|
|
MOSIS FAQs
Submitting Designs to MOSIS
1.0 When is my layout due at MOSIS?
2.0 What are the purchase order requirements for submitting a
design?
3.0 Will I always get on a run if I submit by the deadline?
4.0 If I miss a deadline, should I submit my design anyway?
5.0 What formats will MOSIS accept?
6.0 I forgot one of my MOSIS passwords. What should I do?
7.0 How do I submit my design to MOSIS?
-
7.1 How do I submit my design using a web form?
-
7.2 How do I submit my design by e-mail
-
7.3 How do I submit my design by FTP?
-
7.4 How do I submit my design on physical media?
8.0 Does MOSIS perform a design rule check (DRC) on every design
submitted?
9.0 What is a manufacturability review?
10.0 What if my project submission fails?
11.0 What can cause my design submission to fail?
12.0 Are warnings the same as errors?
13.0 Up to what time can I cancel my order?
14.0 Does MOSIS take reservations?
-
1.0 When is my layout due at MOSIS?
Internet (web, FTP, e-mail) submissions:
-
Please ensure that your layout is successfully submitted to the
fabrication queue at MOSIS by Internet no later than 1 PM Pacific Time
on the run closing date (see the
MOSIS Fabrication Schedule).
Offline submissions:
-
Offline submissions must be received by MOSIS two business days
before the run closing date (see the
MOSIS Fabrication Schedule).
DRC or IP Instantiation:
-
Layout files for DRC or instantiation of IP must be received one week
before the layout is due at MOSIS.
MEP RESEARCH:
-
Layout must be sent to the fabrication queue within 12 months after you
have received approval, using the account MOSIS specified for your
project. To insure there is enough time to evaluate your project and
establish the account, submit your
proposal at
least three (3) weeks before the scheduled run on which the chip is to
be fabricated. Proposals can be submitted only after your account has
been established and your faculty account liaison has received the
account number and password from MOSIS.
Late Submissions:
-
MOSIS will include late submissions when possible up to
the point where doing so delays the run. Should a run be over-booked,
priority is given to on time submissions. To be considered "on time"
the design layout, all packaging instructions, and a faxed copy of the
purchase order (if applicable) must be received at MOSIS by the
published deadline.
-
2.0 What are the purchase order requirements for submitting a
design?
Before we can place a project on a run, we need a written indication
of an official commitment of funds in the form of a purchase order or
typed statement on corporate or institutional letterhead, signed by an
authorized purchasing agent. This document may be submitted by fax or
delivered to us directly by a courier or mail service.
Please note that in addition to the purchase order we request that you
specify the details of the order through our on-line order entry
system. See
http://www.mosis.com/Webforms/ for the submission forms and
parameters.
-
3.0 Will I always get on a run if I submit by the deadline?
It has never been necessary to exclude an on time commercial
submission.
-
4.0 If I miss a deadline, should I submit my design anyway?
If you miss a MOSIS fabrication deadline by a few hours or even a
couple of days, you might still be able to get on the run.
As soon as possible, (1) submit your design for fabrication, and (2)
contact MOSIS customer support to determine the status of the run.
MOSIS Customer Support can be reached at 310-448-9400.
-
5.0 What formats will MOSIS accept?
MOSIS accepts designs in CIF or GDSII format.
For more information, see
MOSIS Layout Conventions for CIF and GDSII.
-
6.0 I forgot one of my MOSIS passwords. What should I do?
Account Password:
-
If you forget the password for your MOSIS customer account, send the
account number to
support@mosis.com. The account
password will be sent to the e-mail address of the official MOSIS
liaison for that account.
Design Password:
-
If you forget the password for a particular design, send
the design ID to
support@mosis.com. The password
will be sent to the e-mail address provided when the design was
originally submitted.
