Custom IC Creator Simulation Tools

Why

This is a script package I use to control ngspice, it can

• Run corner simulations
• Create IPs (used in wulffern/aicex )
• Create simulation directories
• View waveforms

Changelog

Version	Comment
0.0.1	First version of cicsim
0.0.3	All in on open source tools
0.1.2	First version on pipy
0.1.3	github action update
0.1.4	Added waveform viewer
0.1.5	Update waveform viewer
0.1.6	wave: added search. Added docs
0.1.7	Bugfix: ngraw deprecated float_
0.1.8	Added template command
0.1.9	Bugfix: allow absolute path in template command
0.1.11	Added directory name option (dname) to template
0.1.12	Added sndrfs and enobfs to fftWithHanning
0.1.13	Added docs
0.1.14	Nothing exiting
0.1.15	Added "archive" command to save old simulations. Added "--no-color" option
0.1.16	Fixed ngspice-45 compatibility. Fixed regex escapes. Fixed seed value handling
0.1.17	Updated docs and spec
0.1.18	Code quality overhaul: replaced os.system with subprocess, replaced eval with ast.literal_eval, migrated to Python logging module, added documentation for all CLI commands, removed setup.py in favor of pyproject.toml
0.1.19	Wave viewer overhaul: measurement cursors (A/B) with delta readout, scroll-wheel zoom, keyboard shortcuts, engineering notation on axes (EngFormatter), Export PDF, legend toggle, regex search tooltip, Help menu. Fixed pyproject.toml license for Python 3.8. Added unit tests
0.2.0	New pyqtgraph backend (--backend pg): hierarchical wave browser, automatic dual Y-axes, GPU-accelerated rendering, closeable tabs, analysis functions (FFT/PSD, Histogram, Differentiate, X vs Y). Fixed AC analysis complex data plotting
0.2.1	Multi-format file support: CSV, TSV, Excel, JSON, Parquet, Feather, HDF5, Pickle, and more. --sheet option for Excel files. String/categorical axis support with rotated labels. Gradient (dy/dx) and slope in cursor readout. Double-click to plot. Regex signal picker for X vs Y

Install this module

If you want to follow the latest and greatest

git clone https://github.com/wulffern/cicsim
cd cicsim
python3 -m pip install --user -e . 

If you want the latest stable

python3 -m pip install cicsim

Get started with simulation

Head over to Sky130nm tutorial to see cicsim in action.

Get started with waveform viewer

A standalone cicwave command is available that defaults to the pyqtgraph backend. It is equivalent to cicsim wave --backend pg.

# Standalone command (defaults to pg backend)
cicwave output_tran/tran_SchGtTtKffVh_*

# Or via cicsim subcommand
cicsim wave output_tran/tran_SchGtTtKffVh_*              # tkinter backend
cicsim wave --backend pg output_tran/tran_SchGtTtKffVh_*  # pyqtgraph backend

Supported file formats: .raw (ngspice), .csv, .tsv, .txt, .xlsx, .xls, .ods, .json, .parquet, .feather, .h5, .hdf5, .pkl, .pickle, .html, .xml, .fwf, .dta, .sas7bdat, .sav.

# Open CSV / Excel files
cicwave data.csv
cicwave data.xlsx --sheet "Sheet2"

Wave viewer keyboard shortcuts

Key	Action
A	Set cursor A at mouse position
B	Set cursor B at mouse position
Escape	Clear cursors
F	Auto scale (fit)
R	Reload all waves
L	Toggle legend
Ctrl+O	Open file
Ctrl+P	Export PDF
Ctrl+N	New plot tab (pg)
Ctrl+W	Close current tab (pg)
Ctrl+Q	Quit
Scroll	Zoom x-axis
Shift+Scroll	Zoom y-axis

Analysis functions (pg backend, right-click menu)

Function	Description
FFT / PSD	Power spectral density in dB with Hanning window
Histogram	Distribution with Gaussian fit, mean and sigma
Differentiate	Numerical dy/dx
X vs Y	Parametric plot with regex signal picker

Commands

Usage: cicsim [OPTIONS] COMMAND [ARGS]...

  Custom Integrated Circuit Simulation

  This package provides helper scripts for simulating integrated circuits

  Check website for more information : http://analogicus.com/cicsim/

Options:
  --color / --no-color  Enable/Disable color output
  --help                Show this message and exit.

Commands:
  archive      Save a cicsim run output
  plot         Plot from rawfile
  portreplace  Replace ${PORTS} and ${VPORTS} with the subcircuit ports...
  results      Results of single runfile
  run          Run a ngspice simulation of TESTBENCH
  simcell      Create a ngspice simulation directory for a Cell
  srun         Run a spectre simulation of TESTBENCH
  summary      Generate simulation summary for results
  template     Run an IP template with <options> YAML file
  wave         Open waveform viewer

A standalone command is also available:

Usage: cicwave [OPTIONS] [FILES]...

  Waveform viewer (standalone). Defaults to the pyqtgraph backend.

Options:
  --x TEXT                Specify x-axis
  --backend [tk|pg]       GUI backend (default: pg)
  --sheet TEXT            Sheet name for Excel files
  --help                  Show this message and exit.