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<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd"> |
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<html> |
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<head> |
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<meta name="Description" content="KLayout layout viewer and editor project page" /> |
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<meta name="Keywords" content="KLayout OASIS GDS2 viewer editor layout semiconductor mask chip design" /> |
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<meta name="abstract" content="KLayout is a free layout viewer and editor for several formats commonly used in the semiconductor industry to transfer layout data" /> |
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<meta name="URL" content="https://www.klayout.de/" /> |
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<meta name="Author" content="Matthias Koefferlein" /> |
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<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"/> |
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<meta http-equiv="Content-Script-Type" content="text/javascript" /> |
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<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"> |
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<title>KLayout Layout Viewer And Editor</title> |
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<link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS" href="http://www.klayout.de/news.xml"/> |
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<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="https://www.klayout.de/format.css?v2.0"/> |
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<link rel="shortcut icon" href="https://www.klayout.de/favicon.ico"/> |
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<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="https://www.klayout.de/fonts.css"/> |
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<script src="https://www.klayout.de/jquery-3.4.1.min.js"></script> |
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<link href="https://www.klayout.de/bootstrap-4.3.1-dist/css/bootstrap.min.css" rel="stylesheet"> |
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<script src="https://www.klayout.de/bootstrap-4.3.1-dist/js/bootstrap.min.js"></script> |
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</head> |
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<body> |
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<div class="klayout-header"> |
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<div class="container mb-5"> |
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<nav class="navbar navbar-dark navbar-expand-lg"> |
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<a class="navbar-brand" href="https://www.klayout.de"><img src="https://www.klayout.de/klayout.png" srcset="https://www.klayout.de/klayout-x2.png 2x" alt="KLayout"></a> |
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<div class="collapse navbar-collapse" id="navbarToggleExternalContent"> |
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<ul class="navbar-nav ml-auto mr-auto"> |
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<li class="nav-item dropdown active mr-4"> |
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<a class="nav-link dropdown-toggle klayout-menu" href="#" id="navbarDropdown" role="button" data-toggle="dropdown" aria-haspopup="true" aria-expanded="false"> |
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About |
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</a> |
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<div class="dropdown-menu" aria-labelledby="navbarDropdown"> |
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<a class="dropdown-item" href="https://www.klayout.de/intro.html">KLayout Project</a> |
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<a class="dropdown-item" href="https://www.klayout.de/doc.html">Documentation</a> |
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<a class="dropdown-item" href="https://www.klayout.de/galleries.html">Galleries</a> |
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<a class="dropdown-item" href="https://www.klayout.de/credits.html">Credits</a> |
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<div class="dropdown-divider"></div> |
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<a class="dropdown-item" href="https://www.klayout.de/contact.html">Contact</a> |
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<a class="dropdown-item" href="https://www.klayout.de/impressum.html">Impressum / Imprint</a> |
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<a class="dropdown-item" href="https://www.klayout.de/privacy_policy.html">Datenschutz / Privacy Policy</a> |
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</div> |
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</li> |
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<li class="nav-item active mr-4"> |
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<a class="nav-link klayout-menu" href="https://www.klayout.de/build.html">Get KLayout</a> |
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</li> |
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<li class="nav-item active mr-4"> |
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<a class="nav-link klayout-menu" href="https://sami.klayout.org">Package Index</a> |
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</li> |
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<li class="nav-item active mr-5"> |
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<a class="nav-link klayout-menu" href="https://www.klayout.de/forum">Forum</a> |
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</li> |
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<li class="nav-item active"> |
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<span class="nav-link klayout-menu"> |
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<a href="https://f-si.org"><img src="https://www.klayout.de/f-si_logo_32h_w.png" border="0" title="Free Silicon Foundation" alt="F-Si"/></a> |
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<a class="ml-4" href="https://github.com/KLayout"><img src="https://www.klayout.de/GitHub-Mark-32px-white.png" border="0" title="KLayout on GitHub" alt="GitHub"/></a> |
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</span> |
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</li> |
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</ul> |
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</div> |
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<button class="navbar-toggler" type="button" data-toggle="collapse" data-target="#navbarToggleExternalContent" aria-controls="navbarToggleExternalContent" aria-expanded="false" aria-label="Toggle navigation"> |
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<span class="navbar-toggler-icon"></span> |
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</button> |
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</nav> |
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</div> |
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</div> |
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<div class="container"> |
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<h1>About The Project</h1> |
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<h2>KLayout Highlights</h2> |
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<h3>General</h3> |
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<ul> |
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<li>Fast and accurate: fast loading and drawing</li> |
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<li>Support of GDS and OASIS file formats with automatic uncompression of zlib compatible formats</li> |
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<li>Full support of properties</li> |
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<li>Full 64 bit support on Linux</li> |
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<li>Extensible and configurable to a large degree by custom Ruby or Python scripts</li> |
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<li>Integrated development environment for Ruby and Python scripts</li> |
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</ul> |
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<h3>Viewer</h3> |
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<ul> |
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<li>Overlay capabilities: multiple layouts can be loaded into one window</li> |
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<li>Very flexible layer configuration: many display options including choice of fill pattern and different frame and fill colors. |
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Animation, transparency, dimming/highlighting ...</li> |
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<li>Layer grouping: the display properties of a group of layers can be changed at once</li> |
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<li>Advanced layer display attributes: layers can be named, they can carry additional transformations, select certain hierarchy levels or select shapes by their properties</li> |
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<li>Copy and paste of layers attributes to other panels</li> |
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<li>Drawing order: select the layer that is show on top</li> |
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<li>Descend into hierarchy: show a cell embedded into it's context</li> |
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<li>Flexible rulers: unlimited count, flexible display styles. Multiple templates can be configured, rules can be |
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edited (move, delete, copy & paste)</li> |
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<li>Shape and instance browsers</li> |
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<li>Bookmarks, various zoom modes, mouse wheel support, screenshot function ...</li> |
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<li>Undo/redo on layer properties, for rulers ...</li> |
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<li>Save: save layout or parts (cells, layers) of it to a different format, with scaling or different database unit.</li> |
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<li>Image overlay capabilities: image files (i.e. jpg, png, gif) can be loaded and placed at an arbitrary position in the layout.</li> |
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<li>Marker browser: certain error report files can be loaded and a browser tool is provided.</li> |
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<li>Global transformation to flip/rotate image</li> |
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</ul> |
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<h3>Editor</h3> |
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<ul> |
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<li>Smart drawing functions with many options: angle constraints, grid ...</li> |
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<li>True, in-place editing in subcells, variant building function</li> |
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<li>Unlimited undo/redo</li> |
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<li>Smart partial editing function to stretch shapes, move edges or vertices</li> |
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<li>Copy and paste of shapes and whole cells, even to other layouts</li> |
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<li>Many advanced editing functions: hierarchical operations, booleans, clip, corner rounding, sizing, alignment, layer operations ...</li> |
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<li>Support for external libraries dynamically bound to a layout</li> |
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<li>Parametrizable cells (PCells)</li> |
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</ul> |
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<h3>Other Features</h3> |
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<ul> |
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<li>A variety of useful utility functions: a XOR tool, a layout diff tool, a fill tool ...</li> |
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<li>A DRC feature with a basic set of verification and layer manipulation functions</li> |
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<li>A LVS feature</li> |
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<li>A powerful search and replace feature with a special query language</li> |
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<li>A technology package manager</li> |
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<li>An add-on package manager ("Salt")</li> |
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</ul> |
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<h2>KLayout is a GDS and OASIS file viewer</h2> |
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<p> |
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Although a comparatively simple piece of software, a layout viewer is |
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not only just a tool for the chip design engineer. |
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Today design's complexity |
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require not only a simple "viewer". Rather, a viewer is the microscope |
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through which the engineer looks at the design. |
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</p> |
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<p> |
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There are numerous viewers available, but sadly there are not many |
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which satisfy a few basic requirements. Most of them are commercial and |
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expensive. If there is need for a simple, yet powerful viewer - here it |
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is. |
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</p> |
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<p> |
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The main objective was to focus on the basic functionality but adding |
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some useful features that many, even commercial viewers don't have. |
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</p> |
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<p> |
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First rarely any tool allows to place two or even more layout files |
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over each other. |
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It often happens that you receive some layers in one file, the other |
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layers in another. Some tools allow to load multiple layouts and switch |
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between the windows. Well, this may help - but still the possibility of |
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overlaying two layouts offers much more comfort. |
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</p> |
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<p> |
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Sadly, almost no viewer is really precise. There is not much more |
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annoying than a layout that changes when you zoom into it. Or |
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placeholder shapes appearing at some zoom level and disappearing at the |
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next, cell labels that cannot be caught because they jump around |
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when you try to zoom them into view, and many other surprising ways or |
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creative interpretation and optimization. This viewer shows the design |
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as it is. |
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</p> |
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<p> |
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Only some viewers allow to make layers "transparent". Only this way, a |
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stack of layers can be visualized effectively. In addition, this viewer |
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can animate layers to make them blink or scroll the fill pattern. |
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Animation is a good tool to highlight certain layers. |
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</p> |
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<p> |
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This viewer allows to display a layer "marked" by drawing a small cross |
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on all shapes. There is no better way to visualize the distribution of |
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a set of sparse error markers on a dense layout! |
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</p> |
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<p> |
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All comes wrapped in a nice, Qt based state of the art GUI. Usage of |
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the viewer is simple and is similar to that of other tools. |
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</p> |
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<h2>KLayout is more</h2> |
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<p> |
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Starting with version 0.15, KLayout is also an <b>editor</b> that allows to |
