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| userdoc:licensed_software_from_cmc_microsystems [2012/03/20 13:42] – jaro | userdoc:licensed_software_from_cmc_microsystems [2024/12/18 13:39] (current) – jaro |
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| CMC Microsystems, [[http://www.cmc.ca]] (formerly Canadian Microelectronics Corporation), is a non-profit organization that "enables and supports the creation and application of micro- and nano-system knowledge by providing a national infrastructure for excellence in research and a path to commercialization of related devices, components and systems". | CMC Microsystems, [[https://www.cmc.ca]] (formerly Canadian Microelectronics Corporation), is a non-profit organization that "enables and supports the creation and application of micro- and nano-system knowledge by providing a national infrastructure for excellence in research and a path to commercialization of related devices, components and systems". |
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| Part of that support provides subsidized CAD tool licenses to universities working in microelectronics, electromagnetics, photonics, and other (mostly) Electrical/Computer/Mechanical Engineering research areas. Faculty members who wish to participate (i.e. get licenses for CAD tools) must subscribe to CMC services at either the **Designer Level** (about $350 annually, for access only to CAD tools), or the higher **Prototyping Level** (about $800 annually, for access to CAD tools as well as to CMC-assisted fabrication of microchips or micro-fluidic or photonic devices). Subscriptions allow CMC to find which of their services are useful to university researchers. There might be a small rebate of about $100 for faculty members who also agree to return an annual activity report to CMC. (All prices are subject to change; these are current as of March 2012.) | Part of that support provides subsidized CAD tool licenses to universities working in microelectronics, electromagnetics, photonics, and other research areas, mainly in Electrical/Computer/Mechanical Engineering. Faculty members who wish to participate (i.e. to get licenses for CAD tools) must subscribe to CMC services for access to CAD tool licenses, as well as to CMC-assisted fabrication of microchips or micro-fluidic or photonic devices. Subscriptions allow CMC to find which of their services are useful to university researchers. Details on faculty member subscriptions are available at [[https://www.cmc.ca/subscriptions/]]. Faculty members can subscribe (currently at $1000 per year -- Nov. 2021); note that ECE has an institutional "Research Plus" subscription, which means that faculty members who subscribe can use unlimited numbers of concurrent licenses for most tools, rather than a cap of five users per subscribed professor. |
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| For some of the CAD tools (from Agilent, Cadence, Synopsys, Xilinx), the licenses are hosted on servers on our campus, and are renewed annually, after generally painful license agreements, annual reports, and renewal paperwork, all done by VLSI Research Group staff. For other CAD tools -- notably from Mentor and Forte -- licenses are hosted on CMC-operated servers. There are two potential problems with off-site hosting: network connectivity to distant servers, and inability for university staff to view details about local usage. CMC addressed the first of these by changing from a single license host to multiple license hosts across Canada, in Kingston Ontario, Ottawa, and Alberta. To address the second issue, CMC will be setting up a tool allowing university staff to view some of the data about usage, but it's not clear yet how detailed that will be. | For some of the CAD tools (from Agilent, Altera, Xilinx), the licenses are hosted on servers on our campus. For other CAD tools -- notably from Cadence, Mentor and Synopsys -- licenses are hosted on CMC-operated servers. There are two potential problems with off-site hosting: network connectivity to distant servers, and inability for university staff to view details about local usage. CMC addressed the first of these by changing from a single license host to multiple license hosts across Canada, in Kingston Ontario, Ottawa, and Alberta. To address the second issue, CMC has set up a tool allowing some university staff to view some of the data about usage. |
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| The typical process to gain access to CAD tools follows: | The typical process to gain access to CAD tools follows: |
| * faculty member must create a (free) account at CMC, at [[https://www.cmc.ca/MyAccount/GetAccount.aspx]] | * faculty member must create a (free) account at CMC, at [[https://www.cmc.ca/MyAccount/GetAccount.aspx]] |
| * faculty member must subscribe to CMC services at either the Design or Prototyping levels, described at [[http://www.cmc.ca/WhatWeOffer/Subscription.aspx]] | * faculty member must subscribe to CMC services [[https://www.cmc.ca/subscriptions]] |
| * faculty member can select up to three CAD tools (for Designer level) or up to five CAD tools (for Prototyping level) to be included in the subscription; a list of tools is available at [[http://www.cmc.ca/WhatWeOffer/Design/Tools.aspx]]. Chip designers will typically need Cadence, Synopsys, and Mentor; they might also require Agilent ADS. Subscribers needing more tools than are allowed with a subscription may select additional CAD tools, generally at $50 annually per tool, with some exceptions. (Altera and Xilinx tools, for example, are free; Ansys HFSS is $50 per researcher who needs access.) Here's how to select the tools: | * grad students and other researchers supervised by the faculty member must create a (free) account at CMC, at [[https://www.cmc.ca/MyAccount/GetAccount.aspx]], and must indicate who supervises their research. (Staff members and other visitors who need access to the tools must also create an account and find a subscribing faculty member willing to add them to their CMC account.) |
| * Click on the name of the company supplying the tool; click "Order Now" | |
| * select the specific tool you are interested in | |
| * click "Add to My Cart" | |
| * Click the grey "Checkout" button near the top of the page on the right-hand side | |
| * follow through with the checkout procedure | |
| * grad students and post-docs supervised by the faculty member must create a (free) account at CMC, at [[https://www.cmc.ca/MyAccount/GetAccount.aspx]], and must indicate who supervises their research. (Staff members and other visitors who need access to the tools must also create an account and find a subscribing faculty member willing to add them to their CMC account.) | |
| * faculty member will be notified by CMC that a researcher claims them as supervisor | * faculty member will be notified by CMC that a researcher claims them as supervisor |
| * faculty member must confirm supervision | * faculty member must confirm supervision |
| * Once confirmed, the grad student or post-doc must run a Java program, "CADactivate", at [[http://www.cmc.ca/whatweoffer/design/cadactivate.aspx]] to gain access to specific tools. This adds the researcher's login name to the "options" file of the FlexLM license servers operated by CMC. Researcher using different login names on different computers on campus must run CADactivate from each of those different computers, so their login name on each one can be added to the FlexLM license files. | * Once confirmed, the grad student or post-doc must run a Java program, "CADactivate", at [[https://www.cmc.ca/access-with-cadpass-cadactivate/]] to gain access to specific tools. This adds the researcher's login name to the "options" file of the FlexLM license servers operated by CMC. Researcher using different login names on different computers on campus must run CADactivate from each of those different computers, so their login name on each one can be added to the FlexLM license files. |
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| CMC is funded by CFI and NSERC; the funding agreements do not specifically include usage by undergraduate or M.Eng. students, but both organizations have said that excess capacity of license servers may be used for teaching courses and projects. If access to tools is required for an undergraduate or graduate course, a subscribing faculty member may request a "course ID" for a time-limited account "name" and password, for course students to use when running "CADactivate". | If you have questions, please contact Jaro Pristupa (jaro@ece.utoronto.ca). |
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| Extra Note: Access to some tools -- those from Cadence and Synopsys and a few from Mentor (but not ModelSim) -- will require that faculty members also become contributing members of the VLSI Research Group, because the faculty members and/or their students will require VRG staff support to download/install/configure the tools. (These companies require that there be a single technical contact who is permitted to download software and to contact the companies if there are problems or questions.) | |
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| If you have questions, please contact Jaro Pristupa (jaro@vrg.utoronto.ca). | |
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