Getting Started

Installing MISTIC

MISTIC should be installed by the system administrator of a site. The installation procedure is almost automatic. Please refer to the MISTIC installation guide for specific details about the installation procedure.

Setting Up Directory Paths and Environment Variables

The variable 'MISTIC' must be added to the environment before using the software. This variable must be set to the path of MISTIC base directory or installation directory.

For example, if '/n/boltzmann/y/mhasan/MISTIC' is the path of the directory where MISTIC has been installed, the following two lines must be added to the users .cshrc file residing in the home directory.

        setenv MISTIC /n/boltzmann/y/mhasan/MISTIC
        set path = ($path $MISTIC/bin)

Using Personalized MISTIC Setup

A standard setup file is provided with the MISTIC distribution as the default setup. The full pathname of this default setup file is:

        $MISTIC/setup/mistic_setup

The system administrator can change this default setup file with proper knowledge of its content, so that it fulfills the requirements of most users and matches the laboratory specifications. It is also possible to have a personal setup file by each user. This file must reside at the user's home directory and must be named as .misticrc. Following Unix command can be used to copy the default setup file to the home directory

        cp $MISTIC/setup/mistic_setup ~/.misticrc

and then this file can be edited using a text editor to change its content.

Tuning the Database

MISTIC distribution contains a standard atom database that has been built using data collected from various sources. Although these data should generate realistic process flows for most fabrication facilities, the atom database parameters should be regularly updated and tuned to the specifications of the processing laboratory. It will help generate process outputs that perfectly match with the specifications of that laboratory. MISTIC system administrator can take the responsibility of such adjustments. Like the setup file, it is also possible to have a personalized atom database by each user. This can be done by copying the default database to a specific location where the user has write permission and change the database using either the database editor or a normal text editor. The database filename must be modified in the user's personalized setup file .misticrc which resides.

Editing MISTIC Resources

It is possible to change the looks of MISTIC graphical interfaces by changing the resource files residing in the directory $MISTIC/resources. Such changes can only be done by persons who have good understanding of the XWindows system and its resource protocol.

User File Structures

MISTIC uses basically four different types of files for its operation. They are:

The device description file: The device description file is created using the Device Builder and used as the input to the compiler. This file is organized as a collection of records where the records actually represent polygonal components of the input device. Each record contains several fields depending on the type of a record.
Process files: The compiler creates one file for each of the generated processes when the processes are saved to the disk. Each of these files contains a variety of data and informaton about the generated processes. The basic contents of the process files are a summary of process features, a brief list of process steps, a detail process run sheet, and simulator interface files.
The statistics file: A statistics file is created by MISTIC for each compiled device. It contains the comparative data of different processes. This file is used by both the user and the process viewer module for opeing a process from a pool of all generated processes.
Run-time debug files: Upon request through the compiler's graphical interface, MISTIC generates several files containing run-time fdebug data in a directory named '_mistic_debug' located at the output directory specified in the setup file.

Summary

The over-all operation of MISTIC is overwhelmingly simple. A little practice with different modules of the software usually makes it possible to use the software for most problems.

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MISTIC version 1.0 (July 1997)