3

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Running MDL in Batch Mode

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This chapter describes the syntax and options for the spectre =mdl commandthat you can use to run the Measurement Description Language (MDL) tool. Youcan use this command for design files written in both Spectre and SPICE languages.

spectre =mdl

Runs MDL on design files written in the Spectre language.

In the following syntax, the vertical bar ( | ) separates alternatives.

Syntax

spectre [spectre_options] =mdl MDL_file    -netlist netlist_file
     | 
-h 
function_name

options :: =
        spectre_options 
     | 
-measure
 output_file
     | 
-mt0 

        | 
-nosort 

        | 
-tab 

        | 
-prec ’
format
’

        | 
-rmrawfiles 

        | 
-eng
 numdigits 

Arguments

options	Spectre command-line options.
=mdl	Enables MDL
MDL_file	The path and filename of the MDL control file to be used. You must specify the control file.
-netlist	Command-line option that specifies the netlist file.
netlist_file	The path and filename of the design file to be simulated. If this  option is omitted, MDL looks for a design file with the same basename as the MDL_file name, but with an extension of .scs or .ckt.
-measure	A command-line option used to specify the output file. If you do not use this option, the output of the measurements is placed in a file with the same base name as the MDL_file and with the extension .measure. For example, if the MDL_file is amp.mdl, the output file, by default, has the name amp.measure. This default file is placed in the directory that holds the design_file. So if the design file is ./d2/arith.ckt, the default measure file is ./d2/amp.measure.
output_file	The path and file to be used for output data generated by measurements.
-mt0	A command line option used to generate .mt* format data files as well as the default .measure file. When specified, .mt0 is generated by default.
-nosort	Optional argument to specify that variables in the measure file should not be sorted.
-tab	A command line option used to present data in a tabular format in the .measure file. This is useful for swept data.
-nosort	A command line option to specify that variables in the measure file should not be sorted. When this option is specified, the exported variables in the mdl file appear in the .measure file in the order in which they are specified in the netlist. Note that by default, they appear in alphabetically sorted order in .measure file.
-eng numdigits	A command line option to specify the engineering format of the signal value output to the measurement file. numdigits is the number of significant digits of the signal value. If  not specified, 6 significant digits are displayed. If both -prec and -eng arguments are specified, -prec is ignored.
+aps	Run the simulation using APS, as opposed to Spectre by default.

Examples

The following command creates a .measure file called amp.measure in the directory where you run the command,

spectre =mdl  amp.mdl -netlist amp.scs

You can simplify the above command because the MDL control file and the design file have the same basename. The equivalent simpler command is

spectre =mdl amp.mdl

You need the options when the MDL control file and the design file have different base names or when the design file has a suffix other than .scs or .ckt.

For example,

spectre =mdl  control.mdl -netlist topnetlist.scs

spectre =mdl  control.mdl -netlist netlist.sp

The following command creates a measurement result file called mdlresults in your home directory.

spectre =mdl amp.mdl -measure $HOME/mdlresults

The following command presents data in a tabular format.

spectremdl   foreach.mdl -design dflip.scs -tab

results in the following .measure file (called foreach.measure)

Exported variables from PSF results directory:  dflip.raw

date               :  9:54:01 AM, Tue May 10, 2005
design             :  * DFF
simulator          :  spectre

Swept Measurements :
Measurement Name   :  findqcross
Analysis Type      :  tran
temp            vdd             clk_q_delay
25              1.5             1.91866e-10
25              1.8             1.61376e-10
25              2               1.5053e-10
50              1.5             1.96657e-10
50              1.8             1.66472e-10
50              2               1.55428e-10
75              1.5             2.01521e-10
75              1.8             1.71556e-1
75              2               1.60476e-10
100             1.5             2.0633e-10
100             1.8             1.76775e-10
100             2                   1.65437e-10

Without the -tab option, the same command results in the following .measure file

Exported variables from PSF results directory:  dflip.raw

date               :  10:20:35 AM, Tue May 10, 2005
design             :  * DFF
simulator          :  spectre

Swept Measurements :
Measurement Name   :  findqcross
Analysis Type      :  tran
clk_q_delay              temp @ 25
        vdd @ 1.5         =  1.91866e-10
clk_q_delay              temp @ 25
        vdd @ 1.8         =  1.61376e-10
clk_q_delay              temp @ 25
        vdd @ 2           =  1.5053e-10
clk_q_delay              temp @ 50
        vdd @ 1.5         =  1.96657e-10
clk_q_delay              temp @ 50
        vdd @ 1.8         =  1.66472e-10
clk_q_delay              temp @ 50
        vdd @ 2           =  1.55428e-10
clk_q_delay              temp @ 75
        vdd @ 1.5         =  2.01521e-10
clk_q_delay              temp @ 75
        vdd @ 1.8         =  1.71556e-10
clk_q_delay              temp @ 75
        vdd @ 2           =  1.60476e-10
clk_q_delay              temp @ 100
        vdd @ 1.5         =  2.0633e-10
clk_q_delay              temp @ 100
        vdd @ 1.8         =  1.76775e-10
clk_q_delay              temp @ 100
        vdd @ 2        =  1.65437e-10

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