Intel® Quartus® Prime Standard Edition User Guide: Third-party Simulation

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ID 683080
Date 2/05/2024
Public
Document Table of Contents
Document Table of Contents x
Answers to Top FAQs 1. Intel FPGA Simulation Basics 2. Siemens EDA QuestaSim* Simulator Support 3. Synopsys VCS* and VCS MX Support 4. Cadence Xcelium* Parallel Simulator Support 5. Aldec Active-HDL and Riviera-PRO Support A. Intel® Quartus® Prime Standard Edition User Guides
1. Intel FPGA Simulation Basics x
1.1. Intel FPGA Simulation Essential Elements 1.2. Overview of Simulation Tool Flow 1.3. Simulation Tool Flow 1.4. Supported Simulation Types 1.5. Supported Simulation Flows 1.6. Supported Hardware Description Languages 1.7. Supported Simulators 1.8. Using NativeLink Simulation ( Intel® Quartus® Prime Standard Edition) 1.9. Intel FPGA Simulation Basics Revision History
1.2. Overview of Simulation Tool Flow x
1.2.1. Compilation Stage 1.2.2. Elaboration Stage 1.2.3. Simulation Stage
1.3. Simulation Tool Flow x
1.3.1. Specifying Logical Libraries 1.3.2. Compiling Files Into Library Directories 1.3.3. The Intel® Quartus® Prime Simulation Library 1.3.4. Understanding Elaboration 1.3.5. Commands To Configure and Run Simulation 1.3.6. Intel FPGA Simulation Generic Workflow
1.3.1. Specifying Logical Libraries x
1.3.1.1. Why Do We Need Logical Library Names?
1.3.2. Compiling Files Into Library Directories x
1.3.2.1. Inputs to Compilation Commands 1.3.2.2. Order of Files for Compilation Commands 1.3.2.3. Compilation Command Line Options 1.3.2.4. Module Definitions in Library Directories
1.3.3. The Intel® Quartus® Prime Simulation Library x
1.3.3.1. The Intel® Quartus® Prime Simulation Library Compiler 1.3.3.2. Running the Simulation Library Compiler in a Terminal 1.3.3.3. Running the Simulation Library Compiler in the GUI 1.3.3.4. Finding Logical Library Names in Simulation Library Compiler Output
1.3.4. Understanding Elaboration x
1.3.4.1. Elaboration Binding Phase 1.3.4.2. Elaboration Checks 1.3.4.3. Elaboration Options
1.8. Using NativeLink Simulation ( Intel® Quartus® Prime Standard Edition) x
1.8.1. Setting Up NativeLink Simulation ( Intel® Quartus® Prime Standard Edition) 1.8.2. Running RTL Simulation (NativeLink Flow) 1.8.3. Running Gate-Level Simulation (NativeLink Flow)
2. Siemens EDA QuestaSim* Simulator Support x
2.1. Quick Start Example (QuestaSim* with Verilog) 2.2. QuestaSim* Simulator Guidelines 2.3. QuestaSim* Simulation Setup Script Example 2.4. Sourcing QuestaSim* Simulator Setup Scripts 2.5. Unsupported Features 2.6. Siemens EDA QuestaSim* Simulator Support Revision History
2.2. QuestaSim* Simulator Guidelines x
2.2.1. Passing Parameter Information from Verilog HDL to VHDL 2.2.2. Viewing Simulation Messages 2.2.3. Generating Signal Activity Data for Power Analysis 2.2.4. Viewing Simulation Waveforms
2.2.3. Generating Signal Activity Data for Power Analysis x
2.2.3.1. Generating Standard Delay Output for Power Analysis
3. Synopsys VCS* and VCS MX Support x
3.1. Quick Start Example (VCS with Verilog) 3.2. VCS and VCS MX Guidelines 3.3. VCS Simulation Setup Script Example 3.4. Sourcing Synopsys VCS* MX Simulator Setup Scripts 3.5. Sourcing Synopsys VCS* Simulator Setup Scripts 3.6. Synopsys VCS* and VCS MX Support Revision History
3.2. VCS and VCS MX Guidelines x
3.2.1. Simulating Transport Delays 3.2.2. Disabling Timing Violation on Registers 3.2.3. Generating Power Analysis Files
4. Cadence Xcelium* Parallel Simulator Support x
4.1. Generating Simulator Setup Script Templates 4.2. Sourcing Cadence Xcelium* Simulator Setup Scripts 4.3. Cadence Xcelium* Parallel Simulator Support Revision History
5. Aldec Active-HDL and Riviera-PRO Support x
5.1. Quick Start Example (Active-HDL VHDL) 5.2. Aldec Active-HDL and Riviera-PRO Guidelines 5.3. Using Simulation Setup Scripts 5.4. Sourcing Aldec ActiveHDL* or Riviera Pro* Simulator Setup Scripts 5.5. Aldec Active-HDL* and Riviera-PRO * Support Revision History
5.2. Aldec Active-HDL and Riviera-PRO Guidelines x
5.2.1. Compiling SystemVerilog Files 5.2.2. Disabling Timing Violation on Registers
Answers to Top FAQs
1. Intel FPGA Simulation Basics
2. Siemens EDA QuestaSim* Simulator Support
3. Synopsys VCS* and VCS MX Support
4. Cadence Xcelium* Parallel Simulator Support
5. Aldec Active-HDL and Riviera-PRO Support
A. Intel® Quartus® Prime Standard Edition User Guides

1.4. Supported Simulation Types

You can run different types of simulation, depending on the stage of the Intel® Quartus® Prime design flow:

Table 2.  Supported Simulation Types
Simulation Type Description Occurs
RTL Simulation of an RTL design consisting of one or more RTL files that you provide as input to the Intel® Quartus® Prime software. These RTL files typically also include the files that the Intel® Quartus® Prime Platform Designer generates for Intel® FPGA IP and systems. You can only simulate HDL RTL files.2. The RTL files can instantiate low level blocks, such as primitives, basic IP functions, and ATOMs, as Intel Quartus Prime Simulation Library describes. Can perform before Intel® Quartus® Prime Synthesis
Post-Synthesis Simulation (Gate-Level) The Intel® Quartus® Prime software can generate a Verilog HDL or VHDL gate-level netlist after the synthesis stage completes, but before the Fitter stage runs. The resulting netlist is the post-synthesis netlist. The Intel® Quartus® Prime EDA Netlist Writer tool generates the post-synthesis netlist. The post-synthesis netlist is a netlist of low level blocks called ATOMs. The post-synthesis netlist is a purely functional netlist. Must perform after Intel® Quartus® Prime synthesis
Post-Fit Simulation (Gate-Level) The Intel® Quartus® Prime EDA Netlist Writer can generate a Verilog HDL or VHDL gate-level netlist after the Fitter stage completes. The resulting netlist is the post-fit netlist. The post-fit netlist is a netlist of ATOMs that the Fitter placed and routed on the FPGA device. The post-fit netlist is a purely functional netlist.
Note: The post-fit netlist includes chip locations of ATOM instances in commented lines. The post-synthesis netlist does not include this data.
Must perform after Intel® Quartus® Prime Fitter
Note: the Intel® Quartus® Prime software supports post-fit functional simulation, but does not support post-fit timing simulation.
2 You must first convert the non-HDL files to HDL files prior to simulation
Level Two Title