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The Cross Section Button: Show Cross Section

This command displays a cross sectional (side) view of the layers under an arbitrary line. After pressing the command button, the user is asked to define a line, which can be done by clicking twice or dragging. If the line covers any geometry, a subwindow showing the cross sectional view will appear. The process can be repeated. Pressing the Esc key will exit the command.

All geometry under the line will be shown, without regard to cell hierarchy.

If Constrain 45 in the Attributes Menu is active, the angle is constrained to multiples of 45 degrees. If not set, the angle is unconstrained, but snaps to multiples of 45 degrees when the angle is close. In either case, pressing the Ctrl key removes the constraint.

The endpoints initially do not snap to grid points. The period (`.') key toggles snapping to grid of the initial (anchor) point while in the Cross Section command.

If a layer has the DarkField attribute given, the cross section will show the inverse of the layer as it appears ordinarily. Thus a via, which might appear as a colored square in the main window, will appear as a hole in cross section, since the Via keyword implies DarkField. The DarkField keyword should be applied to other layers that print in reverse polarity for the cross section to be accurate (It is implied by GroundPlaneClear, as with Via). This can be done with the Extraction Parameter Editor from the Edit Extraction command in the Extract Menu, or by adding the DarkField keyword to the appropriate layer block in the technology file. If the Symbolic keyword appears, the layer will not appear in the cross section view.

The height of each layer, as drawn, is obtained from the Thickness parameter from the layer blocks in the technology file. If not given, a default thickness is assumed. The variable XSectThickness, which sets the default thickness, can be set with the !set command. This is an integer 100 - 100000 which represents the thickness in internal units (1000 units/micron). If not set, a value of 500 (0.5 microns) is used. The individual layer thicknesses are specified in microns, and can be added by editing the technology file or using the Extraction Parameter Editor. The thicknesses are scaled proportionally so the layers will always be visible. They appear with actual thickness when the viewing area is sufficiently small.


next up previous contents index
Next: The Rulers Button: Create Up: The View Menu: Alter Previous: The Peek Button: Show   Contents   Index
Stephen R. Whiteley 2006-10-23