2.3 Analog Mixed Signal Design tools on Linux or WSL using Conda
Table of contents
Lecture video
In this tutorial, a distribution of Conda will be used to install the design tools and the PDKs.
Limitations
The Conda environment is very easy to install and can be used to create designs with Jupyter Notebook. However, it has its own limitations as follows:
- Some GUI functionalities might not work as expected because it was not built with their support.
Prerequisites
Preparation
Update your system
Update your linux distribution if you’ve just install it by running the following command:
sudo apt-get update -q && sudo apt-get upgrade -q -y
Install the required packages and build Gaw to view the simulation results
1. Install the required packages & Gaw
sudo apt install -q -y xterm gedit xdg-utils libgtk-3-dev build-essential
cass@unic-cass:~$ sudo apt install -q -y xterm gedit xdg-utils libgtk-3-dev build-essential [sudo] password for cass: Reading package lists... Building dependency tree... Reading state information... build-essential is already the newest version (12.9ubuntu3). build-essential set to manually installed. gedit is already the newest version (41.0-3). The following additional packages will be installed: gir1.2-atspi-2.0 icu-devtools libatk-bridge2.0-dev libatk1.0-dev libatspi2. ... pango1.0-tools perl-openssl-defaults pkg-config uuid-dev wayland-protocols x11-utils x11-xserver-utils x11proto-dev xbitmaps xorg-sgml-doctools xtrans-dev Suggested packages: libdigest-hmac-perl libgssapi-perl libcairo2-doc libdatrie-doc freetype2-doc ... xfonts-cyrillic The following NEW packages will be installed: gir1.2-atspi-2.0 icu-devtools libatk-bridge2.0-dev libatk1.0-dev ... x11-utils x11-xserver-utils x11proto-dev xbitmaps xdg-utils xorg-sgml-doctools xterm xtrans-dev 0 upgraded, 141 newly installed, 0 to remove and 9 not upgraded. Need to get 29.0 MB of archives. After this operation, 133 MB of additional disk space will be used. Get:1 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy/main amd64 gir1.2-atspi-2.0 amd64 2.44.0-3 [18.1 kB] Get:2 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy/main amd64 icu-devtools amd64 70.1-2 [197 kB] Get:3 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy/main amd64 pkg-config amd64 0.29.2-1ubuntu3 [48.2 kB] ... Get:131 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy/main amd64 libxmu6 amd64 2:1.1.3-3 [49.6 kB] Setting up libxcursor-dev:amd64 (1:1.2.0-2build4) ... Setting up libepoxy-dev:amd64 (1.5.10-1) ... ... Setting up libegl1-mesa-dev:amd64 (23.2.1-1ubuntu3.1~22.04.2) ... Setting up libgtk-3-dev:amd64 (3.24.33-1ubuntu2.2) ...
Finally, setting gedit as your default editor:
xdg-mime default org.gnomne.gedit.desktop text/plain
2. Download conda package & install conda-eda environment into eda/uniccass
wget https://github.com/conda-forge/miniforge/releases/download/24.1.2-0/Mambaforge-24.1.2-0-Linux-x86_64.sh bash Mambaforge-24.1.2-0-Linux-x86_64.sh -b -p $HOME/eda/unic-cass source $HOME/eda/unic-cass/bin/activate
cass@unic-cass:~$ wget https://github.com/conda-forge/miniforge/releases/download/24.1.2-0/Mambaforge-24.1.2-0-Linux-x86_64.sh --2024-07-24 15:40:02-- https://github.com/conda-forge/miniforge/releases/download/24.1.2-0/Mambaforge-24.1.2-0-Linux-x86_64.sh Resolving github.com (github.com)... 