GDSII is the standard file format for lithography designs. One of the first steps in your fabrication process is often the creation of a GDSII pattern file, whether to print on a photomask, or to expose directly on your substrate via electron-beam lithography or direct-write laser lithography. In some cases, you may have a photomask design already provided to you by a colleague; in others, however, you may need to construct the design yourself. To this end, the nanoFAB supports two GDSII layout software options: a graphical CAD tool (KLayout) and a script-based approach (Raith_GDSII MATLAB toolbox).
KLayout
KLayout is a free, open-source GDSII viewer and editor. It is available on several computers in the nanoFAB design area, but may also be downloaded and installed on any user’s own computer. This is the recommended GDSII editor/viewer supported by nanoFAB staff.
Tutorials
- An excellent video tutorial on GDSII and KLayout is available from our colleagues at U Waterloo's QNFCF
- KLayout Tutorial #0: Installation and Setup (7:40)
- KLayout Tutorial #1: Drawing Shapes (11:42)
- KLayout Tutorial #2: Editing Shapes (9:01)
- KLayout Tutorial #3: Cell Hierarchy Part 1 (15:23)
- KLayout Tutorial #4: Cell Hierarchy Part 2 (8:59)
- KLayout Tutorial #5: PCells (8:09)
- KLayout Tutorial #6: Fill Tool (6:45)
- KLayout Tutorial #7: Search and Replace (20:26)
- KLayout Tutorial #8: Macros Custom PCell: Spiral (26:58)
- KLayout Tutorial #9: Macros Qt Area Calculator (27:13)
- KLayout Tutorial #10: Macros Custom PCell: PArray (24:06)
- Another good tutorial on using KLayout is available from the Washington Nanofabrication Facility: Microfabrication CAD Design & Layout Tutorial using KLayout
If you have further questions regarding KLayout after viewing the above tutorials and the official KLayout documentation, please contact Aaron Hryciw.
Raith_GDSII
The Raith_GDSII toolbox provides a simple, versatile, and scriptable means of generating patterns for Raith electron-beam lithography (EBL) and focused ion beam (FIB) tools using MATLAB. The toolbox is open source, and may be downloaded from GitHub. Beyond serving nanoFAB’s EBL user community, the Raith_GDSII toolbox should be useful to anyone interested in script-based GDSII generation (e.g., for preparing patters for photomask printing or direct-write laser lithography).
Features
- Generate Raith-dialect GDSII hierarchy (.csf, .gds) and positionlist (.pls) files directly within MATLAB
- Plot patterns in MATLAB using Raith dose factor colouration, from individual GDSII elements to entire positionlists
- Full support for Raith curved elements (circles, ellipses, and arcs)
- Full support for Raith “fixed beam moving stage” exposure elements (paths and circles)
- Simply-connected font defined to use for text elements
- Export pattern in plain GDSII (Raith curved elements converted to polygons and paths), to use with non-Raith GDSII editors/viewers (e.g., KLayout)
Download
- The most recent version of the Raith_GDSII toolbox can be downloaded directly from GitHub.
For more information, please contact Aaron Hryciw.
Array of photonic crystal nanobeam cavities for probing torsional optomechanics. These devices were generated using the Raith_GDSII toolbox and fabricated using nanoFAB’s Raith 150-TWO EBL tool. (Courtesy of Barclay group, University of Calgary)
Please note that the nanoFAB does not offer any design verification services.