Synopsys® Custom Development Kit

(CDK) Overview
Version U-2023.03-SP1, June 2023
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Contents
Related Products, Publications, and Trademarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Customer Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Statement on Inclusivity and Diversity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

1. Overview of Custom Development Kit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

2. Custom Infrastructure Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10

3. Products on Custom Infrastructure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

PrimeWave Design Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
PrimeWave Design Environment for Reliability Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
OptoCompiler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21
StarRC Parasitic Explorer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

3
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About the Synopsys Custom Development Kit

(CDK) Overview Manual
The Synopsys Custom Development Kit Overview Manual highlights the common use
model and features of the Custom Infrastructure technology. It provides an overview of the
Synopsys products that run on the Custom Infrastructure environment.
This preface includes the following sections:
• Related Products, Publications, and Trademarks
• Conventions
• Customer Support
• Statement on Inclusivity and Diversity

Related Products, Publications, and Trademarks

For additional information about the Custom Compiler tool, see the documentation on the
Synopsys SolvNetPlus support site at the following address:
https://solvnetplus.synopsys.com
You might also want to see the documentation for the following related Synopsys products:
• Custom Compiler™
• PrimeSim™ SPICE and PrimeSim™ Pro
• PrimeSim™ HSPICE®
• PrimeSim™ XA
• PrimeWave Design Environment™
• PrimeWave Reliability Environment™​
• OptoCompiler™
• StarRC™ Parasitic Explorer
• IC Validator™

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About the Synopsys Custom Development Kit (CDK) Overview Manual
Conventions

Conventions
The following conventions are used in Synopsys documentation.

Convention Description

Courier Indicates syntax, such as write_file.

Courier italic Indicates a user-defined value in syntax, such as

write_file design_list

Courier bold Indicates user input—text you type verbatim—in examples, such
as
prompt> write_file top

Purple • Within an example, indicates information of special interest.

• Within a command-syntax section, indicates a default, such as
include_enclosing = true | false

[] Denotes optional arguments in syntax, such as

write_file [-format fmt]

... Indicates that arguments can be repeated as many times as

needed, such as
pin1 pin2 ... pinN.

| Indicates a choice among alternatives, such as

low | medium | high

\ Indicates a continuation of a command line.

/ Indicates levels of directory structure.

Bold Indicates a graphical user interface (GUI) element that has an

action associated with it.

Edit > Copy Indicates a path to a menu command, such as opening the Edit
menu and choosing Copy.

Ctrl+C Indicates a keyboard combination, such as holding down the Ctrl

key and pressing C.

Customer Support
Customer support is available through SolvNetPlus.

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About the Synopsys Custom Development Kit (CDK) Overview Manual
Statement on Inclusivity and Diversity

Accessing SolvNetPlus
The SolvNetPlus site includes a knowledge base of technical articles and answers to
frequently asked questions about Synopsys tools. The SolvNetPlus site also gives you
access to a wide range of Synopsys online services including software downloads,
documentation, and technical support.
To access the SolvNetPlus site, go to the following address:
https://solvnetplus.synopsys.com
If prompted, enter your user name and password. If you do not have a Synopsys user
name and password, follow the instructions to sign up for an account.
If you need help using the SolvNetPlus site, click REGISTRATION HELP in the top-right
menu bar.

Contacting Customer Support

To contact Customer Support, go to https://solvnetplus.synopsys.com.

Statement on Inclusivity and Diversity

Synopsys is committed to creating an inclusive environment where every employee,
customer, and partner feels welcomed. We are reviewing and removing exclusionary
language from our products and supporting customer-facing collateral. Our effort also
includes internal initiatives to remove biased language from our engineering and working
environment, including terms that are embedded in our software and IPs. At the same
time, we are working to ensure that our web content and software applications are usable
to people of varying abilities. You may still find examples of non-inclusive language in our
software or documentation as our IPs implement industry-standard specifications that are
currently under review to remove exclusionary language.

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1
Overview of Custom Development Kit

This topic introduces the Synopsys Custom Development Kit (CDK) and provides an
overview of the Custom Infrastructure technology.

The Synopsys Custom Development Kit provides a common platform for developing
custom design tools and flows that work with the Synopsys Custom Design family
of products. It provides a modern, open development platform that also works with
rd
your in-house tools, as well as other 3 party design tools. With a single cockpit for
developing flows and solutions, applications work together seamlessly using common GUI,
OpenAccess (OA) database, utilities, schematic and layout viewing and a programmable
environment that supports both Tcl and Python customizations.

Figure 1 Synopsys Custom Development Kit (CDK) Overview

The Synopsys Custom Design family is built on CDK to provide a unified suite of design
and verification tools that accelerate the development of robust custom designs. The
platform features industry-leading circuit simulation engines and fast, easy-to-use
Schematic Editor, Layout Editor, and simulation and analysis environment, complemented

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Chapter 1: Overview of Custom Development Kit

with best-in-class technologies for parasitic extraction, reliability analysis, and physical
verification.