140.82.121.4 Connecting to github.com (github.com)|140.82.121.4|:443... connected. HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 302 Found Location: https://objects.githubusercontent.com/github-production-release-asset-2e65be/221584272/6363ec6d-9f04-4cad-8608-6fa34e1499ab?X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=releaseassetproduction%2F20240724%2Fus-east-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20240724T084001Z&X-Amz-Expires=300&X-Amz-Signature=e065abce55c60a97b0248bdbf8e83e94242b39f14c91a6b6e6a3368d0a62eef7&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&actor_id=0&key_id=0&repo_id=221584272&response-content-disposition=attachment%3B%20filename%3DMambaforge-24.1.2-0-Linux-x86_64.sh&response-content-type=application%2Foctet-stream [following] --2024-07-24 15:40:03-- https://objects.githubusercontent.com/github-production-release-asset-2e65be/221584272/6363ec6d-9f04-4cad-8608-6fa34e1499ab?X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=releaseassetproduction%2F20240724%2Fus-east-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20240724T084001Z&X-Amz-Expires=300&X-Amz-Signature=e065abce55c60a97b0248bdbf8e83e94242b39f14c91a6b6e6a3368d0a62eef7&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&actor_id=0&key_id=0&repo_id=221584272&response-content-disposition=attachment%3B%20filename%3DMambaforge-24.1.2-0-Linux-x86_64.sh&response-content-type=application%2Foctet-stream Resolving objects.githubusercontent.com (objects.githubusercontent.com)... 185.199.108.133, 185.199.110.133, 185.199.109.133, ... Connecting to objects.githubusercontent.com (objects.githubusercontent.com)|185.199.108.133|:443... connected. HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK Length: 84438822 (81M) [application/octet-stream] Saving to: ‘Mambaforge-24.1.2-0-Linux-x86_64.sh’ Mambaforge-24.1.2-0-Linux-x86_64.sh 100%[============================>] 80.53M 9.94MB/s in 8.5s 2024-07-24 15:40:12 (9.52 MB/s) - ‘Mambaforge-24.1.2-0-Linux-x86_64.sh’ saved [84438822/84438822] cass@unic-cass:~$ bash Mambaforge-24.1.2-0-Linux-x86_64.sh -b -p $HOME/eda/unic-cass PREFIX=/home/cass/eda/unic-cass Unpacking payload ... Extracting _libgcc_mutex-0.1-conda_forge.tar.bz2 ... Extracting mamba-1.5.7-py310h51d5547_0.conda Installing base environment... __ __ ______ ___ ____ _____ ___ / /_ ____ _ / / / / __ `__ \/ __ `/ __ `__ \/ __ \/ __ `/ / /_/ / / / / / / /_/ / / / / / / /_/ / /_/ / / .___/_/ /_/ /_/\__,_/_/ /_/ /_/_.___/\__,_/ /_/ Transaction Prefix: /home/cass/eda/unic-cass Updating specs: - conda-forge/linux-64::_libgcc_mutex==0.1=conda_forge[md5=d7c89558ba9fa0495403155b64376d81] ... - conda-forge/linux-64::mamba==1.5.7=py310h51d5547_0[md5=5977cafef2904d1588d0c23b94846f2c] Package Version Build Channel Size ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Install: ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── + _libgcc_mutex 0.1 conda_forge conda-forge Cached + _openmp_mutex 4.5 2_gnu conda-forge Cached ... + zstandard 0.22.0 py310h1275a96_0 conda-forge Cached + zstd 1.5.5 hfc55251_0 conda-forge Cached Summary: Install: 78 packages Total download: 0 B ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Transaction starting Linking _libgcc_mutex-0.1-conda_forge Linking ca-certificates-2024.2.2-hbcca054_0 ... Linking mamba-1.5.7-py310h51d5547_0 Transaction finished installation finished. cass@unic-cass:~$ source $HOME/eda/unic-cass/bin/activate (base) cass@unic-cass:~$
3. Install the tools and Sky130A pdks
mamba install -c litex-hub xschem netgen magic ngspice open_pdks.sky130a