-
7.0 How do I submit my design to MOSIS?
MOSIS accepts designs in CIF or uuencoded-GDSII format (see
MOSIS Layout Conventions). When designs are received by MOSIS, a
PROJECT-CHECK is performed. An optional
Design Rule Check is available to customers who wish to purchase
this service. Designs may be submitted to MOSIS electronically by a
web form, e-mail,
FTP, or they may be delivered to MOSIS on physical
media.
Every MOSIS submission (web form, e-mail, FTP, physical media) must
include the
CRC-CHECKSUM for your layout file, which will be compared to the
value computed at MOSIS.
-
7.1 How do I submit my design using a web form?
MOSIS customers with access to the World Wide Web can make new project
requests, submit and update projects, or ask questions of the MOSIS
staff by using MOSIS Web Forms. The forms
are easy to use, and well documented.
Use the NEW-PROJECT Web form to first obtain a design number for your
design. After you receive your design number, send the FABRICATE Web
form to initiate a PROJECT-CHECK and queue your project for
fabrication.
The FABRICATE web form has two sections for FTP information. If you
want to send your design to the design file FTP server (recommended),
fill in the section titled "To Send Your Design to MOSIS." If you want
MOSIS to retrieve the file from your FTP server, fill in the section
titled "To Have MOSIS Retrieve Design from You." Do not fill in both.
7.2 How do I submit my design using e-mail?
-
Designs sent by e-mail should be addressed to mosis@mosis.com. Instructions for
sending designs by e-mail to MOSIS are in the document, "MOSIS
Automated E-mail System." For more information, see:
-
MOSIS Automated E-mail System
Submitting Designs to MOSIS in Fragments.
List of MOSIS E-mail Templates
Use the NEW-PROJECT template to first obtain a design number for your
design. After you receive your design number, send the FABRICATE
template to initiate a PROJECT-CHECK and queue your project for
fabrication.
Alternatively, you can use the ONE STEP SUBMISSION template to include
both of these requests in the same message.
-
NEW-PROJECT
Request template
FABRICATE
Request template
ONE STEP SUBMISSION Request template
7.3 How do I submit my design by FTP?
-
You can submit a design to MOSIS by FTP if your host implements the
Internet's TCP/IP protocol by using the
FABRICATE web form, or one of the
E-mail
FABRICATE templates.
Additional information is contained in the
Design File FTP Server FAQ,
including instructions for
proxy servers and sites located behind firewalls.
7.4 How do I submit my design on physical media?
-
If you wish to send your design to MOSIS by US Mail, commercial
shipper, or courier;
-
E-mail information about your project to
mosis@mosis.com using the
One Step Submission procedure. Leave off all the LAYOUT
parameters, and for SPECIAL-HANDLING write "Design will be sent
to MOSIS on physical media."
-
When you ship your design to MOSIS, include a copy of the
One Step Submission message.
-
Ship your design soon enough to be received at the following address
at least two business days before the scheduled date of your target
run (see MOSIS Fabrication
Schedule).
-
MOSIS
Attn: Run closers
4676 Admiralty Way
7th Floor
Marina del Rey CA 90292-6695
-
8.0 Does MOSIS perform a design rule check (DRC) on every design
submitted?
MOSIS provides free design
rule checking for designs fabricated in the TSMC 0.35, 0.25, and 0.18
micron technologies, offers an optional
DRC service that supports MOSIS CMOS
and other vendor design rules (see
MOSIS Price
List for design rule checking prices), but does not automatically
perform a design rule check (DRC) on every design submitted.
Submit your layout in time for MOSIS to perform the DRC and for your
designers to make any modifications before the run closes. To help you
plan accordingly, remember that it takes MOSIS one week to schedule
and carry out a manual DRC. If you submit your layout exactly one week
before the run closes you run the risk of getting the results on the
day the run closes, too late for your designers to make any changes.
Projects submitted with design rule violations will be fabricated
unless manufacturability problems that may affect other projects on
the wafer are associated with the design rule violations.
