1. introduction
2. bachus nauer forms
3. KEY BNF
4. Records
5. record types overview
6. record types description
7. example file

1. KEYformat file example
2. KEYfile

The KEY format is a file format for transfering/archiving 2D graphical design data. It contains a hiearchy of structures, each structure containing elements (boundary/polygon, path/polyline, text, box, circle, arc, structure references, structure array references).
The elements are situated on layers within a structure.
The file is composed of  (two or one word) records seperated by endofline or ";".
The order of the record needs to be according to the KEY BNF, because of this strict organization it is easy to parse.
It is possible to convert KEYformat  to GDSIIformat and back. New primitives not available in the GDSII format, will be converted.

Note: records in GDSII that are badly documented or old fashioned and therefore hardly used are not implemented.
 

Bachus Nauer Forms

The Bachus Nauer Form uses the following symbols:

Symbol Name	Symbol	Meaning
Double Colon	::	"Is composed of."
Square brackets	[ ]	An element which can occor zero or one time.
Braces	{ }	Choose one of the elements within the braces.
Braces with an asteriks	{ }*	The elements within the braces can occur zero or more times.
Braces with a plus	{ }+	The elements within braces must occur one or more times.
Angle brackets	< >	These elements are further defined as a seperate entitie in the syntax list.
Vertical bar	|	Or

 

KEY BNF

The following is the Bachus Naur Form of the KEY format, the words in capital are the names of RECORDS

<KEY format>	::=	HEADER   <library> ENDLIB
<bgnlib>	::=	BGNLIB LASTMOD LASTACC
<library>	::=	LIBNAME <units> {<Structure>}* ENDLIB
<units>	::=	UNITS USERUNITS PHYSUNITS
<structure>	::=	<bgnstr> STRNAME {<element>}* ENDSTR
<bgnstr>	::=	BGNSTR CREATION LASTMOD
<element>	::=	{<boundary> | <path> | <sref> | <aref> | <text> | <node> | <box>| <arc> | <circle>} {<property>}* ENDEL
<boundary>	::=	BOUNDARY [ELFLAGS] [PLEX] LAYER DATATYPE [WIDTH] XY {X Y [ Xm Ym X0 Y0 ]}+ X Y
<path>	::=	PATH [ELFLAGS] LAYER DATATYPE [PATHTYPE][WIDTH] XY {X Y [ Xm Ym X0 Y0 ]}+ X Y
<sref>	::=	SREF [ELFLAGS] SNAME [<strans>] XY X Y
<aref>	::=	AREF [ELFLAGS] SNAME [<strans>] COLROW XY X Y
<text>	::=	TEXT [ELFLAGS] LAYER  <textbody>
<node>	::=	NODE [ELFLAGS] LAYER NODETYPE [WIDTH]  XY X Y
<box>	::=	BOX [ELFLAGS]  LAYER [WIDTH] BOXTYPE XY  X Y X Y X Y  X Y X Y
<arc>	::=	ARC [ELFLAGS] LAYER [DATATYPE]  [WIDTH] XY  X Y Xm Ym X0 Y0  X Y
<circle>	::=	CIRCLE [ELFLAGS]  LAYER [DATATYPE]  [WIDTH] XY X Y RADIUS
<textbody>	::=	TEXTYPE [PRESENTATION] [PATHTYPE] [WIDTH] [<strans>] XY  X Y STRING
<strans>	::=	STRANS [MAG] [ANGLE]
<property>	::=	PROPERTY PROPTYPE PROPVALUE

 

record

A record in a KEYfile is always  one or two words. The first word is the name of the record, the second if given, contains the information for the record. Records are seperated by endofline or ";". Records starting with "#", are seen as comments, and ignored. Lines ending with "\" continue on the next line. Although the second word is also an ASCII string, the interpretation of the data is defined for the recordname which is fixed.
 
