis
Engine (AAE)”, for more detailed information.
Both engines support the same global timing variables e.g.

• set_global timing_enable_power_ground_constants false
Delay calculation
As well as underlying algorithm level differences the following may cause delay
differences between AAE and SignalStorm® software within EDI
Description SignalStorm AAE

Default input transition 0.1ps 4ps
Driver receiver voltage Assumes sink is at same V Scales measurement
as driver thresholds
Default Delay for high fanout set_use_default_delay_limit Not Applicable
nets
Highly resistive or high fanout good better
nets
Extrapolation algorithm different different
Missing parasitics Wire load model RC extraction
The following setDelayCalMode options are only applicable to feDc or SignalStorm and
have no effect on AAE:
• considerMillerEffect
• discardProblemWaveform
• ecsmType
• reportThresholdAdjust
• signalStorm*
• supportLevelShifterPinVolt
• useNetSens
• signoff
The following setDelayCalMode options are only applicable to AAE:

• SIAware
• combine_mmmc
• enable_high_fanout
• equivalent_waveform_model_propagation

• equivalent_waveform_model_type
SI Analysis options
Note that CeltIC-NDC commands are passed through from EDI using the options:
• setSIMode –insCeltICPreTcl {; separated list of Celtic commands}
• setSIMode –insCeltICPostTcl {; separated list of Celtic commands}
e.g. setSIMode –insCeltICPreTcl \

{set_virtual_attacker -mode current -gtol 0.02; set_thresh -glitch_peak 0}
The following setSIMode options are supported by both Celtic and AAE:
• analysisType default | pessimistic
• deltaDelayThreshold <seconds>
The following setSIMode options are ignored by AAE:

• analyzeNoiseThreshold no glitch filter in AAE
• fixDelay default GigaOpt
• fixDRC, fixGlitch, acceptableWNS use setOptMode options instead
• *Celt* saveSIFixDB, maxNrIter Celtic specific, use optDesign –saveDB
• fixHoldIncludeXtalkSetup default false, but always true for Gigaopt
• targetPathGroups use path group commands, *pathGr*
• runTrimMetalFill no comment
• noiseTwfMode {} Use AAE TW generation options
The following setSIMode options are only supported by AAE:

• vaThreshold
• vaDecoupleThreshold
• vaMode
• clockDeltaDelayThreshold
• accumulated_small_attacker_factor
• ETS set_si_mode options e.g.
o use_infinite_TW
o switch_prob

SI options mapping
CeltIC SI options AAE SI options Comments
NA setSIMode -separate_delta_delay_on_data CeltIC reports SI delays separately

{true | false} in timing report by default.
NA setSIMode -delta_delay_annotation_mode CeltIC lumps total SI impact on

{lumpedOnNet | arc} stage and annotates on net.
setSIMode –noiseTwfMode- infSW -initial_si_iteration_tw {infinite | nominal} CeltIC uses infinite TW first for TW
or or iterations by default
setSIMode -noiseTwfMode -useCTE -use_infinite_TW true | false TW will be slightly different
-insCeltICPreTcl or regardless of options used
"set_tw_convergence …) –skip_tw
set_parm clock_async 1 | 0 setSIMode -clocks {asynchronous | Default is asynchronous in both

synchronous}
setSIMode –fixDRC true setOptMode -fixSISlew true Do not use fixDRC true with AAE.
SI induced slew is only available
after running optDesign -postroute
set_parm gtol value setSIMode –vaThreshold value

or
-individual_attacker_threshold
slew_* NA AAE uses the measurement points

from the timing library
create_spice_netlist create_spice_deck
free_noise_analysis setDelayCalMode –SIAware false AAE does not have a command to

setDelayCalMode –SIAware true do a full timing update after an
report_timing option change
generate_delay_spice_trace create_spice_deck New cross-talk options for the

create_spice_deck command
generate_propagated_report No equivalent as AAE does not do

full cell noise propagation yet
generate_spice_trace No equivalent yet.
noise_prop No equivalent. AAE does not

perform full cell noise propagation
yet.
print_noise_net reportDelayCalculation -si -from -to SI attacker info is printed by

report_delay_calculation -si
remove_noise_lib_pin No equivalent in AAE yet.
report_cell_lib_noise_ model reportDelayCalculation -si -from -to reportDelayCalculation -si reports

the library model info for both the
driver and receiver cells
generate_clock_report setSIMode -enable_double_clocking_check report_double_clocking