Figure 2 Synopsys Custom Design Family

The CDK includes the Custom Infrastructure technology, which provides a complete
user environment for the foundation of the Custom Design family and the tools that are
built on it. When any of these tools are invoked, the tool-specific, interactive GUI and
functionalities are provided by the Custom Infrastructure technology.

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Chapter 1: Overview of Custom Development Kit

The Custom Design family consists of the following tools:

• The Custom Compiler tool:
◦ A fast, user-friendly solution for custom design and layout, especially for advanced
node designs.
◦ The PrimeWave Design Environment provides design analysis environment for
netlisting and simulation. The analog circuit simulation tools and a waveform viewer
for pre- and post-layout circuit are used for simulation and analysis.
◦ The PrimeWave Reliability Environment provides a workflow-driven custom design
environment for application-specific setup and analysis for the PrimeSim Circuit
Check and EMIR simulation tools.
• Circuit simulation tools including:
◦ The PrimeSim SPICE simulator, which is the fast and accurate SPICE simulator for
custom digital and analog/RF designs.
◦ The PrimeSim Pro simulator, which provides the speed and capacity for modern
DRAM and flash memory designs.
◦ The PrimeSim HSPICE simulator, which provides signoff reference for foundation IP
and signal and power integrity analyses.
◦ The PrimeSim XA simulator, which is the number one FastSPICE simulator for
mixed-signal SOC and SRAM designs.
• The StarRC extraction and IC Validator tools, which provide key differentiated value to
the platform through two powerful fusion technologies:
◦ Extraction fusion, which provides faster design closure enabling designers to extract
parasitics from partially-completed layout with the StarRC tool.
◦ DRC fusion, which reduces costly layout iterations by catching design rule errors
during layout with the IC Validator tool.

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2
Custom Infrastructure Features

This topic discusses the features of the Custom Infrastructure environment.

The Custom Infrastructure environment, as the name suggests, provides a unified,

consistent, interactive user-interface and workflow for running all Synopsys products in the
Synopsys custom design flow. This means that the products can take advantage of the
Custom Infrastructure features to enable specific design activities, as required, without the
need to have a full custom design editing tool.
Running Synopsys products on the Custom Infrastructure environment facilitates
seamless design flow and contributes to faster turnaround time.

Figure 3 Unified Interactive Infrastructure

The Custom Infrastructure environment enables all interactive tools providing design
editing, analysis, reliability, extraction, physical verification, and specialized functions, such
as photonics, to utilize a common window framework, with common schematic and layout
viewing capabilities. The environment also enables these tools to work seamlessly with the
best-in-class simulation, extraction, and physical verification engines from Synopsys.
The interactive tools are able to consistently use the Custom Infrastructure capabilities,
such as viewport settings, layer-purpose-pairs, selections and visibility, object and logical
information selections, rendering, highlighting, shadow mode, hierarchical descend, return,
and edit-in-place, contributing to a continuous, whole design flow experience.

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Chapter 2: Custom Infrastructure Features

The components of the Custom Infrastructure environment are:

• OpenAccess (OA) database:
Custom Infrastructure stores design and technology data in the industry standard
OpenAccess database format. The Custom Compiler tool, for example, uses cellViews
(schematic, symbol, or layout) of the hierarchical OA design database for creating and
editing designs and for design reviews.
• GUI (see Figure 4 and Figure 5):
The Custom Infrastructure user interface includes the following main components:
◦ Home tab: This tab is pinned by default and lets you launch applications, open the
Console assistant, access command menus and recent views, and open new tabs.
The menu bar contains the File, Tools, License, Options, Window, and Help
menus.
◦ Console tab: The command input text box in this tab accepts Tcl commands,
and absolute or relative coordinates, for canvas design operations. The three
Console panes (Output, History, and Errors/Warnings) display the log of the
current session, all commands executed in the session, including those that occur
as a result of GUI inputs, and the error and warning messages for the session,
respectively.

Figure 4 Software User Interface

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Chapter 2: Custom Infrastructure Features

Figure 5 Standard Toolbar and Console Menus and Tabs

◦ Tabs for tools and designs: These tabs open the various tools and designs in new
tabs within the same window.
• Tool Command Language (Tcl):
Tcl commands, objects, and preferences are available for designing, for interacting
with the environment, and for customizing interfaces to obtain the preferred design
experience. Tcl commands are categorized into several namespaces based on their
function, such as db:: for database operations and le:: for layout editing purposes.
You can execute individual Tcl commands in the Console pane or in the command
input text box in the Console tab. You can also run Tcl scripts to automate Tcl
command sequences.
• Log/Replay:
When you start a session, you have the option of rerunning the commands and other
operations of a previous session. using the log file of the session. You can replay in
an interactive debug mode. You can set breakpoints in the log file, to stop/continue the
replay at each breakpoint. You can later remove the breakpoints.

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Chapter 2: Custom Infrastructure Features

• Parsers:
XML parser for parsing the technology data and the configuration files for Process
Design Kits (PDKs) for DRC, LVS, and PVE, the LEF/DEF parser, and the Parameter
Expression Language (PEL) parser.
• Schematic and layout viewers:
The schematic viewer shows the schematic of your circuit with the design components
and the connections between the devices, including power and signal connections.
The layout viewer shows the physical layout of the circuit with the physical
arrangement of the electrical wires and the components.
• Cross-probes:
You can create and use device and net cross-probes, to probe the schematic and/
or parasitic views. When you select the probe for an instance or net in one view, the
system automatically highlights the element in the alternate views.

