FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions

General

Where can i buy a commercial license of the LayoutEditor?

Commercial licenses is distributed by http://www.juspertor.com and some other distributors.

Where can i get support for the LayoutEditor?

Please use the support forum at https://cloud.layouteditor.com

Installation

Which platforms/operating systems are supported?

There are compiled package for Windows, Mac OS X and many Linux distribution.

How to install the LayoutEditor on RedHat Linux/CentOS/Scientific Linux?

RedHat, Scientific Linux and CentOS are absolute binary compatible. If a package for you distribution does not exist, please use an other of these packages with the same major version number. The LayoutEditor will not run on CentOS-3 / RedHat-3 and below.

How to choose the language?

The LayoutEditor tries to guess your language from the operation system setup. If the guess is not correct, you can change it within the LayoutEditor in the SetupDialog.

Features

Can i open big files with the LayoutEditor?

Yes, there are no limitations in file size in the LayoutEditor -- in no version. So even with the basic version you can open 100Mb, 5Gb or even 30Gb files. The only limitation you have is your amount of memory. As a rule of thumb you will need about 4 time more memory than the GDSII file size has. The LayoutEditor make no difference between RAM and virtual memory (except performance of course).

Boxes got lost with photo mask creation. What to do?

The box feature was introduced to the GDSII file format more than 20 years ago. However it is still not supported by some other programs. Activate the option 'box elements are saved as polygons' to avoid this GDSII feature. (SetupDialog -> Fileformat ->GDSII)

I just need a simple viewer. How to get it?

Open the setup (F10 or utilities/setup) and change the mode to 'basic' under user_interface/mode. After a restart you will get a simple user interface.

How to make a feature request or a bug beport?

This Wiki has pages for reporting bugs and ask for new features. Holder of a commercial license of the LayoutEditor may also contact support@layouteditor.net .

How to get Photomask from the design i have created?

We offer a Photomask Service. Just use the feature under Utilities/Cloud/Photomask_Service, and we will help you to get inexpensive photomasks for your design.

Macro/Scripting

What is the macro language?

Macros are ether in pseudo C++ or in python. Please see the macro documentation for details.

What Version is required for macros?

Macro/Scripting is available in the full version only.

Designing

What is the design flow?

A fix flow how to do a new IC or any other design may be convenient for an inexperienced user as any step is given and you don't need to think about the way your develop. However it reduces your freedom to design in the best way and may limit to archieve the maximum possible innovation of your product. So the LayoutEditor did not force you to do a fix design flow, but supports you to setup an optimal flow by a large variety of features. Even if an existing feature does not satisfy you, you can easily integrate an external tool.

What design kit exists?

Of course there exists a lot of productive design kit in the world. Interoperable physical design kits (iPDK) become more and more popular and are already suppliered by many founderies. These iPDK can be used with the LayoutEditor. Included in every LayoutEditor package is the OpenCellLibrary. That is an educational PDK and not intended for productive use. It can be used as a template for creating own PDKs.