{true | false} & report_double_clocking
report_nppr_timing setSIMode - Use logical correlation in AAE. No

enable_logical_correlation_in_delay {true | equivalent for switching activity
false} function
set_align_mode -mode {path | setSIMode -attacker_alignment {path |

path_overlap} path_overlap}
set_attacker_slew -nonlinear setSIMode -nonlinear_attacker_slew {true |

false}
set_glitch_check -data_limit <value> - setSIMode -receiver_peak_limit <value> There is only 1 receiver peak limit
latch_limit <value1> -clock_limit in AAE, so this is equivalent to
<value1> setting all three limits in CeltIC to
the same value
set_glitch_check -dc_tolerance setSIMode -input_glitch_threshold <value> Effects glitch check/report

<value>
set_noise_run_mode -delay_only setSIMode -delay_only {true | false} report_timing does not generate
setOptMode –fixGlitch false glitch reports. Call timeDesign or
report_glitch_noise for AAE
set_thresh -delta_absolute value setSIMode –deltaDelayThreshold value
set_simwrap_mode NA Not used by AAE.
set_skip Not required
set_skip_attacker set_quiet_attacker
set_skip_tw setSIMode -skip_tw <list of nets> No change on RAK design
set_timing_group Sdc clock commands Not required as AAE uses SDC

clock grouping
set_transition_free set_quiet_attacker
set_tw_convergence -iterations value setSIMode -num_si_iteration value The value specified in AAE should
be the CeltIC value + 1
set_tw_convergence -slack_reselect setSIMode -si_reselection slack Not supported
set_tw_convergence -delay_reselect setSIMode –si_reselection delta_delay Not supported
set_virtual_attacker -factor 0 setSIMode –vaDecoupleThreshold 1.01 Disable virtual attackers
set_virtual_attacker –skip_tw Not Supported
set_virtual_attacker -mode {cap | setSIMode -vaMode {cap | current} Do not change if using TPC
current}
set_virtual_attacker –gtol value setSIMode –vaDecoupleThreshold value

or
-accumulated_small_attacker_threshold
set_virtual_attacker -switch_prob setSIMode -switch_prob value

value

Example scripts
This section includes example scripts used with Celtic and AAE modes in EDI.
Celtic:
setSIMode –noiseTwfMode –useCTE
setSIMode -insCeltICPreTcl { \
set_virtual_attacker -gtol 0.015; \
set_virtual_attacker -mode current; \
set_virtual_attacker –switch_prob 0.25; \
set_param –gtol 0.03; \
set_tw_convergence –iterations 2 -first_infinite_windows ; \
set_parm -clock_async 0 ; \
set_noise_thresh -glitch_peak 0 ; \
set_align_mode path}
AAE:
setSIMode \
-vaDecoupleThreshold 0.015 \
-vaMode current \
-switch_prob 0.25 \
-vaThreshold 0.03 \
-num_si_iteration 3 \
-initial_si_iteration_tw infinite \
-clocks synchronous \
# no glitch peak filtering in AAE \
-attacker_alignment path