(base) cass@unic-cass:~$ mamba install -c litex-hub xschem netgen magic ngspice open_pdks.sky130a Looking for: ['xschem', 'netgen', 'magic', 'ngspice', 'open_pdks.sky130a'] conda-forge/linux-64 Using cache conda-forge/noarch Using cache litex-hub/noarch No change litex-hub/linux-64 No change Pinned packages: - python 3.10.* Transaction Prefix: /home/cass/eda/unic-cass Updating specs: - xschem - netgen - magic - ngspice - open_pdks.sky130a - ca-certificates - certifi - openssl Package Version Build Channel Size ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Install: ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── + netgen 1.5.272_0_g178af5f 20240223_100318 litex-hub 792kB + ngspice 39.3_552_g902a62d2f 20240223_100318 litex-hub 3MB + open_pdks.sky130a 1.0.471_0_g97d0844 20240223_100318 litex-hub 1GB + zlib 1.2.13 hd590300_5 conda-forge 93kB ... + xschem 3.4.4_558_g6405ac4c 20240223_100318 litex-hub 12MB Upgrade: ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── - ca-certificates 2024.2.2 hbcca054_0 conda-forge Cached + ca-certificates 2024.7.4 hbcca054_0 conda-forge 155kB - openssl 3.2.1 hd590300_1 conda-forge Cached + openssl 3.3.1 h4bc722e_2 conda-forge 3MB - certifi 2024.2.2 pyhd8ed1ab_0 conda-forge Cached + certifi 2024.7.4 pyhd8ed1ab_0 conda-forge 159kB Summary: Install: 34 packages Upgrade: 3 packages Total download: 1GB ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Confirm changes: [Y/n] y zlib 92.8kB @ 458.6kB/s 0.2s ca-certificates 154.9kB @ 650.2kB/s 0.2s xorg-kbproto 27.3kB @ 84.4kB/s 0.1s ... pixman 386.8kB @ 97.4kB/s 0.3s magic 4.9MB @ 1.1MB/s 2.5s xschem 12.3MB @ 1.8MB/s 3.5s open_pdks.sky130a 1.3GB @ 8.0MB/s 2m:45.3s Downloading and Extracting Packages: Preparing transaction: done Verifying transaction: done Executing transaction: done
Run the example design
1. Set up the design environment
Firstly, we have to create the project directory to store the project configurations and files. After that, we have to set the PDK environment variable, copy the xschem configuration file to the project directory before running xschem. The above procedure can be done by running the following commands:
mkdir -p $HOME/unic-cass-example/xschem export PDK_ROOT=$HOME/eda/unic-cass/share/pdk export PDK=sky130A cp -a $PDK_ROOT/$PDK/libs.tech/xschem/xschemrc $HOME/unic-cass-example/xschem cd $HOME/unic-cass-example/xschem xschem &
(base) cass@unic-cass:~$ mkdir -p $HOME/unic-cass-example/xschem (base) cass@unic-cass:~$ export PDK_ROOT=$HOME/eda/unic-cass/share/pdk (base) cass@unic-cass:~$ export PDK=sky130A (base) cass@unic-cass:~$ cp -a $PDK_ROOT/$PDK/libs.tech/xschem/xschemrc $HOME/unic-cass-example/xschem (base) cass@unic-cass:~$ cd $HOME/unic-cass-example/xschem (base) cass@unic-cass:~/unic-cass-example/xschem$ xschem & [1] 181133 (base) cass@unic-cass:~/unic-cass-example/xschem$
A new window with the test circuits for Skywater 130nm will open.
2. Open a test circuit
To open the test_nmos example, click on test_nmos and press ‘e’.
The test circuit for nmos will appear in the Xschem window.
Click on Netlist. A netlist file will be generated. By default this file will be put in $HOME/.xschem/simulation by default.
3. Run the simulation
To simulate the design with default configuration, click ‘Simulate’. The simulation will run for a while. Then the simulation results will show up on the screen.
You can investigate the simulation results throughout these waveforms.
4. (Optional) Update the simulation data in Xschem window
Another way to view the simulation results in this schematic is to hold the left CTRL button and click on the arrow in the schematic view to load the simulation results into the schematic view.
To come back to the top-level, you can press Ctrl + e.
What’s next?
At this step, you have successfully run the simulation of a test circuit in the skywater 130nm examples. You can try with other examples in the Xschem top level design. In addition, there are also other examples in the /foss/examples directory such as the Open_PMIC design or basic operational amplifier (basic_opa) and a ring oscillator (ringosc). You can investigate and simulate these designs and learn from them.