Creating, Deleting, and Moving Atoms

You can use the Chip Planner to create, delete, and move atoms in the post-compilation design. You can use the Resource Property Editor to establish connectivity to newly created atoms, or use it to remove connectivity from atoms that you want to delete.

To create new atoms in a post-compilation design, you must pick an unused atom location in Chip Planner, create a new atom at that location, create connectivity for the new atom using the Resource Property Editor, and use a Check and Save All Netlist Changes command to verify the connectivity and establish routing to the new atom.

Note: The Chip Planner uses color to indicate the status of chip resources; atoms that are unused are rendered in white, while atoms that exist are colored.

On the Tools menu of the main Quartus II window, click Chip Planner.
In the Editing Mode list at the top of the Chip Planner, select the ECO editing mode.
Right-click an unused logic cell, I/O pin, or ALM, and then click Create Atom.
In the Create Atom dialog box, specify the necessary information for the new atom.
Right-click the new atom, and then click Locate in Resource Property Editor.
Establish connectivity for the new atom using the connectivity-change tools in the Resource Property Editor.

Note: Newly created I/O atoms are displayed in the Node Finder only when using the Post-Compilation filter; they do not appear when using a Pins filter.

All I/O atoms created in the Chip Planner are created as pad I/Os. In order to make connections from new input or bidirectional atoms, you must first create a COMBOUT or REGOUT port for the atom, using the Resource Property Editor. Refer to Examples of Creating New Output Terms Using the Resource Property Editor for more information.

On the Tools menu of the main Quartus II window, click Chip Planner.
In the Editing Mode list at the top of the Chip Planner, select the ECO editing mode.
In the Chip Planner, select the atom that you want to delete.
Remove all downstream connections to the atom by following these steps:
1. Right-click the atom to be deleted, and then click Locate in Resource Property Editor.
2. Right-click the atom's output port in the Schematic View or Output Ports list, point to Remove, and then click Fan-outs.
3. In the Remove Fan-outs dialog box, remove the fan-out connections for the output port.
4. Repeat steps b through d for each of the atom's output ports.
Right-click the selected atom in the Chip Planner, and then click Remove Atom.

On the Tools menu of the main Quartus II window, click Chip Planner.
In the Editing Mode list at the top of the Chip Planner, select the ECO editing mode.
In the Chip Planner, select the atom that you want to move.
Drag the selected atom to the desired new location.

Note: If you have the Change Manager open, you will see the move represented as a change in location index.
To establish routing to the moved atom and check its validity in the new location, click Check and Save All Netlist Changes on the toolbar in either the Chip Planner or the Resource Property Editor.