Record Parser BNF
 

<records>	::=	[<blanks>] { { <record> }* }
<record>	::=	[<blanks>] {<comment> |  <word> <blanks> [<word>] <blanks> <endrecord> }*
<endrecord>	::=	{';' | '\n' | '\0' }
<word>	::=	{ <quotedstring> | <bracedstring> | <multipartword> }
<quotedstring>	::=	('"') {CHAR | '\"' | '\\n' | aliasref | envref }* ('"')
<bracedstring>	::=	('{') {CHAR | '\{' | '\}' | '\\n'}* ('}')
<multipartword>	::=	{ <aliasref> | <envref> | {CHAR | '\\n'}* }*
<aliasref>	::=	('%') { <name> <blank> | ('{') <name> ('}') }
<envref>	::=	('$') { <name> <blank> | ('{') <name> ('}') }
<name>	::=	{ LETTER | DIGIT | UNDERSCORE | MINUS }*
<blanks>	::=	{ TAB | SPACE | '\\n'}*
<comment>	::=	# {CHAR}* ('\0')

Examples of records

One word records:

• BOUNDARY
• ENDEL;

• LASTMOD  {98-7-20  14:46:14};
• STRNAME LAYOUT;
• PRESENTATION 0,2,0;
• Y     -1666000.000;
• STRING "BOUNDARY with width";
• RADIUS 1.56e+06;

• BGNSTR; CREATION {98-7-20  14:46:14}; # creation time
• X       -1000.000; Y           0.000;   X      163000.000; Y           0.000;

• $B;  LAYER 0;   %{T}TYPE 0;
• %C; LAYER 0;  %{T}TYPE 0;

example: HEADER 5
 

BGNLIB

No Data

Marks the beginning of a library.

example: BGNLIB
 

LASTMOD

modification data of libray or structure

The second word contains the last modification time of a library or structure (two digits each for year, month, day, hour, minute, and second).

example: LASTMOD {98-8-25  15:53:12}
 

LASTACC

last access data of library

The second word contains the last access time of a library (two digits each for year, month, day, hour, minute, and second).

example: LASTACC {98-8-25  15:53:12}
 

LIBNAME

ASCII String

Contains a string which is the library name.

example: LIBNAME TEMPEGS.DB

 

UNITS

No Data

Marks begin of units information.

example: UNITS
 

USERUNITS

Real

Contains one real number. The number is the size of a database unit in user units. For example, if you create a library with the default units (user unit = 1 micron and 1000 database units per user unit), the number is .001. Typically, the USERUNITS  is less than 1, since you use more than 1 database unit per user unit. To calculate the size of a user unit in meters, divide the PHYSUNITS by the USERUNITS.

example: USERUNITS 0.01
 

PHYSUNITS

Real

Contains one real number. The number is the size of a database unit in meters. For example, if you create a library with the default units (user unit = 1 micron and 1000 database units per user unit), the USERUNITS is .001, and the PHYSUNITS number is 1E-9. Typically, the USERUNITS  is less than 1, since you use more than 1 database unit per user unit. To calculate the size of a user unit in meters, divide the PHYSUNITS by the USERUNITS.

example: PHYSUNITS 1e-08
 

ENDLIB

No Data

Marks the end of a library.

example: ENDLIB
 

BGNSTR

No Data

Marks the beginning of a structure.

example: BGNSTR
 

CREATION

creation data of structure

The second word contains the creation time of a library (two digits each for year, month, day, hour, minute, and second).
 
example: CREATION {98-7-20  14:46:14}
 

STRNAME

ASCII String

Contains a string which is the structure name. A structurename may be up to 32 characters long. Legal structurename characters are:

• A through Z
• a through z
• 0 through 9
• Underscore (_)
• Question mark (?)
• Dollar sign ($)

example of complete boundary element:
BOUNDARY; LAYER 0;  DATATYPE 0;  WIDTH 50000;
   XY 7;
   X     1000000.000; Y    -2471660.000;   X     1000000.000; Y    -2650000.000;
   X           0.000; Y    -2650000.000;   X           0.000; Y    -1650000.000;
   X     1000000.000; Y    -1650000.000;   X     1000000.000; Y    -2075880.000;
   XM     1546200.000; YM    -2204200.000;   XO     1241668.000; YO    -2273770.000;
   X     1000000.000; Y    -2471660.000;
ENDEL;
 

PATH

No Data

Marks the beginning of a path element.
 
example of complete PATH element:
PATH; LAYER 3; DATATYPE 0; WIDTH 100000;
   XY 4;
   X      891912.000; Y     2322024.000;   X      966537.000; Y     1854278.000;
   X     2599515.000; Y     2311647.000;   X     2626485.000; Y     2005353.000;
ENDEL;
 
 

SREF

No Data

Marks the beginning of an Sref (structure reference) element.

