PURPOSE

GDSII, the de-facto standard format for layout design data, has been losing steam to serve the requirements of modern real-life designs, especially due to its inadequacy to handle explosion in data volume because of higher levels of integration and the RET requirements at finer geometries.Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI)'s Open Artwork System Interchange Standard (OASIS) format is designed to make it possible to represent the hierarchical layout data with >10x size reduction in data size compared to GDSII. Rapid adoption of OASIS is also expected to allow efficient processing of layout data as new tools could employ better algorithms to process the flat and hierarchical data.

The huge investment in existing EDA tools that work around GDSII stands in the way of adoption of the OASIS format. Especially since the layout data is the handoff point from design to manufacturing, the validation of new tools based on OASIS and the confidence in their absolute correctness is critical for adoption.Also, there is the legacy of several tens of thousands of existing layout design data that are already available in GDSII format. Any solution that enables OASIS adoption must provide a graceful migration path from GDSII to OASIS.

SoftJin is a significant player in providing customized EDA solutions in the domain of Physical Design Automation and has developed several GDSII based tools for its customers. Based on its expertise in GDSII and OASIS data handling, SoftJin strongly believes that OASIS will enable the development of next generation tools in the post-layout domain. SoftJin aims to be the leading player in development of customized tools based on OASIS. SoftJin is also ideally placed to provide solutions that enable smooth transition from GDSII based layouts to OASIS based layouts.

For developing OASIS based tools, various modules such as readers, writers, viewers, benchmark layout data etc are required. For speedy adoption of OASIS, tool developers should be able to focus on higher value add engines such as DRC, fracturing, circuit extraction, DFM/DFY tools etc., rather than spending time on readers, writers, translators or viewers of GDSII and OASIS.

In order to encourage the various stake-holders of the EDA industry to contribute towards OASIS adoption, SoftJin is releasing Anuvad (*)- a free suite of source code of GDSII and OASIS data exchange libraries and tools. This first free source code release of GDSII and OASIS reader, writer libraries and translation utilities allows all tool developers to develop higher value adding OASIS based tools for experimental as well as commercial purpose. Please click on the links on the left to register and then download the Anuvad suite.

Anuvad CONTENTS

Anuvad GDSII-OASIS software suite contains the following:

Libraries (Source code):

• GDSII reader
• GDSII writer
• OASIS reader
• OASIS writer

Translation Tools/Utilities (Source code):

• GDSII to OASIS
• GDSII to Text
• Text to GDSII
• OASIS to Text
• Text to OASIS

Documentation:

• Tutorial for using GDSII reader and writer
• Tutorial for using OASIS reader and writer
• Details of Text formats for GDSII and OASIS representation
• Conversion details of GDSII to OASIS translation

Note: Anuvad software suite has been tested on more than 100 real-life industrial GDSII data. There are limitations to testing the OASIS data due to non-availability of industrial OASIS data. However, a number of OASIS files generated through GDSII to OASIS utility have been converted back into GDSII to validate the correctness of such conversion. The original GDSII data has been compared with the resultant GDSII data (after GDSII to OASIS to GDSII conversion) through SoftJin's XOR functionality (not a part of this release).

Anuvad LICENSE

This section explains the terms and conditions of the Anuvad's LICENSE AGREEMENT in non-legal terms.

RIGHTS

SoftJin is licensing Anuvad GDSII-OASIS software suite with the objective of encouraging tool developers to use the source code for developing any new tools/utilities/products based upon it, for both experimental and commercial purposes. The key rights granted by the License include:

1. Free of charge, non-exclusive, nontransferable, worldwide, royalty-free copyright license to use the Software both in the object code and in the source code form.