-
9.0 What is a Manufacturability Review?
When designs are received by MOSIS, a manufacturability review is
performed. The manufacturability review examines design syntax and
layer names, but does not check for design rule violations. The
manufacturability review also computes the size of the project (the
Minimum Bounding Box, or MBB), counts the pads, then checks actual
values with declared values.
After manufacturability review, MOSIS will send a message with the
status of your project, as:
-
QUEUED FOR FAB,
-
AWAITING FUNDING, or
-
FAILED
If your submission generates a message of QUEUED FOR FAB, then you
have passed the manufacturability review.
If your submission generates a message of AWAITING FUNDING, your
design passed the manufacturability review but cannot be queued for
fabrication due to a funding issue. Please contact
MOSIS Customer Support.
-
10.0 What if my project submission fails?
If your submission fails, you will receive a message (or messages)
telling you what problems were found. MOSIS calls these
manufacturability review failures. If the error(s) turn out to be in
the parameter values you declared, and not in the layout file itself
(e.g., you specified the wrong technology), you can fix the error(s)
by sending an UPDATE request correcting those parameters. You need not
resubmit the layout. A new manufacturability review will be performed
with the updated parameters and the existing layout file.
-
11.0 What can cause my design submission to fail?
Some of the more common possible reasons for failures are:
-
Violation of the MOSIS layout conventions for GDSII or CIF.
-
Illegal file syntax.
-
Reference to a layer name that is not known for a given technology
(CIF only).
-
Inclusion of any layer-less layout.
-
Undefined symbol or structure reference.
-
Gross mismatch of the declared and measured layout size (bounding
box). The declared size must be close to the project size specified
in the submission request; i.e., within 10 percent or 100 microns in
each dimension, whichever is greater.
-
Lack of a call to a top CIF cell.
-
Declared top-structure is not defined (GDS only).
-
Incorrect pad
count. MOSIS will always count the pads. An error is issued if
fewer pads are found than you declared and you are requesting
packaged parts. Otherwise, if our pad count disagrees with
your declared pad count, MOSIS issues a warning, but uses your
declared
count.
Sometimes errors cascade, causing further errors to be generated. If
you receive a large number of errors, the first one listed is most
likely the true culprit.
-
12.0 Are warnings the same as errors?
In addition to the errors cited above, manufacturability review may
also issue one or more warnings. Warnings, by themselves, do not
cause a manufacturability review failure, but they may represent a
real problem that you need to address. Some sample warnings are:
- Missing known layers (e.g., no n_well). Note that MOSIS is not
checking how you use a layer -- just on its presence or absence.
-
Unknown layers (GDS only; in CIF files, unknown layer messages are
errors not warnings).
Additional warnings are explained in the
Project Warnings and Messages
FAQ.
-
13.0 Up to what time can I cancel my order?
If the design has not entered the fabrication queue, you can cancel
your order at anytime. Once a design is in the fabrication queue, you
must send a
CANCEL-PROJECT request web form
to cancel
your order. You can do this up up until 1 PM PT (Pacific time) on
the run-closing date posted to the MOSIS fabrication schedule. MOSIS
can sometimes allow a late cancelation, but after the 1 PM PT
run-closing deadline it is at MOSIS's discretion.
You must successfully use the CANCEL-PROJECT web form posted or
receive written acknowledgment from MOSIS that the submission has been
successfully cancelled. A cancelation can not be verified by phone.
-
14.0 Does MOSIS take reservations?
MOSIS does not take reservations for space on multi-project wafer
runs. Instead, priority is given to on-time submissions should a run
be over booked.
MOSIS has never had to involuntarily exclude an on-time commercial
submission from an over booked run.
You can inform MOSIS of your preferred run date by filling out the
Run-Date-Requested field in the New-Project, Update, or Fabricate
Request. MOSIS uses this data for planning purposes only and does not
treat this as a reservsation of space on a particular run.
|
|
Related Links
Fabrication Schedule
Customer Support
MOSIS Products
|
|
|
