Technology Files

The Sonnet Technology File stores information about the stackup of a circuit, including its Tech Layers, conductor and dielectric material properties, and Analysis Box cover properties. Sonnet Technology Files allow you to use a single file which may be shared among multiple Sonnet project files. They also provide the capability for foundries to develop material stackups for their PDKs and to distribute them in an encrypted format to protect their proprietary information.

Sonnet is continuously improving technology file formats to support new features and technologies. The oldest format was called a "Material" or "Substrate" file and file names ended in ".matl". The Sonnet Technology File format was then introduced to allow for encryption and metal bias. In addition, the industry standard XML format is used for easy manipulation with a text editor and/or scripts. The file names for this format end in ".stf". The latest file format, indicated by files ending in ".stfx" give the stackup developer more flexibility in creating overrides and support for the newest Sonnet features. Sonnet supports reading all of these formats, but only saves to the newest format (".stfx").

You may either Load a Technology File into your Sonnet project, or Link to a Technology file from your Sonnet Project.

Load

Loading a Technology File replaces the project's technology information with the technology information of the Technology File. Once loaded, any changes to the Technology File have no effect on the project file.

When you load a technology, the following occurs:

Your project's dielectric layer stackup is completely replaced with the new dielectric layer stackup.
Tech Layers from the Technology File will be imported into your project. If the project already contains a Tech Layer with the same name, its properties will be replaced with those from the Technology File. Any Tech Layer in your project without a corresponding name in the Technology File will be left unchanged unless it referred to a level that no longer exists.
If the project contains Tech Layers that refer to levels that do not exist in the Technology File, they will be deleted. In addition, any polygons using those Tech Layers will be deleted.
Dielectric and conductor material properties from the Technology File are imported to your project. If the project contains a material property with the same name, its properties will be replaced with those from the Technology File. Any material in your project without a corresponding name in the Technology File will be left unchanged.
Your project's Analysis Box cover properties are replaced with those from the Technology File.
Polygons with property overrides will maintain their property overrides.

Encrypted Technology Files cannot be loaded. Instead, you must Link to an encrypted Technology File.

To load a Technology File, select Circuit > Technology File > Load from the Project Editor menu. Executing the command opens a window which allows you to browse for a Sonnet Technology File (*.stfx), a Sonnet project file (*.sonx), or a legacy file. If you load a Sonnet project file, only the technology information is loaded; any other information, such as polygons, ports, frequencies, etc., is ignored.

Link

Linking a Technology File uses the technology information in the Technology File in place of the technology information in the project. When linked, a pointer to the Technology File is stored in the project file; the Technology File's information is not stored in the project.

When you link a Technology File, the following occurs:

The Technology File's dielectric layer stackup will be used in place of your project's dielectric layer stackup.
Tech Layers from the Technology File will be imported into your project. If the project already contains a Tech Layer with the same name, its properties will be replaced with those from the Technology File. Any Tech Layer in your project without a corresponding name in the Technology File will be deleted. In addition, any polygons using those Tech Layers will be deleted.
If the project contains Tech Layers on levels that do not exist in the Technology File, they will be deleted. In addition, any polygons using those Tech Layers will be deleted.
Dielectric and conductor material properties from the Technology File are imported to your project. If the project contains a material property with the same name, its properties will be replaced with those from the Technology File. Any material in your project without a corresponding name in the Technology File will be deleted.
Your project's Analysis Box cover properties are replaced with those from the Technology File.
Polygons with property overrides will maintain their property overrides.

To link a Technology File, select Circuit > Technology File > Link from the Project Editor menu.

Executing the command opens a browse window which allows you to select a Sonnet Technology File (*.stfx), a Sonnet project file (*.sonx), or a legacy file. If you link to a Sonnet project file, only the technology information is used; any other information, such as polygons, ports, frequencies, etc., is ignored.

Encrypted Technology Files

Sonnet's Technology File provides the capability for foundries to develop material stackups for their PDKs and to distribute them in an encrypted format to protect their proprietary information. If an encrypted Technology File is used in a project, any encrypted information is displayed as <Hidden> in the user interface.

Unlinking

If you have linked to a Technology File, and you select Circuit > Technology File > Link and uncheck the Link checkbox, the Technology from the linked Technology File will be Loaded into your project (see Load).

Since encrypted Technology Files cannot be loaded, you may not unlink an encrypted Technology File.

Technology File Editor

The Sonnet Technology File Editor allows you to edit and create Sonnet Technology Files. There are multiple ways to open the Editor:

Keysight ADS Interface: Click the Edit or New button within the Substrate File Setup dialog box.
Sonnet Session Tab: Select File > Edit Technology File.
Sonnet Project Editor Tab: Select File > Edit Technology File or Circuit > Technology File > Edit.

To adjust all the properties of your stackup, select Edit > Circuit Settings to open the Circuit Settings dialog box. This dialog box contains a subset of the items in the Project Editor's Circuit Settings dialog box. Click the Help button at the bottom of the dialog box to open context-specific documentation.

Alternatively, you may double-click the layers and the Tech Layer symbols in the Stackup Manager to edit these properties directly. See Stackup Manager for details.

Once you have finished making your changes, select File > Save or File > Save As to save your changes.

CAD Layer Mapping

When using Sonnet's Keysight ADS Interface, each CAD layer you wish to translate must be mapped to a Sonnet Tech Layer. This mapping information is stored in the Technology File. You may edit this information by editing the properties of the Tech Layer. However, this process can be tedious. To aid you in this process, the Keysight ADS interface automatically generates a CAD Layer File when the information is available.

A CAD Layer File contains a list of all the CAD layers used by your process. It is automatically loaded into the Technology File Editor when the editor is called from the Keysight ADS Interface, but you may load your own custom Mapping File using File > Load CAD Layer File.

If you wish to map additional CAD layers to Sonnet Tech Layers, you may select Edit > Mapping which opens the CAD Layer Mapping dialog box. This menu command (and associated button) is only enabled if a CAD Layer File has been loaded. The CAD Layer Mapping dialog box allows you to map your third-party CAD Layers to Sonnet Tech Layers.

Only show used layer/purposes: Checking this box filters the list of CAD layers to only those that are being used by the layout in your third-party CAD program.

Clear Mappings: Pressing this button clears all the mappings.

When you click OK, the mapping values are stored within each Tech Layer.