Custom IC Creator Simulation Tools

Why

This is a script package I use to control ngspice, it can

• Run corner simulations
• Create IPs (used in wulffern/aicex )
• Create simulation directories
• View waveforms

Changelog

Install this module

If you want to follow the latest and greatest

git clone https://github.com/wulffern/cicsim
cd cicsim
python3 -m pip install --user -e . 

If you want the latest stable

python3 -m pip install cicsim

Get started with simulation

Head over to Sky130nm tutorial to see cicsim in action.

Get started with waveform viewer

The waveform viewer is the separate cicwave package.

python3 -m pip install cicwave
cicwave output_tran/tran_SchGtTtKffVh_*

# Or via cicsim subcommand
cicsim wave output_tran/tran_SchGtTtKffVh_*              # tkinter backend
cicsim wave --backend pg output_tran/tran_SchGtTtKffVh_*  # pyqtgraph backend

Supported file formats: .raw (ngspice), .vcd, .prn (Xyce), .iqvsa (LitePoint VSA capture), .csv, .tsv, .txt, .xlsx, .xls, .ods, .json, .parquet, .feather, .h5, .hdf5, .pkl, .pickle, .html, .xml, .fwf, .dta, .sas7bdat, .sav.

# Open CSV / Excel files
cicwave data.csv
cicwave data.xlsx --sheet "Sheet2"

# Open many files via a glob (works on PowerShell too; supports **)
cicwave --glob "results/*.csv"
cicwave --glob "out/**/*.raw"

Files are opened lazily (header-only) and parsed with pyarrow, so dropping hundreds of large CSV files into the viewer is fast. Column-name unit suffixes like _MHz, [dBm], (V) are detected automatically and used for axis labels and engineering-notation tick formatting.

Windows desktop shortcut

To launch cicwave without opening a terminal, generate a Windows shortcut from the repo:

# From the repo root
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File scripts\make-cicwave-shortcut.ps1
# -> creates scripts\cicwave.lnk; drag it to Desktop / Start menu / taskbar.

# Or drop it straight onto the Desktop:
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File scripts\make-cicwave-shortcut.ps1 -OnDesktop

The script prefers cicwavew.exe (the GUI wrapper, no console window) over cicwave.exe and uses cicsim/cicwave.ico as the icon. Pass -WithConsole if you want the shortcut to launch the console build (useful for seeing startup log output).

Wave viewer keyboard shortcuts

Analysis functions (pg backend, right-click menu)

Commands

Usage: cicsim [OPTIONS] COMMAND [ARGS]...

  Custom Integrated Circuit Simulation

  This package provides helper scripts for simulating integrated circuits

  Check website for more information : http://analogicus.com/cicsim/

Options:
  --color / --no-color  Enable/Disable color output
  --help                Show this message and exit.

Commands:
  archive      Save a cicsim run output
  plot         Plot from rawfile
  portreplace  Replace ${PORTS} and ${VPORTS} with the subcircuit ports...
  results      Results of single runfile
  run          Run a ngspice simulation of TESTBENCH
  simcell      Create a ngspice simulation directory for a Cell
  srun         Run a spectre simulation of TESTBENCH
  summary      Generate simulation summary for results
  template     Run an IP template with <options> YAML file
  wave         Open waveform viewer

Key options for run:
  --threads N            Run N simulations in parallel
  --progress             Show tqdm progress bar instead of interleaved logs
  --timeout N            Kill any simulation that runs longer than N seconds
  --sha / --no-sha       Skip re-running simulations whose input files haven't changed
  --count N              Run each corner N times (Monte Carlo)

A standalone command is also available:

Usage: cicwave [OPTIONS] [FILES]...

  Waveform viewer (standalone). Defaults to the pyqtgraph backend.

Options:
  --glob TEXT             Glob pattern (repeatable, supports ** for recursion)
  --x TEXT                Specify x-axis
  --backend [tk|pg]       GUI backend (default: pg)
  --sheet TEXT            Sheet name for Excel files
  --pivot TEXT            Pivot spec file (YAML/JSON)
  --pivot-info            Print pivot dimensions and exit
  --session TEXT          Load session file (.cicwave.yaml)
  --export TEXT           Export plot to file (PDF/PNG/SVG) and exit
  --help                  Show this message and exit.