CSE 493/593 Fall 2019
Using SKILL for Cadence Schematic and Layout Design

1. Skill inverter chain example:

http://venividiwiki.ee.virginia.edu/mediawiki/index.php/ToolsCadenceTutorialsBasicSKILLFreePDK

 

2. Download all the 5 skill language files:

ece432Math.il: Contains basic procedures (functions) for mathematical calculations.

ece432Schematic.il: contains basic procedures for creating Schematic-level design.

ece432Layout.il: contains basic procedures for creating Layout design.

invChainSchematic.il: contains an example for creating the Inverter Chain Schematic using SKILL

invChainLayout.il: contains an example of creating the Inverter Chain Layout using SKILL

First 3 are the basic units: you can open and modify them based on your performance.

 

3. Edit

i) Rename invChainSchematic.il and invChainLayout.il to Schematic.il and Layout.il

ii) From the terminal, cd to the library of your design.

iii) mkdir a folder( the folder name is the cell name you are going to create, for example: inverterchain), cd to inverterchain

iv) cp Schematic.il and Layout.il into it.

v) edit two skill files.

vi) run skill script from virtuoso.

 

4. Debug

Use SKILL Debugger to debug SKILL files. Add break points, etc to make debugging easier.

 

References:

1.    Tools: Cadence Tutorials – Basic SKILL

http://venividiwiki.ee.virginia.edu/mediawiki/index.php/ToolsCadenceTutorialsBasicSKILLFreePDK