The EDI design flow with AAE

AAE became the default delay calculator for all steps in the flow starting with EDI13.1,
replacing the SignalStorm software. It has been available for some tasks as an option
starting with EDI10, for example in postroute optimization. EDI runs the various flow
tasks using a less accurate fast mode of AAE, with appropriate performance/accuracy
adjustments as the flow progresses.
Note that optDesign and timeDesign run AAE in a fast “opt” mode (some estimation),
whereas ETS and tempus run AAE in signoff mode (full simulation). The one exception
is that EDI-AAE runs in signoff mode when using timeDesign –signoff. This sets the
private option, setSIMode –siMode signoff. This should not be confused with the old
signoff option, setDelayCalMode –signoff true, which is ignored by AAE.
The AAE signoff mode in EDI will take longer to run (than the opt mode) but will not
exactly match either the Voltus® IC Power Integrity Solution or the Cadence Tempus®
Timing Signoff Solution.

Implementation commands
AAE is used by the Gigaopt optimizer in EDI. Gigaopt is faster than the old EDI
optimizer with improved multi-threading and better QOR.
The main commands which call Gigaopt or Gigaopt technology are:
Command Availability (1) Default

placeDesign EDI13.1 EDI13.1
optDesign –prects EDI13.1 EDI13.1
ccopt_design EDI13.2 EDI13.2
optDesign -postcts EDI13.1 EDI13.1
optDesign -postroute EDI10.2 EDI13.1
Note 1. Gigaopt and CCOPT can be enabled in earlier releases using limited access
variables.
In EDI13.x, Gigaopt is enabled by default throughout the flow by this setting:

setDelayCalMode –engine aae | default
Differences between the old optimizer and Gigaopt

There is no change to the flow or commands except that the two postroute optimization
steps can be combined into one step using setDelayCalMode –SIAware true. These two
steps can be removed from the flow:
• optDesign –postroute –si ;# -si not supported with AAE
• optDesign –postroute –si –hold ;# -si not supported with AAE
Another related change is that the recommend order for postroute setup and hold fixing
is changed from setup, hold, to hold, setup.
The hold step now includes a setup recovery task after hold fixing. The recovery step
can be disabled using:
• setOptMode -disableSetupRecoveryAfterAAEHold true ;# EDI13.1
• setOptMode -postRouteSetupRecovery false ;# EDI13.2
The following setOptMode options are new or changed with the use of Gigaopt:

old Gigaopt Comment

fixDrc fixHoldMaintainDRV hold fixing only
effortLevel low effortLevel low Gigaopt only: prects
fast feasibility mode
NA layerAwareOpt New option: true by
default inEDI13.2
NA postRouteSetupRecovery EDI13.2 name change
NA disableSetupRecoveryAfterAAEHold EDI13.1 old name ^
NA postRouteAreaReclaim New option 13.1
NA -fixHoldAllowResizing New option EDI13.1
doReszingAtPostRoute EDI13.2 obsolete
EDI 13.2 sample script

This section includes a simple run script, emphasizing the commands and options
related to AAE:
setMultiCpuUsage -localCpu 4
setDelayCalMode –engine default ;# default aae from EDI13
placeDesign
optDesign -prects
setAnalysisMode -analysisType onChipVariation -cppr both
ccopt_design
optDesign –postcts
routeDesign
setExtractRCMode -engine postRoute -effortLevel medium
setDesignMode -process 40
setDelayCalMode –SIAware true
setSIMode –analysisType aae ;# default is celtic_compatible
optDesign -postroute

Foundation Flow settings for AAE

This table describes the FF variables related to AAE:
FF setup.tcl vars() Comment

enable_celtic_steps Default false from EDI12
enable_si_aware Default “true” from EDI12
enable_ss Do not set
enable_ocv Set to “pre_postcts”
enable_cppr Set to “both”
process Set to process value e.g. “40”
enable_aocv Default false
Note that none of the AAE new delay calculation or SI options can be set using an FF
variable; add setSIMode options to the pre_postroute plug file to fine tune the AAE
analysis.

