QFLOW(1)

NAME
qflow - Open-Source Digital Synthesis Flow

SYNOPSIS
qflow [processes] [options] <module_name>

DESCRIPTION
This is the main executable for a complete tool chain for synthesizing digital circuits starting from verilog source and ending in physical layout for a specific target fabrication process. In the world of commercial electronics, digital synthesis with a target application of a chip design is usually bundled into large EDA software systems. As commercial electronics designers need to maintain cutting-edge performance, these commercial toolchains get more and more expensive, and have largely priced themselves out of all but the established integrated circuit manufacturers. This leaves an unfortunate gap where startup companies and small businesses cannot afford to do any sort of integrated circuit design.

Qflow tries to fill this gap.

PROCESSES

synthesize
    Synthesize verilog source

place
    Run initial placement

sta Static timing analysis

route
    Run placement and route

decongest
    Run congestion analysis, final place and route

clean
    Remove temporary working files

display
    Display routed result

build
    Run scripts synthesize to route

all Run scripts synthesize to display

OPTIONS

-T, --tech <name>
    Use technology <name> (Default: osu035)

-p, --project <name>
    Project root directory is <name>

USAGE
The simplest way to use qflow is to be in a directory with one Verilog file called input.v and execute:

   qflow build input.v

This will run all the necessary steps in order to produce a layout of the specified Verilog file. If only certain steps are desired, one may first run:

   qflow input.v

and then open qflow_exec.sh and uncomment the desired steps, and at last run:

   ./qflow_exec.sh

It is also possible to change other "project-specific" details in the files qflow_vars.sh and project_vars.sh which also have been created in the current directory.

TECHNOLOGY
qflow looks for technology files under /usr/share/qflow/tech. A shell script must be placed in a sub directory there declaring where each of the technology files are located:

  /usr/share/qflow/tech/[TECHNAME]/[TECHNAME].sh

Usually, the files needed are placed in the following locations:

  /usr/share/qflow/tech/[TECHNAME]/SCN4M_SUBM.20.tech
  /usr/share/qflow/tech/[TECHNAME]/[TECHNAME].magicrc
  /usr/share/qflow/tech/[TECHNAME]/[TECHNAME].prm
  /usr/share/qflow/tech/[TECHNAME]/[TECHNAME]_stdcells.v
  /usr/share/qflow/tech/[TECHNAME]/[TECHNAME]_stdcells.lef
  /usr/share/qflow/tech/[TECHNAME]/[TECHNAME].par
  /usr/share/qflow/tech/[TECHNAME]/[TECHNAME]_stdcells.sp
  /usr/share/qflow/tech/[TECHNAME]/[TECHNAME]_stdcells.lib

If no technology name is specified on the command line with the -T/--tech option, it will attempt to use the default technology which is "osu035".

If the technology files are located somewhere else, this can be specified in qflow_vars.sh which is created when running qflow. The variables "techdir" and "techname" must be changed accordingly.

AUTHOR
This manual page was written by Ruben Undheim <ruben.undheim@gmail.com> for the Debian project (and may be used by others).