SOC Encounter - difference between Halo,blockage,fence

[nschiku]

soc encounter haloblock -cell

Hi,
I am new to Encounter, can anyone tell me what is the difference between Halo,blockage,fence? Also what are soft guides?

Thanks,
Nik

 

[ramkka]

socencounter cover blockages

Hi,

Comments are welcome

Halo: Is not a hard constraint.

Suppose say, a routing halo, It won't stop you routing on the specified place if you give halo there.
But, It would certainly stop you from routing in the specified blockage.

Fence: If you have different modules defined in your netlist you would generally prefer them to keep in a specified area where you don't want to keep other module cells.

Tool neither allow other group cells to sit in that perticular fence nor allow the cells from the group out of fence.

Guide: You have the flexibility of moving the cells in and out of the design area.

Region: You could move other group cells into the region but not the region cells to out of the area.
All these are the ways of representations to tell the tool what to do exactly.

You can post back if you dont understand.

Thank you,
R

 

[nschiku]

region fence guide encounter

Hi,
Then if routing Halo does not stop us from routing then where exactly is it used??

Thanks,
Nik

 

[urslen]

halo encounter soc

Halo is a soft constraint whereas blockage is hard constraint. For example, we can use halo around any sub-block or macro. In that case, the tool will try to refrain routing in those area but still the pins of the macro will be connected using routing. For blockage, the tool should not route even the connectivity to the pins. However, tools are now smart and route to the pins even if there is blockage but shows DRC violation (short between the routing and the blockage). In case of halo, it will not show any routing DRC (short).

Thanks