Circuit Replication Flow
1. Choose Setup – Application Mode – Placement Edit.
2. Place and route the initial (seed) circuit.
3. Choose all components that comprise the seed circuit by left-clicking, shift-clicking, or
window selecting.
4. Right-click and choose Place Replicate Create from the pop-up menu that appears.
The console window prompts you to select/de-select the additional etch elements for the
seed circuit. After you have completed the selection, right-click and choose Done.
5. The console command window prompts to Pick origin or use right-click to Use Snap to
functionality:
? Click to pick the origin.
? Right-click to Use Snap to, which lets you accurately position pick points with
snapping modes.
The Placement Replicate Create dialog box appears.
6. Enter a name for the place replicate module definition database file (.mdd).
7. Click Save the File to save the.mdd file to disk.
8. Click OK to save the.mdd file to the current design database and close the dialog box.
9. Window select or choose the components targeted for replication. Limiting the selection
to relevant members reduces processing time.
10. To apply the seed circuit .mdd file to other common circuits, right-click and choose Place
Replicate Apply from the pop-up menu.
11. Choose the seed circuit .mdd file from the pop-up menu, or choose Browse to locate an
existing file on disk. One of the following occurs:
¦ If components match exactly, click OK to attach the resultant circuits to your cursor and
place them. Right click to rotate or mirror components as necessary.
¦ If a component can be substituted with another component, typically decoupling
capacitors, the Place Replicate Component Swap Interface dialog box appears, and
the Next Circuit section lists a subset of circuits by reference designator in the current
selection set that match the .mdd criteria.
a. Click on a component in the Swappable list, and eligible substitutes for it appear in
the Swap with list.
b. Click on a component in the Swap with list to make the substitution; the substituted
component appears in Next Circuit.
c. Click OK. The component group shown in the Next Circuit attaches to the cursor,
then left click to place the replicated circuit.
Every time you click OK, the component group currently shown in the Next Circuit
attaches to the cursor, and the tool then continues to locate circuits in the selection
set that match the seed circuit. The Place Replicate Component Swap Interface
dialog box redisplays each time you click OK if substitutions for a component exist,
unless you choose Hide Form. Doing so, however, prevents you from substituting
one component for another and allows the tool to choose for you.
d. Right-click and choose Done from the pop-up menu that appears to finish placing
replicated circuits.
¦ If a component in the seed circuit cannot be matched in the targeted replicated circuit,
the Place Replicate Unmatched Component Interface dialog box displays, which
allows you to place an altered version of the seed circuit. See “Resolving Unmatched
Components Between the Seed and Targeted Replicated Circuits” for additional
procedural information.
12. Use the place replicate update command as required after modification of one
instance of a replicated circuit to apply those modifications to all other instances with the
same base name across the design.
Resolving Unmatched Components Between the Seed and Targeted
Replicated Circuits
The Place Replicate Unmatched Component Interface dialog box only displays when a
component in the seed circuit cannot be matched in the targeted replicated circuit, and
assists in troubleshooting these situations.
1. Choose Setup – Application Mode – Placement Edit.
2. After placing the initial (seed) circuit and creating the .mdd file from it, window select the
components targeted for replication. Limiting the selection to relevant members reduces
processing time.
3. To apply the .mdd file, right-click and choose Place Replicate Apply from the pop-up
menu and choose the .mdd file or Browse to locate an existing file on disk.
The Place Replicate Unmatched Component Interface dialog box displays when
components in the seed circuit cannot be matched in the targeted replicated circuit.
4. Review the components that appear in the Seed Circuit -> Match list.
5. Click an unmatched component in the Seed Circuit -> Match list to populate the
Similar Components: RefDes (device; value) list with appropriate matches for the
chosen unmatched component.
Choose either of the following, enable both, or disable both:
a. Device Name to match components by device name in the Similar Components
section. Otherwise the device name is not used for matching.
b. Value: to match components by value in the Similar Components section.
Otherwise the value is not used for matching.
c. If neither Device Name or Value is enabled, only the symbol name is matched.