GDSII

GDSII (originally Graphical Design Station II or Graphic Data System II ) is the de facto standard data format for layout data of integrated circuits in the EDA area.

The GDSII data format was developed by Calma in the early 1970s for their eponymous Graphical Design Station II . Calma is now owned by Cadence ; GDSII is now a registered trademark of Cadence.

Since GDSII is relatively old, it has some historical disadvantages. The number of available data levels is limited to 255, although this problem has been somewhat alleviated by the introduction of data types as an extension of the level designation. The greatest disadvantage, however, is (despite the binary format) the resulting file size, which can quickly grow to several gigabytes in the case of complex integrated circuits , with corresponding problems with data transfer and archiving.

In order to finally solve these problems with a modern successor, the Open Artwork System Interchange Standard (OASIS) was developed.

Web links

• GDSII specification
• Description of the GDSII format

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Draft input: ... GDSII. Retrieved November 13, 2019 .