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change GDS and OASIS files and create them from scratch. See the |
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<a href="development.html">release notes</a> |
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and the <a href="doc/manual/editor.html">editor mode quickstart manual</a> for |
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a more detailed description. With version 0.22, parametrized cells became available |
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in KLayout. See <a href="doc/about/about_pcells.html">About PCell's</a> for details |
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about that feature. |
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</p> |
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<p> |
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KLayout also offers a Ruby-based scripting environment called "RBA" which allows |
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to automate various tasks, mainly in the visualisation area but also |
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for layout generation. In addition there is a macro development environment with |
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a debugger and editor featuring syntax highlighting for example. |
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See <a href="doc/about/macro_editor.html">About Macro Development</a> |
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and <a href="doc/programming/index.html">Programming Ruby scripts</a> |
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for details about this feature. |
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</p> |
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<p> |
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As a second choice, Python is offered as well for scripting. KLayout |
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has a built-in Python and Ruby interpreter. Both work under the same |
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hood and KLayout can execute code from both worlds. |
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</p> |
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<p> |
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Additional features include DRC, LVS, XOR, layout diff, search & replace, technology package management |
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and a lot more. |
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</p> |
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<h2>KLayout is free</h2> |
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<p> |
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KLayout is published under GNU public license GPL version 2 or any later version |
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(<a href="http://www.gnu.org" target="_blank">www.gnu.org</a>) in compliance with the |
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requirements for using the Qt open source licence. If may be copied and |
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distributed freely. |
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</p> |
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<p> |
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For more details see here: <a href="license.html">License</a>. |
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</p> |
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<h2>Current status</h2> |
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<p> |
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The current version is 0.29. Although this low number reflects the early |
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stage of development, the version is reasonably stable. |
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</p> |
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<p> |
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KLayout currently builds on recent Linux installations. Building on MacOS is possible basically. |
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A binary distribution is available for Windows, both 32 and 64 bit (both an installer and |
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a .zip archive with the binaries and libraries). |
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Debian packages are provided for Ubuntu, RPM packages for CentOS and OpenSuSE. |
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</p> |
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<p> |
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On Windows, KLayout can be built using cygwin, MinGW, MSYS and Microsoft Visual C++. |
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On Linux, gcc or clang are supported. KLayout uses Qt and can be built on Qt4, Qt5 and Qt6. |
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For the script interpreters Ruby 2.x and 3.x are supported. For Python, 2.7, 2.8 and 3.x |
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are supported. |
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For the precise requirements see the <a href="build.html">download and build</a> |
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page. |
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</p> |
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<p> |
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The Linux and MinGW build is performed by a simple wrapper shell script rather than |
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some sophisticated configuration setup. Some script options allow configuration of the build. |
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The build system is qmake from the Qt toolkit. |
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</p> |
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<p> |
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It is possible to build the KLayout code without Qt, rendering a command-line only |
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application. A Python module can be built that includes KLayout's core features |
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for importing into an external Python interpreter. |
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</p> |
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<h2>Documentation</h2> |
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<p> |
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There is a <a href="doc/manual/basic.html">quick start manual</a> available to explain the basic features. |
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Also for editor mode, a <a href="doc/manual/editor.html">editor mode quickstart manual</a> is provided. |
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More details and documentation can be found on the <a href="doc/index.html">Main Documentation</a> page. |
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There is also a built-in help system, which can be accessed through the "Help/Assistant" menu. |
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</p> |
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<p> |
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The issue list for version 0.29 can be found in the <a href="issues.html">known bugs and issues list</a> |
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</p> |
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<h2>The future of the project</h2> |
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<p> |
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KLayout is a living project. The program is being used by people in their |
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daily work already. As my time allows I will gradually enhance and extend |
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the code. |
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</p> |
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<p> |
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The main development management is done on GitHub (<a href="https://github.com/klayout/klayout">https://github.com/klayout/klayout</a>). |
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Please use their bug tracker to issue bug reports and enhancement requests. |
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</p> |
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<p> |
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Please feel free to issue feature requests to the mail address listed in |
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the <a href="contact.html">contact page</a>. I am eager to learn about |
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use cases and potential new applications for this tool. |
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</p> |
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</div> |
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</body> |
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</html> |
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