:: CAD Frequently Asked Questions

Digital Sandbox groups maintains a knowledge base for Computer Aided Design Tools used in the Sandbox courses. This knowledge base is a central repository that provides answers to the most common VLSI CAD tool related questions, assists in the tools environment setup, describes the tools available at the three universities and points to the short hands-on tutorials. This CAD FAQ is available for the students, researchers and faculty at all three participating universities, Carnegie Mellon, Penn State and University of Pittsburgh. Presently, it contains over 50 articles and solutions and covers the following CAD tools:


  • Semi-custom ASIC EDA flow
    • Mentor Graphics ModelSim
    • Verisity Specman E
    • Synopsys Design Compiler
    • Synopsys PrimeTime
    • Synopsys Power Compiler
    • Cadence Silicon Ensemble
    • Monterey Dolphin
    • Silicon Metrics Cell Rater
    • OKI, STMicro, CMUlib18 libraries
  • Full custom EDA flow
    • Cadence Composer
    • Cadense Virtuoso
    • Cadence Analog Artist
    • Synopsys HSpice
    • Mentor Graphics Calibre DRC/LVS
    • Generic Cadence, NCSU 0.18um, ST Micro 0.18/0.13/0.09um process
  • FPGA EDA Flow
    • Synplicity Synplify
    • Xilinx ISE
    • Altera NIOS
    • Synplicity Amplify


CAD FAQ website can be accessed by the students and faculty of Carnegie Mellon, Pitt and Penn State Universities.

:: E-mail Support

In addition to the CAD FAQ, the Digital Sandbox groups provides CAD technical support via e-mail.