SG13G2_ASIC-Design-Template

Introduction

This template repository is suited for analog mixed-signal design with the 130nm BiCMOS open-source SG13G2 PDK by IHP and the IIC-OSIC-Tools by the Institute for Integrated Circuits and Quantum Computing (IICQC), Johannes Kepler University, Linz (JKU).

IHP SG13G2 PDK: https://github.com/IHP-GmbH/IHP-Open-PDK

IIC-OSIC-Tools (version 2025.07): https://github.com/iic-jku/IIC-OSIC-TOOLS

The installation of IIC-OSIC-Tools is explained under SG13G2_ASIC-Design-Template/doc/Docker-Tutorial.pdf or in this YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azgFzleiBW8&t=1943s.

Update: Since version 2025.03, third-party software such as Xserver is no longer required.

The recommended folder structure makes it easy to automate with shell scripts. VHDL files are read and converted into Verilog files (vhdl2verilog.sh). If Verilog files are available directly, this step can be skipped. With OpenROAD flow-scripts (ORFS) the newly generated Verilog file is synthesized and a layout is created. The synthesized Verilog file is then converted into a .xspice file with qflow scripts (vlog2Verilog, vlog2Spice, spi2xspice.py) which can be included into Xschem for analog-digital mixed simulation. All these scripts are automated with run_all.sh and can be cleaned again with clean_all.sh. The template contains a 4-Bit counter with an enable input to get a better understanding of the structure and the file paths within the scripts.

Figure 1: Overview of the script structure in the template GitHub repository.

I have also made a short video on how to use this repo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrUOg9s7gsM (Note that the scripts have been updated since then. However, the basic functionalities are the same.)

If you want to use other OpenROAD-compatible PDKs, just add the corresponding files to the orfs/flow/platforms folder. These files can be found at https://github.com/The-OpenROAD-Project/OpenROAD-flow-scripts.

How to use this template for your design

Step-by-step introduction:

1. Clone or download this repo and copy it into the foss/designs folder of your IIC-OSIC-Tools environment.
2. Copy the .designinit file from foss/designs/SG13G2_ASIC-Design-Template to foss/designs and check the path for Xschem. This will change the used PDK to SG13G2 by IHP. Update: The path to Xschem is now set with the xschemrc file. Just start Xschem within the xschem folder and everything will be set up.
3. Run run_all.sh with the -s/--sim flag (./run_all.sh -s counter) for creating only a synthesized Verilog file and a .xspice file for simulation in Xschem.
4. Run run_all.sh with the -l/--layout flag (./run_all.sh -l counter) for creating a synthesized Verilog file and the digital layout. No .xspice file is created or overwritten.
5. If the steps 3. and 4. work, proceed to add your own project files.
6. Execute clean_all.sh to remove any build files.
7. Rename the repo as you wish.
8. Add your VHDL code to the vhdl folder. It is advised that the same folder structure with rtl and sim is used.
9. Add your Xschem files and testbenches to the xschem folder
10. Adapt VHDL paths in vhdl2verilog.sh in the verilog folder. If the design is already done in Verilog, this step can be skipped. By default the script works with VHDL files. For Verilog files, please use the --verilog flag and the VHDL to Verilog conversion part is skipped.
11. Add config files to orfs/flow/designs/ihp-sg13g2. It is a good idea to copy an existing folder (e.g. counter_board) and adapt these files. Do not forget to set the path to the Verilog file in config.mk and set up the constraint.sdc and autotuner.json.
12. Double-check the paths in the .sh files.
13. In the Xschem testbench, include the generated .xspice file with an absolute path, otherwise, ngspice will not find the file. For example, .include /foss/designs/SG13G2_ASIC-Design-Template/xspice/counter_board/counter_board.xspice
14. Create a symbol with all needed pins (also VDD and VSS) and assign the pin order with SHIFT+S. The pin order can be found in the .xspice file (left signal = 0 to right signal = N-1). In the properties (open with q), the type should be set to type=primitive. It is recommended to check the .sym file in a text editor if everything was set correctly.
15. Run run_all.sh again and try out the analog mixed-signal gate-level simulation in Xschem.

For more detailed information, please refer to Option B in SG13G2_ASIC-Design-Template/doc/AMS_simulation.pdf or the YouTube video.

Hierarchical synthesis:

If you want to see the area per module / entity of your digital core, you can set export SYNTH_HIERARCHICAL=1 (default) in run_orfs.sh and open the hierarchy browser in the OpenROAD GUI. If it is disabled, check the box under Windows/Hierarchy Browser.

Note that the mixed-signal simulation in Xschem will not work if SYNTH_HIERARCHICAL=1 is set. Hence, this option is only available for the -l/--layout flag.

Simulation details:

The VHDL code is simulated with GHDL & GTKWave (counter_tb.gtkw ) or Modelsim (sim.do). The VHDL simulation can be executed with simulate_vhdl.sh. The Verilog code is simulated with verilator & iverilog & GTKWave or Modelsim (sim_verilog_tb.do or sim_vhdl_tb.do). The Verilog simulation can be executed with simulate_verilog.sh. Alternatively, one can use Surfer instead of GTKWave. Further information can be found in the YouTube video.

Exporting Ngspice data and plotting them with Python:

The data can not only be shown within Xschem but, of course, exported as a .txt file, read with Python and the function loadngspicecol in ngspice2python.py, and finally plotted with Matplotlib. If you navigate into foss/designs/SG13G2_ASIC-Design-Template/python/plot_simulations and execute python3 plot_counter_board_tb_tran.py, the plot will pop up.

Alternatively, one can post-process the data (e.g. down-sample or cut out data) and export a .csv file. This file can then be used with pgfplots for professional vector graphics for a paper or thesis.

Figure 2: Ngspice data plotted with Python.

Cite this work

@online{Dorrer_2025_ASIC_Template,
	author={Simon Dorrer},
	title={{A template GitHub repository for analog mixed-signal ASIC design with the SG13G2 PDK}},
	year={2025},
	url={https://github.com/simi1505/SG13G2_ASIC-Design-Template}}