EDI 13.2 AAE-SI correlation

This section describes the recommended settings in EDI for correlation versus various
signoff timing analysis engines.
TimeEx Utility
TimeEx is a set of tools/utilities to help debug and detect differences between two
different sets of timing reports. See the App Note “Timing Correlation using TimeEx”,
References 2, for more details. To request a free version of TimeEx, send an email to
timeEx@cadence.com containing:
• The software license agreement from the App Note
• Confirmation that you have read and agree to the terms & conditions
Essential settings
EDI should usually be in OCV analysis mode in order to correlate with signoff analysis
settings. By default, EDI is in bcWc mode, use this command to change it:
• setAnalysisMode -analysisType onChipVariation [-cppr both]
Set the same process value:

• setDesignMode –process <value> ;# EDI set before setSIMode or TPC
• set_design_mode –process <value> ;# ETS and Tempus
Correlation settings
Set this high level SI option:
• setSIMode –analysisType AAE | celtic_compatible
For TPC, set the new EDI13.2 option and contact Cadence support for additional
recommended TPC settings per release:
• setDesignMode -thirdPartyCompatible true
The following settings can be used to fine tune SI delays further:
• setSIMode -switch_prob <value>
o Range 0.0 to 1.0 (default 0.3)
o Value close to zero reduces pessimism
o TPC files: Alternatively, early and late SI delays can be adjusted
separately using 'set PULLINFACTOR <val> / set PUSHOUTFACTOR
<val> (Default 1.0)' *before* sourcing the recommended settings files

• setSIMode –vaThreshold <value>

o Range 0.0 to 1.0
o Value close to zero increases pessimism (filters out fewer individual
attackers), however higher values can result in more virtual attackers
which can be even more pessimistic.
o TPC mode: default is 0.01
o Match sign off tool setting
• setSIMode –vaDecoupleThreshold <value>
o Range 0.0 to 1.0
o Value close to zero increases pessimism (more virtual attackers)
o Value >= 1 disables all virtual attackers and matches latest PTSI
o TPC mode: Do not change
• TW settings
o setSIMode –use_infinite_TW <boolean>
 TPC Mode: false
o setSIMode -initial_si_iteration_tw infinite | nominal
 TPC Mode: infinite
o setSIMode -num_si_iteration <usually 2>
o TPC mode: Do not change
• setSIMode –clocks asynchronous | synchronous
o synchronous is less pessimistic, but depends on the design and
constraints e.g. set_clock_groups
o default is asynchronous
o TPC mode: synchronous
• setSIMode -deltaDelayThreshold <value in seconds>
o Usually 1ps, increase to add optimism or for older technologies
o TPC mode: 0
• setSIMode –vaMode cap|current
o Cap mode is more pessimistic than Current mode.
o TPC mode: Do not change, its set to an internal value.
• setSIMode -enable_logical_correlation_in_delay true
o Only attackers that can logically switch in the same direction and whose
timing windows overlap can attack a victim net
o TPC mode: false
• set_quiet_attacker <net>
o disable specific attackers

EDI versus ETS key differences

Gigaopt (AAE) is always run in a fast analysis mode, “opt” mode
The key features of AAE “opt” mode

• Supports faster optimization, tuned to be slightly pessimistic
• Saves time by using approximations for smaller attackers
• Larger attackers are fully simulated (same as ETS and tempus)
• Uses lumped RC for attackers
“signoff” mode
• EDI 13.2 is not a signoff analysis tool (even in “signoff” mode), and is not
correlated to ETS 13.1, however timeDesign –signoff results should be close to
Tempus results (when using equivalent versions)
SI analysisType
• The default analysisType in EDI is celtic_compatible, whereas it’s “aae” in ETS.
AAE mode annotates SI delay on both the cell arc and the net arc, whereas
celtic_compatible mode, like CeltIC, lumps all the SI delay on the net.
EDI 13.2 settings for ETS (CeltIC) v13.16-s015_1 (ISR6)

