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HExtract Examples

Below you will see examples of various useful functions that can be performed using HExtract.



Extract a Window from GDSII Layout...

Extract a hierarchical file from a GDSII layout. All layers.

hextract64 input.gds output.gds -window:500,550,600,650


Extract a Window from an OASIS Layout...

Extract a hierarchical file from an OASIS layout. All layers. The program autodetects that the input file is OASIS. Output is always in GDSII format.

hextract64 input.oas output.gds -window:500,550,600,650


Extract a Cell and its Children ...

Extract a cell (and its children) from a GDSII file.

hextract64 input.gds output.gds -cell:MYCELL


Extract a Cell and its Children ... control top cell name

Extract a cell (and its children) from a GDSII file. Make the top level cell in the output file:TOPCELL

hextract64 input.gds output.gds -cell:MYCELL -top:TOPCELL


Extract Selected Layers to a New File

Let's say you need only layers 31,33,35,37 and 39 in your output file.

hextract64 input.gds output.gds -layers:31,33,35,37,39


Separate Data Types into Layers

Let's say you have data on 31:0 and 31:10 and you want this on two separate GDSII layers (31 and 310) because your target system does not support datatype discrimination.

hextract64 input.gds output.gds -layers:31:0-31,31:10-310


Filter Out Datatypes

Let's say you have data on 31:0 and 31:10 and you just want to get rid of the data on 31:10. Use the NULL destination to make 31:10 disappear.

hextract64 input.gds output.gds -layers:31:0-31,31:10-NULL


Merge Layers Together

Let's say you have data on 14 and 17 and you want it all on layer 17.

hextract64 input.gds output.gds -layers:14-17,17-17


Divide Layout into Tiles of 100 x 100 um

Let's say you need to divide the data on layer 39 into 100 x 100 um abutting tiles.

hextract64 input.gds output.gds -layers:39 -tilesz:100,100


Divide Layout into an array of 20 x 20 tiles

Let's say you need to divide the data on layer 39 into 400 tiles: 20 along X and 20 along Y.

hextract64 input.gds output.gds -layers:39 -tile:20,20


Extract Pad Ring (4 sides) from a Layout

Let's say you want to send someone your pad ring but not the core area. Your chip is 10,000 x 10,000 microns in size nd the pad ring goes from the perimeter in by 1000 um.

hextract64 input.gds output.gds 
            -regions:0,0,1000,10000:0,0,10000,1000,0,9000,10000,10000,9000,0,10000,10000


Extract Pad Ring by using Complement of Core Region

An easier way to extract the pad ring is to select the core region and complement it ...

hextract64 input.gds output.gds -window:1000,1000,9000,9000 -complement


Drop any Cells using a Regular Expression

Consider the case where one wishes to remove all dummy metal fill from a layout and one knows that dummy metal cell names all end in _DMx. A unix regular expression can be used to instruct HEextract to ignore any cells for output that match.

hextract64 input.gds output.gds -ignorecell_expr:unix,^.*_DMx$


Drop any Cells using a Regular Expression

Consider the case where one wishes to remove all cells that have the expression "VIA" in them anywhere in the cell name.

hextract64 input.gds output.gds -ignorecell_expr:unix,^.*VIA*


Extract from QIS Load Cache

Extract hierarchical data from QIS Load Cache File (created from a GDSII file using Artwork’s Cache File generator). The program auto-detects that the input file is a QIS Load Cache File.

hxtractor64 ${input_dir}/input_file.gds.load.b64${output_dir}/output_file.gds
  • All supporting files (input_file.gds.scan.b64 and input_file.gds) must be present in the same directory (${input_dir}) as the QIS Load Cache file.
  • The QIS Load and Scan Cache files must be compatible with the corresponding GDSII file otherwise, the GDSII file will be used for extraction.
  • The names of the cache files must be preserved as they were at the time of creation.


  • Extract from QIS DbLoad Cache

    Extract hierarchical data from QIS DbLoad Cache File (created from a GDSII file using Artwork’s Cache File generator). The program auto-detects that the input file is a QIS DbLoad Cache File.

    hxtractor64 ${input_dir}/input_file.gds.dbload.b64${output_dir}/output_file.gds
  • The supporting file (input_file.gds.scan.b64) must be present in the same directory (${input_dir}) as the QIS DbLoad Cache file.
  • The names of the cache files must be preserved as they were at the time of creation.


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