How to Run the GDSFILT Engine in NT

Artwork's GDSFILT program consists of two main parts: The user interface (gdsfilt.exe) and the actual computation engine (gdsfilte.exe) and its supporting DLLs.

To use the gdsfilt engine from another application you need to know how to call the engine directly. We show a simple example below.

Running GDSFILTE.EXE

Consider the following example case:

You have a file called demo1.gds whose top structure is TOP. You want to produce a new GDSII file called pad_ring.gds and extract only layer 8 from demo1.gds (this layer contains the passivation openings for the die pads). You want the output file to be flat -- i.e. there is no need to preserve the structure hierachy in demo1.gds.

The command line that will do that is shown below. (To save space we assume that both demo1.gds and pad_ring.gds are located in the "current" directory -- otherwise we would have to use a full path to specify their locations.)

gdsfilte.exe demo1.gds pad_ring.gds TOP -unixcmdline -i8 -prune -explode

where

    gdsfilte.exe                 full path to gdsfilte (engine)

    demo1.gds                    input file name 

    pad_ring.gds                 output file name

    TOP                          name of input file's top structure

    -unixcmdline                 run as if from a UNIX command line

    -prune                       remove any structure defninitions and references
                                 to them if they don't contain data after 
                                 the layer filtering.

    -explode                     explode all hierarchy when producing the output file.

The resulting GDSII file,pad_ring.gds, will only contain data on layer 8 and will be flat - i.e. there will be only a single top structure that contains all the entities from layer 8.

Full List of Command Line Options

   -q                           Quiet mode. Does not send messages to the console

   -pause                       do not pause at banner.

   -prune                       trim off all empty trees. This deletes any strucutre
                                definitions and references to them if they don't 
                                contain data.

   -explode                     flatten the structure hierarchy.

   -prefs                       preserve all Structure references.


Layer and Datatype Filtering Parameters

   -iM,N,...                    Include only layers M,N,... on output.

   -xM,N,...                    Exclude only layers M,N,... on output.

   -IM,N,...                    Include only datatypes M,N,... on output.

   -XM,N,...                    Exclude only datatypes M,N,... on output.

   -lyrM:N,...                  Remap layer range M to N.

   -dtpM:N,...                  Remap datatype range M to N.

   -mapM%N:m%n,...              Remap layer:datatype(s) M:N to m:n. This requires
                                special syntax on Windows/DOS because the the
                                command interpreter would treat the % as a variable.
                                So you would need -mapM%%N:m%%n, ... to escape
                                the percent sign to the command interpreter.
                        

Large File Settings

   -maxref:M                    drop REFs after M sref or arefs.

   -max:M                       expect at least M structures. (2048) default.



   Filtering Entities by their Characteristics.

   -min:W                       discard paths and text with width less than W.

   -tmag:M                      discard text with magnitude greater than M.

   -short:X                     remove path and boundary segments shorter than X.

   -textonly                    output TEXT only. (this option forces an explode)
                               
    +text                       don't drop TEXT in the output (forces an explode)  

   -maxext:X                    remove geometries with extents more than X.
                                (forces an explode) 
 
   -minext:X                    remove geometries with extents less than X.
                                (forces an explode) 
                 
   -h2w:X                       remove geometries with height to width ratios more than X. 
                                (forces an explode)

   -w2h:X                       remove geometries with width to height ratios more than X. 
                                (forces an explode)

   -aratio:X                    remove geometries with area coverage less than X. 
                                (forces an explode)

   -maxvert:X                   remove geometries with more than X vertices. 
                                (forces an explode)


Combining/Merging Files

   -merge f1 f2 ... fn             merge files f1, f2 ... fn with <inputfile>. (exclusive)

   -add f1 f2 ... fn               add files f1, f2 ... fn with <inputfile>. (exclusive)

   -blend f1 f2 ... fn             blend files f1, f2 ... fn with <inputfile>. (exclusive)

   -combine newtop s1 ... sn       insert structure topstr, s1 ... sn into newtop.
                                   (blend not allowed)

   -offset X0,Y0 X1,Y1 ... Xn,Yn   insert structure topstr, s1 ... sn using the offsets. 
                                   (available together w. combine only)


   File Conditioning Parameters

   -strict[!]                   filter stream data to adhere better to strict GDSII.

   -names                       repair all dubious structure names. (exclusive)

   -lc                          change all strings to lower case. (implies -names)

   -uc                          change all strings to upper case. (implies -names)

   -unfold                      "fix" dubious paths.



Filtering Using an external List of Structures

   
   -rename fn                   use file fn to do name translations.

   -remove fn                   remove structures listed in file fn.

   -only fn                     file fn holds list of the 'only' 
                                structures to be output.


Special Parameters for NETEX

   -tech fn                     read the tech file fn.
   -netcfg fn                   read the netex config file fn.
   -netinfo fn                  use file fn for net names.
   -netdebug                    run in netdebug mode.
   -flag_multi_netnm            flag and do not rename nets with multiple names.
   -merge_nets                  do not merge named nets.
   -add_net_text                insert net names into named nets.
   -printnetinfo:L              use level L as net text logging.
   -netxplode f topstr          generate netinfo file from f and its topstr
   -netalias fn                 create netId structure alias file fn.
   -phase[A|B]                  run in netex phase A or B modes.



Statistical Parameters

   -fpchk[:N]                   generate floating point (FP) statistics (N is OR of 1,2,4
                                corresponding to HEADER, REF, TEXT info).

   -memstats[:mm]               Output memory usage & run time info
                                [every mm minutes, default = 15]