This section describes how to achieve good correlation to ETS signoff results when
used with the long established SignalStorm and CeltIC engines.
Note that ETS uses AAE by default from version 12.0 onwards. To enable SS-CeltIC in
ETS use:
• set_delay_cal_mode –engine signalStorm–siAware false
Base delays
Set these timing globals in EDI to match ETS defaults:
set_global option Value Comment
timing_enable_power_ground_constants false ETS default

timing_cppr_self_loop_mode true ETS default
timing_remove_clock_reconvergence_pessimism false ETS default

SI correlation
Set the following SI options in EDI:
• setDelayCalMode –SIAware false ;# true is for AAE only
• setSIMode –analysisType celtic_compatible ;# default setting in EDI13.2
The analysis type should be set before any other potentially conflicting setSIMode
options, as it will not change existing user settings.
The celtic_compatible analysis type sets these lower level public SI options, as well as
some internal options:
setSIMode option Value Comment
vaDecoupleThreshold 0.05 Legacy value
vaThreshold 0.05 Legacy value
delta_delay_annotation_mode lumpedOnNet Matches CeltIC

separate_delta_delay_on_data true Matches CeltIC
num_si_iteration 1 (1)
initial_si_iteration_tw Non-SI (1)
(1) These options cannot be changed when using the celtic_compatible analysis
type.
EDI 13.2 settings for ETS (AAE) v13.16-s015_1 (ISR6)

This section describes how to achieve good correlation to ETS-AAE signoff results.
Note that AAE is the default engine from ETS 12 and that ETS 13.1 is the final release
of ETS. The older version of AAE in ETS does not match EDI13.2. For better correlation
upgrade to the equivalent version of Tempus for signoff.
Base timing
Apply the same timing globals as described above for ETS-CeltIC.
EDI SI settings
Set these SI options in EDI:
• setDelayCalMode –SIAware true
• setSIMode –analysisType AAE ;# set before any other setSIMode options

The analysis type should be set before any other potentially conflicting setSIMode
options, as it will not change user settings.
Note that the EDI documentation incorrectly states that the default analysis type in EDI
13.2 is aae, whereas it’s actually celtic_compatible. In addition, the getSIMode
command does not list the analysisType option, to get the current value use:
• getSIMode –analysisType
This will return the value “default”, which is celtic_compatible (both thresholds are 0.05).
The “AAE” analysis type sets these SI options to match ETS defaults:
vaThreshold 0.015 Good for smaller nodes

vaDecoupleThreshold 10.01 Disables virtual attackers
Note that the ETS documentation has not been updated to reflect the correct default
thresholds when used with AAE. In addition, get_si_mode also returns the incorrect
values (before and after setting the analysisType). Both errors reflect the old defaults
used by the CeltIC engine in ETS and EDI. The correct values are shown in the table
above.
The old 0.05/0.05 defaults changed in ETS when the default SI analysis type was
changed to aae (from celtic_compatible), but the docs/get_si_mode were not updated at
the time to reflect this change. The new defaults in ETS are more precise, in that they
are less reliant on the somewhat arbitrary statistical estimation of the virtual attackers.
By the way this is another advantage of AAE, the faster engine can efficiently simulate
more individual attackers (empowering lower default thresholds).
Note that in ETS get_si_mode –analysisType returns “FE”, ignore this. The default is
aae and does not need to be changed.
EDI 13.2 settings for Third Party Correlation (TPC)

This section describes how to achieve good correlation to a third party signoff tool e.g.
PTSI
Recommended settings
Contact Cadence support for best correlation settings per release (available as a pair of
files containing readable public and encrypted private options).