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3
Products on Custom Infrastructure

This topic provides an overview of the products that run on the Custom Infrastructure
environment.

The following products are built on and run on the Custom Infrastructure environment:
This topic includes the following sections:
• PrimeWave Design Environment
• PrimeWave Design Environment for Reliability Analysis
• OptoCompiler
• StarRC Parasitic Explorer

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Chapter 3: Products on Custom Infrastructure
PrimeWave Design Environment

PrimeWave Design Environment

The PrimeWave Design Environment tool runs on the Custom Infrastructure technology.
The tool provides a custom environment for netlisting and simulation, using the analog
circuit simulation tools, and a waveform viewer for pre- and post-layout circuit simulation
and analysis.

Figure 6 PrimeWave Design Environment on Custom Infrastructure

Note:
Some of the features shown in Figure 7 are limited availability. For information
about these features, refer to SolvNetPlus article #000036534 "How to Enable
the PrimeWave Design Environment Flow-Based Interface" or consult your
Synopsys representative.
You must be logged in to SolvNetPlus for the link to connect directly to the
article. If you are prompted to log in to SolvNetPlus upon clicking the link to the
article, log in, then click the link again to reach the article.

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Chapter 3: Products on Custom Infrastructure
PrimeWave Design Environment

Figure 7 PrimeWave Design Environment: Testbenches

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PrimeWave Design Environment

Figure 8 PrimeWave Design Environment: Results Viewer

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Chapter 3: Products on Custom Infrastructure
PrimeWave Design Environment for Reliability Analysis

Figure 9 PrimeWave Design Environment: Waveform Viewer

For detailed information on the PrimeWave Design Environment tool, see the
PrimeWave™ Design Environment User Guide and the PrimeWave™ Design Environment
WaveView Tool User Guide.

PrimeWave Design Environment for Reliability Analysis

The PrimeWave Design Environment for Reliability Analysis tool runs on the Custom
Infrastructure technology. The tool provides a workflow driven custom design environment
for application-specific setup and analysis for the PrimeSim Circuit Check and EMIR
analysis tools.
The workflow includes importing schematic/layout views and generating netlists from the
resulting OpenAccess (OA) database based on available iPDKs. It sets up analysis test

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Chapter 3: Products on Custom Infrastructure
PrimeWave Design Environment for Reliability Analysis

benches using PrimeWave Design Environment, and easily analyzes the results using
advanced visualization. It provides efficient debugging on application-specific OA views
which are easy to customize.

Figure 10 PrimeWave Design Environment for Reliability Analysis

The PrimeSim CCK App available in the PrimeWave Design Environment for Reliability
Analysis can be used in both Custom Compiler, Custom Fault and 3rd party schematic
viewing tools. It consists of a circuit check setup wizard with push-button setup, run, and
debug features. The OA view is used to save setup, violation, waiver data with bottom-up
waiver flow support, and schematic annotations of results.

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Chapter 3: Products on Custom Infrastructure
PrimeWave Design Environment for Reliability Analysis

Figure 11 PrimeSim CCK App for PrimeWave Reliability Environment​

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Chapter 3: Products on Custom Infrastructure
OptoCompiler

OptoCompiler
The OptoCompiler tool, which is the industry-standard Photonic Integrated Circuit (PIC)
design tool, runs on the Custom Infrastructure environment.

Figure 12 OptoCompiler on Custom Infrastructure

Figure 13 OptoCompiler in the Synopsys Custom Design Flow

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Chapter 3: Products on Custom Infrastructure
OptoCompiler

The notable features of this solution include:

• Unified platform for co-design
• Complete AMS capability from Synopsys
• Interactive environment
• Photonic-aware layout synthesis
• Smart design features
• Interoperability with other Synopsys products
For a detailed introduction to the OptoCompiler tool, see About the OptoCompiler Tool in
the OptoCompiler User Guide. For information on how to use the OptoCompiler tool, see
the OptoCompiler User Guide.

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Chapter 3: Products on Custom Infrastructure
StarRC Parasitic Explorer

StarRC Parasitic Explorer

The StarRC Parasitic Explorer tool runs on the Custom Infrastructure environment. The
tool helps you query parasitic resistors and capacitors stored in the Galaxy parasitic
database (GPD) created by the StarRC extraction tool.

Figure 14 StarRC Parasitic Explorer on Custom Infrastructure

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Chapter 3: Products on Custom Infrastructure
StarRC Parasitic Explorer

Figure 15 StarRC Parasitic Explorer Features

For a detailed introduction to the StarRC Parasitic Explorer tool, see Parasitic Explorer
Features in the StarRC Parasitic Explorer User Guide. For information on how to use
the StarRC Parasitic Explorer tool, see Using the Parasitic Explorer Tool in the StarRC
Parasitic Explorer User Guide.

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