example of complete SREF element:
SREF;
SNAME AAP;
STRANS 0,0,0;
   XY 1;
   X    -1112500.000; Y    -1267000.000;
ENDEL;
 

AREF

No Data

Marks the beginning of an Aref (array reference) element.
For coordinate information see XY record

example of complete AREF element:
AREF;
SNAME cell4test;  STRANS 0,0,0; COLROW {7 , 3};
   XY 3;
   X      -5114000.000; Y       -3006000.000; X    -3095600.000; Y       -3006000.000;
   X      -5114000.000; Y     -1891800.000;
ENDEL;
 

TEXT

No Data

Marks the beginning of a text element.

example complete TEXT element:
TEXT; LAYER 3;
TEXTTYPE 0; PRESENTATION 0,2,0; PATHTYPE 1; STRANS 0,0,0; MAG 1875;
   XY 1;
   X    -2256500.000; Y     1539500.000;
STRING "Whatever";
ENDEL;
 

BOX

No Data

Marks the beginning of a box element.

example complete BOX element:
BOX; LAYER 2;  BOXTYPE 0;
   XY 5;
   X     1526500.000; Y    -1034500.000;   X     2623500.000; Y    -1034500.000;
   X     2623500.000; Y     1105500.000;   X     1526500.000; Y     1105500.000;
   X     1526500.000; Y    -1034500.000;
ENDEL;
 

BOXTYPE

Integer

Contains two bytes which specify boxtype. The value of the boxtype must be in the range of 0 to 255.
 

CIRCLE

No Data

Marks the beginning of a CIRCLE element.

example complete CIRCLE element:
CIRCLE; LAYER 0;  DATATYPE 0;
   XY 1;
   X    -3844000.714; Y       18800.116;
   RADIUS 1.56e+06;
ENDEL;
 

RADIUS

Real

Gives the radius of the circle in a CIRCLE element.

example of CIRCLE:
 

ARC

No Data

Marks the beginning of a ARC element.

example complete an ARC element:
ARC; LAYER 0; DATATYPE 0; WIDTH 100000;
   XY 2;
   X     1500000.000; Y    -1712940.000;   XM     1773100.000; YM    -1777100.000;
   XO     1620834.000; YO    -1811885.000;   X     1500000.000; Y    -1910830.000;
ENDEL;
 

LAYER

Integer

Contains integer which specifies the layer.

example: LAYER 123
 

DATATYPE

Integer

Contains integer which specifies the datatype. The value of the datatype must be in the range of 0 to 255.

example: DATATYPE 123
 

WIDTH

real

Contains real which specifies the width of a path or text lines in database units.  If omitted, zero is assumed.
 
example: WIDTH 100000.000
 

XY

Integer

Marks begin of vertex list for elements like PATH and BOUNDARY etc. The second word specifies the number of line and arcsegments  following, until the ENDEL record.

For the elements needing the XY record the definition for the X Y is as follows.

• Each X or Y coordinate is a real. Path elements may have a minimum of 2 vertexes. Boundary and border elements may have a minimum of 4 vertexes. The first and last coordinates of a boundary must be the same.

The PATH and BOUNDARY element may contain arcsegments also. If the record following an Y record is XM,
it means that the distance to the next X and Y record is defined as an arcsegment.

example of arcsegment:
X     1000000.000; Y    -2075880.000;        #last X and Y record parsed
XM     1546200.000; YM    -2204200.000; #start of arcsegment, defines middle point on arcsegment
XO     1241668.000; YO    -2273770.000;  #defines centre point on arc segment
X     1000000.000; Y    -2471660.000;        #defines endpoint of arc segment.
 

• An ARC element has only one definition of an arc segment after the XY record

example of ARC:
 

• A CIRCLE element has only X and one Y record XY record

example of CIRCLE:
 

• A text, or Sref element may have only one coordinate.

example of SREF:
example of TEXT:
 

• An Aref has exactly three coordinates. In an Aref, the first coordinate is the array reference point (origin point). The other two coordinates are already rotated, reflected as specified in the STRANS record (if specified). So in order to calculate the intercolomn and interrow spacing, the coordinates must be mapped back to their original position, or the vector lenght (x1,y1-> x3,y3) must be divided by the number of row etc. . The second coordinate locates a position which is displaced from the reference point by the inter-column spacing times the number of columns. The third coordinate locates a position which is displaced from the reference point by the inter-row spacing times the number of rows. For an example of an array lattice see the next picture.

