ICARUS: An Interactive Integrated Circuit Layout Program

ICARUS (Integrated Circuit ARtwork Utility System) is a software system which allows the user to create and modify an integrated circuit layout directly on a refresh CRT screen. The system can generate check plots on the matrix type printers available from Versatec or on a raster-scan laser printer such as the 9700 Xerox has recently announced. The ICARUS files can be used to create standard pattern generation tapes from which integrated circuit masks can be made. All the software to accomplish these various steps runs on a small experimental minicomputer known as the Alto.