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Thread: gf180mcuD lvs check error -- layout cell pin order mismatch

19 Discord messages from ℹ️ - Information/⁉️-questions/threads/gf180mcud-lvs-check-error-layout-cell-pin-order-mismatch.md.

Category: ℹ️ - Information Parent channel: #⁉️-questions Thread ID: 1433688821479772180

Messages: 19

message-1433688821479772180

2025-10-31T05:27:31.691+00:00 — Evansika (@xintingjiang_36756)

Content

Hi all,

I running the lvs check using klayout 0.30.2 and use the latest gf180mcuD version. What is weird is that I can pass lvs check for the same design using an earlier version of the gf180mcu pdk and failed when I use the updated one. The lvs report is attached.
My question is it seems that the root of the problem is the pin order and number of pins do not match for std cell in .cdl file(schematic) and in .cir file(layout extracted).
I attached the screen shot for the nor gate for instance. The subckt in cdl has 7 pins defined and in layout there are 9 pins. The extra two pins are VPW and VNW which were not there in earlier version. I've tried tight VPW to VSS and VNW to VDD and define gf180mcu_gnd and the VSS as the same net. These errors were still not resolved.

I was wondering has anyone met similar problem before or is there any workaround about this?
Many thanks in advance!

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message-1433748976523415605

2025-10-31T09:26:33.771+00:00 — Leo Moser (mole99) (@mole99)

Content

Hi!

When you say the latest gf180mcuD version, do you mean the one from open_pdks or the one from wafer.space?
There shouldn't be any changes to the KLayout LVS setup in either of them in the recent versions.

Could you find out which changes have been made to the KLayout LVS setup that cause it to fail?
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message-1433845084058554579

2025-10-31T15:48:27.593+00:00 — Evansika (@xintingjiang_36756)

Content

Hi! We used volare to configure the gf180mcu pdk, the hash value for the pdk version is attached. It is the latest version released this Aug

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message-1433872587028693163

2025-10-31T17:37:44.812+00:00 — Evansika (@xintingjiang_36756)

Content

oh for this coming up tapeout, what is the correct gf180mcu pdk version to use?
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message-1433880759130783755

2025-10-31T18:10:13.193+00:00 — Leo Moser (mole99) (@mole99)

Content

In order to submit your design, it must pass the [gf180mcu-precheck](https://github.com/wafer-space/gf180mcu-precheck).
You can run it locally, later it will also be available through the platform.

The precheck uses the wafer.space fork of the PDK: https://github.com/wafer-space/gf180mcu
We use this fork for the [gf180mcu-project-template](https://github.com/wafer-space/gf180mcu-project-template).

The fork has mostly changes around the LibreLane configuration, and we intend to upstream all changes in the near future.
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message-1433880790718222457

2025-10-31T18:10:20.724+00:00 — Leo Moser (mole99) (@mole99)

Content

Please do not use volare anymore, it has been replaced by [ciel](https://github.com/fossi-foundation/ciel).
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message-1433881152510492702

2025-10-31T18:11:46.982+00:00 — Leo Moser (mole99) (@mole99)

Content

Still, it is strange that you get this error since there haven't been any recent changes to the KLayout LVS setup. See here: https://github.com/fossi-foundation/globalfoundries-pdk-libs-gf180mcu_fd_pv/tree/main/klayout/lvs
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message-1433881332420968498

2025-10-31T18:12:29.876+00:00 — Leo Moser (mole99) (@mole99)

Content

Can you find if there is a difference in the LVS setup between these two PDK versions?
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message-1433881638604898375

2025-10-31T18:13:42.876+00:00 — Leo Moser (mole99) (@mole99)

Content

Finally, it looks like you are trying to create a digital design. Why not use LibreLane? It also performs LVS, but using magic and netgen.
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message-1433890171945881651

2025-10-31T18:47:37.383+00:00 — Evansika (@xintingjiang_36756)

Content

Thanks a lot! I think I will try LibreLane flow first.
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message-1434207426000978041

2025-11-01T15:48:16.644+00:00 — Evansika (@xintingjiang_36756)

Content

Hi Leo, I don't know if it was me but I cannot open the doc for nix-based installation for librelane: https://librelane.readthedocs.io/en/latest/getting_started/common/nix_installation/index.html    Is this link outdated?
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message-1434266018242498721

2025-11-01T19:41:06.123+00:00 — Evansika (@xintingjiang_36756)

Content

I can open this tutorial though: https://librelane.readthedocs.io/en/latest/getting_started/newcomers/index.html
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message-1434269379419177142

2025-11-01T19:54:27.49+00:00 — Leo Moser (mole99) (@mole99)

Content

Here you go: https://librelane.readthedocs.io/en/latest/installation/nix_installation/index.html

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message-1434269490098733107

2025-11-01T19:54:53.878+00:00 — Leo Moser (mole99) (@mole99)

Content

The docs have changed recently and I still need to update the links in the template.
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message-1434280640638877737

2025-11-01T20:39:12.374+00:00 — Evansika (@xintingjiang_36756)

Content

Thanks Leo! I am able to install librelane on my mac machine(nix based). However I ran into the errors below when I try to run "librelane --smoke-test" Should I ignore this and proceed with my designs?

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message-1434284147785990317

2025-11-01T20:53:08.543+00:00 — Leo Moser (mole99) (@mole99)

Content

That's really strange. Is an error shown above?
You can try running the template, but I don't have much hope if the smoke test doesn't even work.
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message-1434286583049097348

2025-11-01T21:02:49.155+00:00 — Evansika (@xintingjiang_36756)

Content

Yes, I also didn't expect that. I went to staight to the smke-test without changing anything after installation. So I really do not know how to fix it. Can you run the smoke-test on your end just to check?
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message-1434731280242577430

2025-11-03T02:29:53.228+00:00 — Evansika (@xintingjiang_36756)

Content

Update: I tried the smoke test again on my ubuntu machine, it passed. But on mac I still couldn't get it to work
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message-1434803135863324692

2025-11-03T07:15:24.943+00:00 — Leo Moser (mole99) (@mole99)

Content

Hi @Evansika, can you post an issue on the [gf180mcu-project-template](github.com/wafer-space/gf180mcu-project-template) with all the information about your platform? Most importantly, is it an Intel or ARM mac?

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