Getting started with Lumfoundry Template for Verilog-A CML (tutorial)

This section of "My first Verilog-A CML" provides a step-by-step guide for how to deploy and explore Lumfoundry Template. In the subsequent sections, you will modify a copy of Lumfoundry Template to create a custom CML. 

Here we assume you have completed:

• My first Verilog-A CML overview

After completing this section, please see:

• Creating a Custom Verilog-A CML with CML Compiler
• Running Verilog-A Quality Assurance (QA) tests

Open CML Compiler user interface

1. Download and install Ansys Lumerical Suite and obtain a CML Compiler license. 

2. Open the Launcher. You can do this directly or by opening any Ansys Lumerical tool. In Linux, call 

/opt/lumerical/<version>/bin/launcher

3. Select CML Compiler and press ‘New Project’ to launch the CML Compiler. 

4. A CML Compiler window will open.

Deploy Lumfoundry Template and run CML Compiler

1. To obtain the Lumfoundry Template repository, click on the ‘Deploy Lumfoundry’  and choose the directory to deploy the Lumfoundry Template repository. Keep “foundry name” as default in “deploy options” prompt. This will create a "lumfoundry_template" folder in your chosen directory. 

2. Enable ‘Verilog-A’ and ‘Symbol’ options. Then select all the elements by enable ‘Select all/Unselect all’ option  and click on ‘Build Tests + Prev Steps’. 

This will validate the selected elements’ source data, compile the data to build the INTERCONNECT and Verilog-A compact model libraries, and create quality assurance test benches for both libraries. It also automatically generates Virtuoso symbols and sets up the Component Description Format (CDF) for symbols. If compilation is successful, the status icon under “validate” and “Build” will turn green.

3. Follow steps in Loading the Verilog- A Virtuoso library. The library should be added to the Library Manager of Virtuoso. Browse the elements of this library to find elements like those in your library. In the next section of this tutorial, we will be looking to update the ‘lum_wg_strip_straight_c’ element. 

4. You can see what data is required for this model by navigating to its folder in "lumfoundry_template/source/wg_strip_straight_c". Or alternatively, you can read about this element and its photonic model in the Waveguide Straight (Fixed) - Lumfoundry Template documentation. You can also browse the documentation for other elements Lumfoundry Templates.