3.5. DRC/LVS with IC Validator

IC Validator is very command-line driven. Here are some usage notes:

Many PDK decks will use variables to control switches. These are defined on command line with -D and can be defined in Hammer config using the <drc/lvs>.icv.defines key (type: List[Dict[str, str]]).
Any deck directories that need to be included are defined on command line with -I and can be defined in Hammer config using the <drc/lvs>.icv.include_dirs key (type: List[str]).
Extensibility is enabled by passing a file to the icv command with -clf. This file contains additional command line arguments, and is generated in the generate_<drc/lvs>_args_file step (can be overridden).
Decks are included using the generate_<drc/lvs>_run_file step (can be overridden with additional ICV method calls).
Results/violations are generated in a format readable by VUE (interactive violation browser) using the -vue option.
Layout is viewed using IC Validator Workbench (ICVBV). It can communicate with VUE to generate violation markers by opening up a socket to ICV. The socket number can range between 1000 and 65535 (selectable by <drc/lvs>.icv.icvwb_port. Running the generated_scripts/view_<drc/lvs> script will handle this automatically, by starting ICVWB, opening the port, waiting for it to be listening, and then starting VUE.
ICVWB layer mapping can be specified in synopsys.layerprops key.

Tested with: