SoC tools in Physical design
Each tool covers one stage of the flow — capture, implementation, or signoff — and hands off cleanly to the next.
KTool
Schematic capture built for large SoC designs — fast, keyboard-driven entry with live net and pin validation as you draw.
- Keyboard-first schematic entry for large block counts
- Live net, pin, and symbol validation while you work
- Clean handoff into place & route with PnrViewer
- Version-friendly file format for team review
PnrViewer
Explore post place-and-route layouts, inspect congestion, and trace nets directly against your floorplan without leaving the browser.
- Fast layout viewer for large place & route databases
- Congestion and density heatmaps at the block level
- Click-to-trace net highlighting across hierarchy
- Side-by-side compare between placement iterations
SocChecker
Run SoC-level connectivity and integration checks across blocks before you commit to the next design stage.
- Cross-block connectivity and power-domain checks
- Top-level pin and clock-domain verification
- Clear pass / warn / fail reporting with source tracebacks
- Runs incrementally as blocks are updated
Download the SocChecker application for your platform, then generate your license.lic on the License Generator tab to unlock it.
Linux/Unix: after downloading, make it executable before running it — chmod +x soc_checker_gui && ./soc_checker_gui.
Windows: "Windows protected your PC" when you open it
soc_checker_gui.exe is a new app without a paid publisher certificate yet, so Windows shows this the first time you run it. It's safe to continue:
- Click More info on the blue screen.
- Click Run anyway.
This only happens on first launch on a given machine.
How to find your hostid
Your license.lic is locked to one machine's hostid. Get yours one of these ways, then paste it into the License Generator tab:
- Command line (fastest): run the app with
--show-hostid— on Windows:soc_checker_gui.exe --show-hostid, on Linux:./soc_checker_gui --show-hostid. - From the app itself: open SocChecker and check its License Info tab — your hostid is shown there.
- From a denial banner: if you launch the app without a valid license.lic yet, it shows a banner naming this machine's hostid.
Sample netlists, DEF files, and a standard cell library for trying out SocChecker end-to-end.
These are synthetic samples sized for a quick SocChecker test run, not a real production design.
Tcl scripting labs for SocChecker — work through the drills, then check your approach against the worked solutions.
CTSMeshViewer
Visualize clock tree and mesh structures after CTS, and spot skew or balance issues before they cost you timing closure.
- Interactive clock tree and mesh structure viewer
- Skew and latency overlays across the clock network
- Leaf-level drill-down to individual sinks
- Flags imbalance before it reaches STA
StaAgent
An automated agent that runs static timing analysis passes across corners and surfaces the paths that actually need your attention.
- Automated STA runs across multiple timing corners
- Setup, hold, and slack reporting per path group
- Violations ranked and summarized, not just dumped as logs
- Re-runs automatically as CTSMeshViewer output changes
SocPartitionFeedthroughOptimizer
Optimize feedthrough routing across abutted blocks when partitioning a large SoC into physical sub-blocks — currently in development.
- Feedthrough planning across abutted block boundaries
- Partition-aware optimization for large SoC floorplans
- Designed to slot in after PnrViewer, ahead of final signoff
- Early access opening gradually — join the waitlist
One flow, three phases.
Move through the phases in order, or jump straight to the stage you're working on.
KTool
Start here to capture and validate a schematic before it moves to physical implementation.
PnrViewer + CTSMeshViewer
Move here to place, route, and build out the clock tree, tracking congestion and skew as you go.
SocChecker + StaAgent + Partition Optimizer
Finish here to verify connectivity, close timing, and optimize partitioning before tapeout.
Pick up where your flow leaves off.
Five tools are available today. SocPartitionFeedthroughOptimizer is opening up gradually — join the waitlist to get notified.