Development Guide

The following sections describe how to build your own custom modules in SiliconCompiler so that you can customize your own flow. If you don’t plan to build your own modules and just want to use SiliconCompiler with pre-defined modules, see the Reference Manual.

If you intend to contribute your module back to the project, two pages are worth reading first: Where your module belongs covers the choice – in this repository, in lambdapdk, or in a package of your own – and CONTRIBUTING.md covers the process: branches, tests, the four lint gates every pull request is checked against, and how to build the docs.

Building modules

• Defining a Target
  • Why Create a Target?
  • Anatomy of a Target Function
  • Example: A Target for a Simple ASIC
  • How to Use the Target
  • Next Steps
• Building a Flowgraph
  • Key Concepts
  • Example: A Basic Synthesis Flow
  • Useful APIs
    • Create a Flowgraph
    • Modifying a Flowgraph
    • Inspecting a Flowgraph
    • Documentation
  • Class Reference
    • Flowgraph
  • Supporting Classes
    • FlowgraphNodeSchema
    • RuntimeFlowgraph
• Integrating a New Tool
  • The Structure of a Tool Driver
    • The setup() Method: Core Configuration
    • Execution Lifecycle Methods
    • Version Handling
    • Interface for TCL-Based Tools
    • Reading ASIC standard-cell timing
  • API Quick Reference
    • Task __init__ methods
    • Core Implementation Methods
    • Configuration Methods
    • Runtime Accessor Methods
    • Tool post process methods
    • Documentation methods
  • Class Reference
    • Task
• Defining a Process Design Kit (PDK)
  • Key Concepts
  • Example: Defining a Virtual PDK
  • Useful APIs
    • Setting Process Metadata
    • Organizing Filesets
    • Manufacturing Calculations
  • Class Reference
    • PDK
• Defining a Library
  • Types of Libraries
  • Example 1: Hard IP Library
    • Using the Library
  • Example 2: Soft IP Library
    • Using the Library
  • Timing models and the delay model
  • Useful APIs
    • Core Configuration
    • PDK and Physical Views
  • Class Reference
    • Design
    • StdCellLibrary
• Packaging an External Library
  • Why package a library
  • Package layout
  • The pyproject.toml
  • Locating data files
    • Two dataroot strategies
  • Defining modules inside the package
  • ASIC timing models and the delay model
  • Bundling into a target
  • Publishing to PyPI
  • Installing and using the library
  • Reference

Appendix

• Working with Metrics
  • 1. Automated Optimization with Goals and Weights
  • 2. Reporting and Analysis
  • The Metric Lifecycle
  • List of Available Metrics
• Execution Records and Provenance
  • What Information is Recorded?
    • Default Tracking (Always On)
    • Optional Full Tracking
  • Enabling Full Tracking
  • How Records Are Stored
• User Settings
  • Storage Format
  • System-Wide Defaults
    • Precedence and System Priority
  • Concurrency & Safety
  • Schema Defaults (The ‘schema-options’ Category)
    • Key Mapping
  • Slurm Scheduler Settings (The ‘scheduler-slurm’ Category)
    • Workflow: Slurm Settings
  • Show Task Preferences (The ‘showtask’ Category)
  • Record Settings (The ‘record’ Category)