A new high level option was added in EDI 13.2 for compatibility throughout the flow:
• setDesignMode –thirdPartyCompatible true
• it is a superset of the existing SI option:
o setSIMode –analysisType third_party_compatible
The goal is that setDesignMode –thirdPartyCompatible will encompass all the

recommended settings, but the “best correlation settings” files should still be used up to
and including EDI 13.22.
The table shows the most significant SI options set by TPC (note it also sets private
internal options too):
individual_attacker_threshold 0.01 Same for all nodes

accumulated_small_attacker_threshold 1 Disables virtual attackers
switch_prob 0.3 PTSI default is 1.0,
runtime tradeoff setting in
EDI
deltaDelayThreshold 0.0 Matches PTSI default
use_infinite_TW false Matches PTSI default
The EDI13.21 “best correlation settings” file sets or resets these options:
• setSIMode -analysisType third_party_compatible
• setSIMode -switch_prob 0.3
• setSIMode -deltaDelayThreshold 0.0
• setSIMode -vaThreshold 0.01
• setSIMode -vaDecoupleThreshold 1.0
• setSIMode -reset -use_infinite_TW ;# default false
• setSIMode -reset -vaMode
• setDelayCalMode -currentSourceModelHighAccuracyMode true
• setDelayCalMode -combine_mmmc early_late
• source <encrypted internal settings file>
PTSI Correlation Checklist

It’s important to check that both tools are reading the same data and using equivalent
settings. Check settings (SI is on, AOCV, timing derates etc.), same data (libraries
(same format), netlist, sdc, clock_uncertainty, propagated clocks, clock latencies, I/O
constraints, Spef etc.) and verify log file errors. Contact Cadence support for a complete
correlation checklist.

Debug commands
The following commands are useful for debugging AAE results:
• set_global report_timing_format {… incr_delay delay arrival }
• reportDelayCalculation –si
• report_noise_glitch
• set_quiet_attacker -attacker
• create_spice_deck

KPNS
This section describes known problems and solutions
getSIMode
Often returns incorrect settings, e.g. at EDI initialization and after changing
analysisType. These options will return default values regardless of analysisType
setting:
-vaDecoupleThreshold ; -vaThreshold ; -vaMode
These are the actual lower level values that get set by analysisType values in EDI13.2
setSIMode Default/AAE Celtic comp 3rd party pessimistic
vaDecoupleTh 10.01 0.05 10.01 0.05
vaThreshold 0.015 0.05 0.015 0.05
vaMode NA current NA current
Options not returned by getSIMode -help:
-analysisType
Please add an explicit setting of setSIMode –analysisType aae | celtic_compatible |

third_party_compatible, to your scripts.
License
AAE-SI requires an EDI-XL, ETS or Tempus license, however the lower cost versions
of EDI are not automatically checking out a higher cost license before running
timeDesign e.g. timeDesign -postroute
**WARN: (ENCDC-2614): Cannot invoke the command -siAware true option of

set_delay_cal_mode command with Encounter_Digital_Impl_Sys_L license. This
feature requires an Encounter_Digital_Impl_Sys_XL or equivalent license. Update the
license file or remove the option from the command. Skipped -siAware true option.
The license can be checked out on the command line using e.g.
• setLicenseCheck -checkout etsxl ;# EDI13.1
• setLicenseCheck -checkout tpsl ;# EDI13.2

References
1. Appnote “An Introduction to Advanced Analysis Engine (AAE)”
2. Appnote “Timing Correlation using TimeEx 2.0”
3. CDNLive Paper Library Characterization
4. Appnote “PostRoute Optimization Using the Advanced Analysis Engine (AAE)”
5. Appnote “optDesign v timeDesign differences”


AAE Migration Guide

Diunggah oleh

Informasi Dokumen

Hak Cipta

Format Tersedia

Bagikan dokumen Ini

Bagikan atau Tanam Dokumen

Opsi Berbagi

Apakah menurut Anda dokumen ini bermanfaat?

Apakah konten ini tidak pantas?

Hak Cipta:

Format Tersedia

AAE Migration Guide

Diunggah oleh

Hak Cipta:

Format Tersedia

EDI AAE Migration Guide

Cadence Design Systems, Inc.

