What commands would you use to generate a basic low-power implementation report (e.g. report_power_domains, report_mv_cells, report_pst)?
From PDVerse Low-Power Physical Design Mentor Guide · pdVerse Mentor Guide
Explanation
A handful of report_* and query_* commands let you inspect what the tool actually built after UPF is loaded and power-management cells are inserted -- domain contents, mapped multi-voltage cells, and the power state table -- so you can confirm the implementation matches the intended low-power architecture.
Implementation Walkthrough
report_power_domain shows a domain's elements, voltage area, available supply nets/sets, and default supplies (with an (atomic) tag if applicable). report_mv_cells reports inserted power-management cells, with -retention and -retention_clamp [-verbose] specifically for retention and zero-pin-style clamp cells. report_pst reports the power state table, with -reconcile / -verbose -reconcile / -derived / -supplies / -pst_state_limit (default 10000) options for checking consistency between the declared and derived states. Supporting commands include report_supply_sets, report_supply_net_groups (detects supply connection issues), compare_supplies (queries the relationship between two supplies), and the query_* family (query_power_switch, query_map_power_switch, query_pst, query_pst_state, query_port_state) for programmatic inspection.
Command
report_power_domain PD_COP
report_mv_cells -retention
report_pst -reconcileSwitch-by-switch
report_mv_cells -retention: lists inferred/mapped retention cells; retention_clamp [-verbose]: lists retention clamp cells (zero-pin
style), with optional verbose detail; report_pst -reconcile: checks
the declared PST against the tool's derived power states; -verbose reconcile: adds detail to that check; -derived: shows the toolderived states; -supplies: restricts the report to specified
supplies; -pst_state_limit : caps the number of states printed
(default 10000).Expected Tool Behavior
These reports surface actual domain membership, actual inserted/ mapped cells, and actual legal power states, letting you catch a domain missing elements, a strategy that produced no cells, or a PST inconsistency before proceeding further in the flow.
Example
Running report_power_domain PD_COP on Mychip would be expected to show U_COP as its element, VDD1p0_SW/GND as primary supplies, and its associated isolation/retention/switch strategies (matching the design's rule=U_PC.PSE/PSE_ACK for the switch, U_PC.ISE for isolation, and U_PC.SRE for retention).
Common Mistake
Only ever checking report_power_domain and never running report_pst reconcile, so a genuine mismatch between the intended power modes and what the tool actually derived from the netlist goes unnoticed until much later in the flow.
Likely Error Or Warning
This topic is not covered in enough depth here to give a fully reliable answer for a specific error message tied to these commands; they are inspection/reporting commands rather than a source of errors themselves.
Debugging Approach
Start with report_power_domain to confirm domain membership and supplies, then report_mv_cells -retention (and -retention_clamp if zero-pin cells are expected) to confirm cell insertion, then report_pst -reconcile to confirm the PST is self-consistent with derived supply behavior. PART 3 Expert — 20 Questions Architecture-level reasoning, real implementation gotchas, and signoff-level consequences.
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