12/12/2018 GETTING STARTED WITH AHDL

GETTING STARTED WITH AHDL

A 12-Step Program by James P. Mabry

This is a very simple tutorial intended to illustrate how to start the AHDL tool in cadence, how to auto-generate module headers, and
how to compile AHDL code.� To access the online reference from the Cadence tool, do the following:
1. From the CIW, click HELP->OpenBook Main Menu.� A pop-up Main Menu will appear.
2. From the Main Menu, click Analog/Mixed-Signal Simulation.� Another pop-up menu will appear.
3. From the Artist Menu, click Spectre.
4. Click SpectreHDL Reference.

Start Tutorial Here.

1. Create a symbol for a differential input, single output amplifier.

2. From the symbol editor, click Design->Create Cellview->From Cellview....� The following pop-up window will appear.

3. Click on the Tool / Data Type button.� Select SpectreHDL � Editor from the available choices.
4. Click on OK to open the AHDL tool.� A pop-up window will appear with some header-type information at the top.� A
sample header file is shown below.

Note that there is no �port type� information in the AHDL file.� Unlike VHDL, there is no way for the AHDL compiler to
know whether a port is of type in, out, or inout.� AHDL operates in a totally different way, but in a way that better simulates
the real phenomena in circuits.� The node in AHDL is synonymous to the signal in VHDL.� However, in AHDL, nodes
have two values associated with them, Value and Flow.� For our purposes, we will use (and the tool assumes that we will
use) Voltage (V) and Current (I), although that need not be the case.�

5. Close the file.� A pop-up window will appear regarding saved changes.
6. Choose YES to save.� Another pop-up window will appear regarding Parser Error/Warnings.
7. Choose YES to re-edit the file.� The AHDL file will reappear, along with a list of Parser Error/Warnings.

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Note that the software tool compiled the file as soon as you closed it.� Note further that the software that generated the
header code did so INCORRECTLY.� The AHDL parser is not able to determine whether the text input+ is really one
identifier called �input+�, or whether the text refers to a identifier called �input� and the operation �+�.� To clarify the
situation, whenever special characters are used within an identifier, the identifier must be preceded by a backslash (\) and
followed by a blank space.� These special identifiers are called escaped identifiers.

8. Fix all �special� identifiers by making them escaped identifiers.� That is, precede the identifiers with a backslash (\) and
follow them with a blank space.� Your code should now look like the code in the figure below.

9. Add the following code between the curly brackets.

real GAIN = 5;
analog{
����� V(OUTPUT) <- GAIN*(V(\INPUT+ )-V(\INPUT- ));
}//End Analog Statement

Your code should now look like this:

There are several things to note here:

i. The double-slash (//) indicates a comment.� Comments continue until the end of the line.
ii. Variables can be declared as either real (shown) or integer.� Variable declaration occurs outside the �analog�
statement but inside the module �body� (inside the original curly brackets).
iii. Variable assignment uses an equal sign (=).
iv. Node assignment uses an assignment operator (<-).

10. Create a schematic file as shown in the figure below.� Use the following assignments:
i. vdd = 2.5 Volts
ii. vss = 0 Volts
iii. ac source:� offset voltage = 0 Volts
iv. ac source:� 100 mVolts
v. ac source:� frequency = 1 kHz

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vi. dc source:� dc voltage = 1.7 Volts

11. Perform a transient analysis of the circuit.� Choose a stop time of 2 mS.
12. Plot the resulting voltages.� The plot should look like the plot in the figure below.�

The model that we just created isn�t very good.� It doesn�t take into account input or output resistances, high frequency
rolloff, distortion effects such as clipping, input offset voltage, etc.� Also notice how the output oscillates about 0 Volts
despite our voltage rails being set at 0 and 2.5 Volts.

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You have now completed the tutorial �Getting Started with AHDL�.� See below for an example that better models an actual
amplifier.� The block diagram that represents the code is shown below.

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