2. The User may make an unlimited number of copies of Software and distribute internally within his/her organization

3. The User shall have the right to use the source code of the Software for developing derivative tools or utilities or products for internal use as well as for commercial purposes

4. The User is not under any obligation to inform SoftJin about the improvements or modifications made to the Software.

5. The user can freely distribute internally as well as externally the object code of the tools/utilities/products containing any part of Anuvad without any restrictions. Additionally, the user can also freely distribute internally as well as externally the part of the source code developed by him/her along with links to the Anuvad code only in object code format.

However, some restrictions apply to the re-distribution of the source code of Anuvad both in stand-alone or in modified form.

RESTRICTIONS

As per the license terms there are some restrictions on copyright and re-distribution of the source code of Anuvad.

1. Each source code file in Anuvad has copyright notice attributing the original work to SoftJin. These copyright notices should be retained in all versions and copies of the source code files irrespective of the changes, modifications and enhancements done by the user.

2. The user can re-distribute the source code externally containing any part of Anuvad ONLY through the Anuvad-dev mailing list at SoftJin's website as a free of charge license to the other Anuvad developers ("Contribution"). All such Contributions would be guided by the same terms, conditions and restrictions of the Anuvad's license agreement.

3. The user can freely re-distribute the source code of any tool containing any part of Anuvad in source code form internally within his company with the terms and conditions of this agreement passing onto the other users as well. The restriction on re-distribution outside the official channel of Anuvad-dev mailing list is only with respect to the source code of Anuvad external to the User's company.

Restriction on usage of Anuvad is intended to be very minimal and is only aimed to prevent the unauthorized and uncontrolled re-distribution of source code based upon Anuvad. However, if any Anuvad user requires totally unrestricted permission and rights to the source code of Anuvad, separate license agreement can be arrived at with SoftJin on case-by-case basis.

Further information regarding the license is given in FAQ for Anuvad. In case of any need of further queries and clarifications regarding the license of Anuvad, SoftJin can be contacted at anuvad-info@softjin.com

Anuvad is also available under commercial support license model. Please contact us at sales@softjin.com for getting more information on commercial licensing model.

Anuvad DEVELOPER

SoftJin intends to assist developers in using Anuvad's products through several means:

Anuvad Tutorials - Separate Tutorials on use of GDSII and OASIS libraries are given for the convenience of users desiring to use the source code libraries. The release of source code of translation tools is also aimed at providing demonstration of the way to use the GDSII/OASIS libraries with actual implementation.

Anuvad Info Desk - SoftJin welcomes all technical queries and support requests from Anuvad users by email only to anuvad-info@softjin.com. In case of bug-fix request, please send a clear, detailed description of the problem along with a test case, wherever applicable. Anuvad infodesk staff shall make reasonable efforts to promptly respond to requests.

Anuvad Developer Mailing List - SoftJin encourages discussion among active Anuvad users through the Anuvad-dev mailing list. The purpose of the mailing list includes the following:

1. Enable discussion among the active users of Anuvad related to use of Anuvad in developing any other tools, utilities and libraries.

2. Distribution of contributions by users of Anuvad who are interested in sharing and licensing their modifications, improvements, additions, corrections or other changes to the Anuvad software, including source code, object code and documentations, with the other members of mailing list in a free-of-charge manner.

3. It is a common problem faced by all tool developers that there are virtually no layout data examples freely available in public domain. This is seriously hampering the development of tools. Anuvad developers are highly encouraged to contribute actual GDSII/OASIS test cases for the mutual benefit of all the tool developers.

4. For the common knowledge of other Anuvad developers, the bug reports can also be posted on to the mailing list.

Licensed users of Anuvad can subscribe/unsubscribe to the mailing list by sending an email from the email-address used to get license of Anuvad. The email should be sent to anuvad-dev-request@softjin.com with the word subscribe/unsubscribe in the body of the email.

Anuvad Versions - Even though it cannot formally commit to it, SoftJin is desirous to promote and support Anuvad developers through continued releases and patches of newer versions of source code of Anuvad. The newer versions could include fixed bugs, more features and support newer versions of OASIS, if any.


* Anuvad means translation in Sanskrit, the oldest Indian language