Aref rotated -30 degrees.

example of AREF:
 

• A node may have from one to 50 coordinates.
• A box must have five coordinates, with the first and last coordinates being the same.

example of BOX:

example: X -2650000.000
example of XY:
 

Y

Real

Y coordinate of vertex. For arcsegments this is the Y coordinate of the first point starting the arcsegment.
 
example: Y -2650000.000
example of XY:
 

XM

Real

 
example: XM -2650000.000
example of XY:
 

YM

Real

 
example: YM -2650000.000
example of XY:
 

XO

Real

 
example: XO -2650000.000
example of XY:
 

YO

Real

 
example: YO -2650000.000
example of XY:
 

ENDEL

No Data

Marks the end of an element.

example: ENDEL
example of XY:
 

SNAME

ASCII string

Contains the name of a referenced structure.See also STRNAME.

example: SREF
example: AREF
 
 

COLROW

Integer

The second word contains two integers. The first integer is  the number of columns in the array. The second integer is the number of rows.  See also AREF.
 
example: AREF
 

NODE

No Data

Present Marks the beginning of a node
 

TEXTTYPE

Signed Integer

Contains two bytes representing texttype. The value of the texttype must be in the range 0 to 255.
 

PRESENTATION

Integer flags

The second  word contains  3 integer flags for text presentation.
The first integer specifies the font  (0 means font 0, 1 rneans font 1, 2 font 2, and 3 font 3).
The second integer specifies the vertical justification (0 means top, 1 means middle, and 2 means bottom).
The third integer specifies the horizontal justification (0 means left, 1 means center, and 2 means right).
If this record is omitted, then top-left justification and font 0 are assumed.

example:
PRESENTATION 0,2,0  ;              # font 0 vertical 2 horizontal 0
 

STRING

ASCII String

Contains a character string for text presentation.
 
example:
STRING "can be very long"
 

STRANS

Integer flags

The second word contains 3 integer flags for Sref, Aref, and text transforrnation. Integer 1 specifies reflection. If set, the element is reflected about the X-axis before angular rotation. For an Aref, the entire array is reflected, with the individual array members rigidly attached. Integer 2 flags absolute magnification. Integer 3 flags absolute angle. If this record is omitted, the element is assumed to have no reflection, non-absolute magnification, and non-absolute angle.

example:
STRANS 0,0,0
 

MAG

Real

Contains a  real number, which is the magnification factor. If this record is omitted, a magnification factor of one is assumed.

example:
 MAG 1875.001
 

ANGLE

Real

Contains a real number, which is the angular rotation factor. The angle of rotation is measured in degrees and in the counterclockwise direction. For an Aref, the ANGLE rotates the entire array (with the individual array members rigidly attached) about the array reference point. For COLROW record information, the angle of rotation is already inlcuded in the coordinates. If this record is omitted, an angle of zero degrees is assumed.

example:
ANGLE -30.123
 

PATHTYPE

Integer

This record contains a value that describes the type of path endpoints. The value is

• 0 for square-ended paths that endflush with their endpoints
• 1 for round-ended paths
• 2 for square-ended paths that extend a half-width beyond their endpoints

example:
PATHTYPE 1

The following picture shows the pathtypes
 

	Pathtype 0 produces a square-ended path, ending flush with thedigitized endpoints. This is the de-fault pathtype if none is specified
	Pathtype 1 produces a round-ended path. The two ends aresemicircular with center at thedigitized endpoints.
	Pathtype 2 produces a square-ended path. The ends of the pathextend beyond the digitized end-points by one-half the path width.

 

ELFLAGS

Integer

The second word contains 1 integer. Bit 1 of the integer flags Template data. Bit 2 specifies External data(also referred to as Exterior data). All other bits are currently unused and must be cleared to 0. If this record isomitted, all bits are assumed to be 0.
Just to be compatible with GDSII, no idea what it means.

example:
ELFLAGS 1
 

NODETYPE

Integer

Contains two bytes which specify nodetype. The value of the nodetype must be in the range of 0 to 255.

example:
NODETYPE 1
 

PROPERTY

ASCII String

A string which gives the name of a property that is attached to the previous element.

example:

PROPERTY myname

A string which gives the type of a property that is attached to the previous element.

example:

PROPTYPE mytype

A string which gives the value of a property that is attached to the previous element.

example:

PROPVALUE myvalue