Edit Soft Blocks Form

Use the Edit Soft Blocks form to modify the type of soft block that will be created; the shape and size of the PR boundary; the shape, size, and signal type of soft pins; and the routing and placement obstructions inside the block.

The form includes certain common options, which you can use to control information display. The following table describes the common options.

Field	Description
*Soft Block List*	This section lets you select the soft blocks you want to edit. A soft blocks that is selected in the layout window when you opened the form is highlighted. If there were no soft blocks selected, the first block in the list is highlighted.
Select All	Selects all the soft blocks in the design.
*Update Selected Soft Block Attributes*	This section lets you to modify the attributes of the selected soft blocks. This list represents only selected soft blocks unlike the Soft Block List, which contains all the soft blocks present in the design. This list is affected by modifications to the Soft Block List section.
Library Name, Cell Name, View Name, Cell Type	You can modify soft blocks individually. The Library Name, Cell Name, View Name, Cell Type, and Block Type fields display the soft block being modified. You can also use Common mode to modify the attributes of multiple soft blocks simultaneously. In this case the Library Name, Cell Name, View Name, and Cell Type fields are grayed out.
Block Type	Specifies whether the block is custom or digital.

The Edit Properties form contains the following tabs.

Tab	Description
Boundary	Lets you update the place and route boundary of the selected soft blocks.
I/O Pins	Lets you update the layer, width, height, number, criticality, and signal type of existing pins.
Obstructions	Lets you change routing and placement obstructions implemented using layer and placement halos.

Boundary

The Boundary tab has two modes: Fixed and Non-fixed.

The table below lists the valid combinations of the options in fixed mode.

Aspect ratio (W/H)	Boundary Height
Aspect ratio (W/H)	Boundary Width
Boundary Width	Boundary Height

Non-fixed mode is where you have not specified the width and height of the blocks and you want to estimate the area. The table below lists the valid combinations in non-fixed mode.

Utilization	Height
Utilization	Width
Utilization	Aspect ratio (W/H)

In non-fixed mode, the Area Calculation section becomes available, where you can select how the area of the place and route boundary is calculated. The methods available depend on the cell type of the soft blocks.

If the block has type softMacro, you can use the Manual, Internal Estimator, or User Defined Estimator methods; if the block has type blockBlackBox, you can use the Manual, Area Per Gate, or User Defined Estimator methods.

The following table describes the fields available on the Boundary tab of the Edit Soft Blocks form:

Field	Description
Rectangle	Lets you create a rectangular boundary. Use the two cyclic fields below the Rectangle radio button to specify the dimensions of a soft block.

Polygon	Lets you specify the points of a polygonal boundary.

Manual	Lets you specify the area in the field provided. Use this method if you already know the area of the soft block. Type the area into the field provided.

Internal Estimator	Calculates the area based on either the place and route boundary or the bounding box of the components contained in the soft block. Choose either PRBoundary Based or BBox Based from the cyclic field and click Estimate to calculate the area.

User Defined Estimator	Lets you specify your own area calculation function using the framework. See Creating and Registering a User-Defined Area Estimation Function. The picture below shows no user-defined function registered.

Area Per Gate	Lets you enter the area per gate and the gate count for a digital block. The system calculates the area based on the following formula. Area = Area Per Gate * Gate Count

I/O Pins

This table is initialized with Term and Net names from the symbol view of the selected soft block.

Change the parameters as required and use the Update button to update the selected pins, or use the Update All button to update all the pins in the block with the current settings.

If you select multiple blocks the I/O Pins tab changes as shown below.

Change the parameters as required and use the Update button to update all the pins in all the selected blocks.

Obstructions

The following table describes the fields available on the Obstructions tab of the Edit Soft Blocks form:

Field	Description
Halos	Lists the halos or obstructions in the selected soft blocks.
Blockage Type	Lists the various types of halos that you can create.
Material	Filters the layers based on the functions defined in the technology file.
Layer	Lists the layers in the technology file that you can use to create halos.
Offset	Lets you specify the top, bottom, left, and right offsets for the halos. To define a layer halo, you need to set the Blockage Type, the Layer and Offsets. There is also a Material filter which you can use to select layers based on the function defined in the technology file. To define a placement halo, you need set only the Offsets.

Virtuoso Layout Suite XL: Connectivity Driven Editing User Guide
Product Version IC23.1, November 2023