tinytapeout

TinyTapeout

See https://tinytapeout.com for more information on the project and how to get involved.

tiny tapeout

Instructions to build

Fetch all the projects

./configure.py --update-projects

Configure Caravel

./configure.py --update-caravel

Build the GDS

make user_project_wrapper

Simulation

There is a testbench that you can use to check the scan chain and controller is working. The default of 498 projects takes a very long time to simulate, so I advise overriding the configuration first:

# rebuild config with only 20 projects
./configure.py --update-caravel --limit 20

Then run the test:

cd verilog/dv/scan_controller
# you will also need to set your PDK_ROOT environment variable
make test_scan_controller

You should get a VCD dump with a reset applied to input 1 for 2 clocks, and then 10 clocks applied to input 0.

gtkwave test_scan_controller.gtkw

You can set the design that is active by changing the test_scan_controller.py file, update the assignment to active_select.

Clocking

Assuming:

  • 10MHz input clock,
  • 8 ins & 8 outs
  • 2 clock cycles to push one bit through the scan chain (scan clock is half input clock rate)
  • 500 designs

So the max refresh rate is 10MHz / (16 * 2 * 500) = 750Hz.

Clock divider

The set_clk_div input will capture what is set on the input pins and use this as a divider for an internal slow clock that can be provided to the first input bit.

The slow clock is only enabled if the set_clk_div is set, and the resulting clock is output on the slow_clk pin.

As the refresh rate is 750Hz (see above) and the input clock is 10MHz, we add the input to 13, to create an adjustable divider between 14 and 22 bits. This results in an adjustable slow clock between ~600Hz & ~2Hz.

Dev notes

  • PDN hang issues https://github.com/The-OpenROAD-Project/OpenLane/issues/1173
  • Also discovered PDN hangs if extra lefs/defs are not deduplicated
  • with PDN set so dense, tapeout job fails with density checks
  • with unused PDN straps turned off, precheck fails
  • copied the erased version (just power rings) and deleted the first digital power rings, copy pasted that over final gds
  • precheck fails with missing power ports
  • manually added missing power ports to gl verilog of user_project_wrapper
  • precheck passes. Will try tapeout job
  • tapeout job failed with DRC, was because outer power ring was too thin. I think due to configuration rather than being cutoff for precheck
  • updated missing_power_rings with correct rings and repeated, this time tapeout passes
  • Tim suggests doing this as a module/cell to make it easier to reproduce
  • Maximo suggests editing pdn_cfg.tcl and using the -nets option with add_pdn_stripe to force only 1st voltage domain
  • This worked, see the new openlane/user_project_wrapper/pdn_cfg.tcl config