Encounter® Digital Implementation

Product Versions: EDI 13.22, ETS13.16

COPYRIGHT © 2014, CADENCE DESIGN SYSTEMS, INC.

A brief history of delay and SI calculation in EDI ............... 6

Comparison of AAE versus SS-CeltIC............................. 12

The EDI design flow with AAE ......................................... 17

COPYRIGHT © 2014, CADENCE DESIGN SYSTEMS, INC.

EDI 13.2 AAE-SI correlation ............................................ 21

Debug commands ............................................................ 27

COPYRIGHT © 2014, CADENCE DESIGN SYSTEMS, INC.

COPYRIGHT © 2014, CADENCE DESIGN SYSTEMS, INC.

Commands used to control AAE

AAE Supported Library Formats

• NLDM, CCS, CCS-noise, CDB, ECSM, ECSM-noise

COPYRIGHT © 2014, CADENCE DESIGN SYSTEMS, INC.

A brief history of delay and SI

Important AAE use model changes

It is recommended that one of timeDesign/optDesign/report_timing is run before issuing

Postroute optimization using Gigaopt

COPYRIGHT © 2014, CADENCE DESIGN SYSTEMS, INC.

New AAE-SI options

set_virtual_attacker - > 45nm : cap -vaMode {cap | current} same

COPYRIGHT © 2014, CADENCE DESIGN SYSTEMS, INC.

Set these options to enable preroute Gigaopt:

COPYRIGHT © 2014, CADENCE DESIGN SYSTEMS, INC.

New features USR2

• previously is disabled AAE when set

Glitch analysis is fully qualified.

Another option was added to adjust settings to match Old-PTSI (pre-2012.06):

COPYRIGHT © 2014, CADENCE DESIGN SYSTEMS, INC.

Support for Equivalent Waveform Model and Waveform Propagation

COPYRIGHT © 2014, CADENCE DESIGN SYSTEMS, INC.

COPYRIGHT © 2014, CADENCE DESIGN SYSTEMS, INC.

Comparison of AAE versus SS-CeltIC

Both engines support the same global timing variables e.g.

Description SignalStorm AAE

The following setDelayCalMode options are only applicable to AAE:

COPYRIGHT © 2014, CADENCE DESIGN SYSTEMS, INC.

e.g. setSIMode –insCeltICPreTcl \

The following setSIMode options are ignored by AAE:

The following setSIMode options are only supported by AAE:

COPYRIGHT © 2014, CADENCE DESIGN SYSTEMS, INC.

CeltIC SI options AAE SI options Comments

NA setSIMode -separate_delta_delay_on_data CeltIC reports SI delays separately

NA setSIMode -delta_delay_annotation_mode CeltIC lumps total SI impact on

set_parm clock_async 1 | 0 setSIMode -clocks {asynchronous | Default is asynchronous in both

set_parm gtol value setSIMode –vaThreshold value

slew_* NA AAE uses the measurement points

free_noise_analysis setDelayCalMode –SIAware false AAE does not have a command to

generate_delay_spice_trace create_spice_deck New cross-talk options for the

generate_propagated_report No equivalent as AAE does not do

generate_spice_trace No equivalent yet.

noise_prop No equivalent. AAE does not

print_noise_net reportDelayCalculation -si -from -to SI attacker info is printed by

remove_noise_lib_pin No equivalent in AAE yet.

report_cell_lib_noise_ model reportDelayCalculation -si -from -to reportDelayCalculation -si reports

generate_clock_report setSIMode -enable_double_clocking_check report_double_clocking

COPYRIGHT © 2014, CADENCE DESIGN SYSTEMS, INC.

{true | false} & report_double_clocking

report_nppr_timing setSIMode - Use logical correlation in AAE. No

set_align_mode -mode {path | setSIMode -attacker_alignment {path |

set_attacker_slew -nonlinear setSIMode -nonlinear_attacker_slew {true |