2.3. Hammer Tech defaults.yml

The defaults.yml for a technology specifies some technology-specific Hammer IR and Meta Variables that should be left as default unless you desire to override them. Some of the them work directly with the keys in the tech.json.

Most of the keys in the defaults.yml are a part of the vlsi and technology namespaces. An example of the setup of the defaults.yml is located in hammer/technology/asap7/defaults.yml and certain important keys should be common to most technology plugins:

• vlsi.core.node defines the node that the place-and-route tool expects. It affects what kind of licenses are needed.

• vlsi.inputs should at least have the nominal supplies and a typical pair of characterized setup & hold corners.

• vlsi.technology needs to specify a placement_site as defined in the technology LEF, a bump_block_cut_layer to set blockages under bumps, and optional tap_cell_interval and tap_cell_offset for placing well taps.

• technology.core needs to specify the stackup to use, which layer the standard cell power rails are on, and a reference cell to draw the lowest layer power rails over.

Tool environment variables (commonly needed for DRC/LVS decks) and other necessary default options specific to the technology should be set in this file. This file can also define technology-specific Hammer IR, in the the namespace technlogy.<tech_name>.<key_name>. As always, they can be overriden by other snippets of Hammer IR.

The data types for all keys in defaults.yml can be found in defaults_types.yml. When adding or overriding to defaults.yml, make sure that said data types are updated accordingly to prevent problems with the type checker.