GDSII Importer Plugin for Google SketchUp

Introduction

This ruby script is a plugin of Google SketchUp to import GDSII formatted layout data.

Environment

This plugin requires Ruby GDSII Parser. MAYBE this plugin does not depend on the version of Google SketchUp or the platform. This plugin is checked on Google SketchUp 6, 7 and 8 on Windows.

Download and Change Log

Stable version

2011.07.17 : GDSII_importer-0.3.3.zip : GDSII layers are mapped to layers in SketchUp
2011.07.09 : GDSII_importer-0.3.2.zip : Case-insensitive handling of cell name
2009.12.19 : GDSII_importer-0.3.1.lzh : Bug fix for Sketchup 6.
2009.11.25 : GDSII_importer-0.3.lzh : Functions for PATH element are re-implemented.
2007.06.26 : GDSII_importer-0.2.lzh : Additional parameters, example, bug fix.
2007.06.04 : GDSII_importer-0.1.lzh : Published

Development version

2011.07.09 : GDSII_importer-0.4alpha2.zip : Case-insensitive handling of cell name
2009.12.19 : GDSII_importer-0.4alpha.lzh : PATHTYPE is implemented (experimentally)

Installation and Usage

1. Installation

Install Google SketchUp.
Unpack the GDSII_impoter-0.x.lzh and copy GDSII_importer.rb to Plugins folder of Google SketchUp. (By default, Plugins folder is C:\Program Files\Google\Google SketchUp 6\Plugins\ ).
Download RubyForge: Ruby GDSII Parser version 0.0.1 and copy GDSII.rb to Plugins folder. The latest Ruby GDSII Parser is ver.1.0, but this plugin cannot work with ver.1.0.

Comment out L348 in GDSII.rb.

   $stderr.printf("Reading GDS file %s (%d bytes)... \n",gdsfilename,File.size(gdsfilename))

That's all. If you want to uninstall the plugin, please remove GDSII_importer.rb and GDSII.rb.

2. Process definition file

Since GDSII format does not contain the information of the thickness and the color, you have to describe these information in "process definition file". The format of process definition file is as follows. The line which starts with the character "#" is ignored as comments.

(Example)
  #Layer name  Layer No.  Abbreviation Height  Thickness Color    Alpha
  METAL1       10         M1           1.0     0.5       #0000ff  0.8

Layer name:: The name of layer
Layer No.:: Layer number which is defined in the technology file.
Abbreviation:: Abbreviation. This value does NOT affect the behavior of the plugin.
Height:: Height from the substrate.
Thickness:: Thickness of the layer. You can specify a negative value.
Color:: The color of the layer. Please write in #rrggbb format.
Alpha:: Alpha value. 0 means transparent, 1 means opaque.

This plugin generates additional layers, i.e., substrate, ILD (Interlayer Dielectric) and passivation. The layer No. of these layers are 256, 257 and 258, respectively.

(Example)
  SUBSTRATE    256  SUB    0.0    -10    #3333ff  0.1
  ILD          257  ILD    0.0    10     #ffffff  1.0
  PSSV         258  PSSV   10     2      #ffffff  1.0

3. Import GDSII file

Now you can import GDSII file to Google SketchUp. The plugin appears in the menu of Goole SketchUP, "Plugins" -> "GDSII Importer" -> "Import".

Step 1/4 GDSII file:

Specify GDSII file for import

Step 2/4 Process definition file:

Specify the suitable process definition file.

Step 3/4 Top cell name:

Specify the name of top cell.

Step 4/4 Parameters:

Are of substrate -: Input a scale factor to decide the area of substrate, ILD and passication. 1.0 means the area is equal to the bounding box of the layout. If you indicate 0, substrate, ILD and passivation are NOT generated.
Horizontal scaling -: Scaling factor of horizontal direction.
Vertical scaling -: Scaling factor of vertical direction.
Max # of array -: Array which contains larger number of elements than this value is ignored.

It may take several minutes for large GDSII file to import. If the plugin does not function correctly, please re-execute with the "Ruby Console" open. You can open "Ruby Console" window from the menu of Google SketchUP, "Windows" -> "Ruby Console".

Examples

The archive includes an example GDSII (INV010.gds), process definition file (proc_itrs65nm.txt) and SketchUp Model (INV010.skp). Please try to import INV010.gds with proc_itrs65nm.txt. You will get the same SketchUp Model as INV010.skp.

To download SketchUp Models, please click the images.

INV010	INV-scaling	65nm-interconnect

Simple Inverter	Inverters from 1.2um to 22nm technology	Interconnect structure in 65nm technology

Tools

A small script gds2txt.rb parses GDSII file and output the plain text to standard output.

  % ruby gds2txt.rb gdsfile.gds

This script requires GDSII.rb in "Ruby GDSII Parser".

Known Bugs

Bugs

STRANS, PATHTYPE are not implemented yet.
Sometimes the script fails to create PATH object. As a workaround, it is recommended to convert PATH to polygon before you strem out your layout. (On Cadence Virtuoso, you can convert path to polygon by "Convert To Polygon". Corresponding Skill function is leHiConvertShapeToPolygon().)