The size of the layout data in GDSII is growing continuously and leads to problems of data transfer, data storage and archival. Design file sizes are commonly over 10 Gigabytes and are expected to hit 500 Gigabytes by year 2009. Time to transmit mask data for a 90nm chip could take more than a day over a T1 line and several hours over a T3 line, which is very expensive. SoftJin's GDSIIZIP addresses the issue of handling large GDSII data by compressing the GDSII file into considerably smaller size.

GDSIIZIP converts GDSII layout data into a highly compressed binary format. The binary format can be decompressed back to recover the original GDSII file.

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Benefits of GDSIIZIP

• By compressing GDSII files to 20X smaller size as compared to original GDSII file, GDSIIZIP reduces the time taken to transfer these files across design groups, mask makers and foundries.

• GDSIIZIP reduces the disk space requirements for storing and archiving of GDSII files within semiconductor design and manufacturing organizations.

Both the above benefits provide direct advantages in terms of cost savings and time savings for the users. For example, instead of requiring a T3 line for transfer of 200 GB of GDSII data between a design team and a remote manufacturing team, using the compressed layout data generated by GDSIIZIP, the same file can be transferred using a much less expensive T1 line in the same time. Similarly, design teams need to spend lesser time in managing disk space and archives for storage of huge GDSII files as the compressed data generated by GDSIIZIP can fit in much smaller disk space.

• EDA Tools that generate or consume GDSII layout data can seamlessly integrate this technology into their tools through an API that is available with GDSIIZIP. This can drastically reduces the large GDSII file read/write by these tools.

Features of GDSIIZIP

• On average, use of GDSIIZIP produces 20X compression ratios. For comparison purposes, this is about 4-5 times better than freely available utilities such as GZIP. In addition, the time taken by GDSIIZIP to perform the compression is in the same order as that of GZIP, far less in most cases.

• EDA Tools that generate or consume GDSII layout data can seamlessly integrate this technology into their tools through an API that is available with GDSIIZIP. The integration enables the existing GDSII generating tools to generate compressed layout data at the source. Likewise with these interfaces, existing GDSII consuming tools can directly accept compressed layout data.

• The compressed layout data can be selectively de-compressed. Unlike other techniques commonly used in this space, one need not decompress the entire file prior to being able to use the data; This unique feature implies that only selected layers, selected cells/structures or only a selected sub-tree of the compressed layout data can be decompressed, as needed.

• The built-in APIs also make it possible to apply various types of filters while compressing as well as decompressing the data. Functions can range from simple operations such as filtering certain layers, to complex operations such as filtering out geometries with distinct characteristics such as self intersecting polygons or paths. Any geometric shape based operation can thus be codified as a filter and applied during the compression or the decompression step.

• GDSIIZIP provides an in-built verifier that provides on-the-spot verification to check correctness of compressed file.

Click here to request for a free 30 day evaluation of GDSIIZIP