chipsalliance / chipsalliance/chisel

Error When Connecting Analog-Only Bundle to Verilog Blackbox

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Description

@seldridge bringing from chisel:matrix.org

**Type of issue**: Bug Report

**Please provide the steps to reproduce the problem:**
1. Define a Verilog blackbox with inout signals.
2. Connect these inout signals to Chisel Analog IO.
3. Use a bundle in IO that consists only of Analog signals.
4. Run the build process, converting .fir to .sv.
5. Observe the error during FIRRTL lowering.

Error messages
`error: analog types may not be connected `
`note: see current operation: "firrtl.strictconnect"(%172, %arg90) : (!firrtl.bundle, signal_1: analog<1>>, !firrtl.bundle, signal_1: analog<1>>) -> ()`

**What is the current behavior?**
- If the IO bundle contains only Analog signals, the build fails.
- The .fir output appears correct, showing attach statements.
- However, in intermediate IRs, strictconnect is used instead of attach, leading to an error.
- This issue occurs regardless of whether attach or bulk connections are used.

**What is the expected behavior?**
- The Analog-only bundle should be correctly handled, similar to when Analog is mixed with regular Chisel IO.
- The FIRRTL lowering process should preserve attach semantics without causing an error.

**Please tell us about your environment:**
I will provide example code.

- example1.scala: Works fine because the bundle contains a mix of Analog and regular Chisel IO signals.

```
//> using scala "2.13.12"
//> using dep "org.chipsalliance::chisel::6.5.0"
//> using options "-language:reflectiveCalls", "-deprecation", "-feature", "-Xcheckinit", "-Xmaxerrs", "1500", "-Ymacro-annotations",

import chisel3._
import chisel3.experimental.{Analog, attach}
import chisel3.stage.ChiselStage

class PhyMixedInterface extends Bundle {
val analog_signal_0 = Analog(1.W)
val analog_signal_1 = Analog(1.W)
val digital_signal = Output(UInt(1.W))
}

class PhyInterfaceIO extends Bundle {
val mixed = new PhyMixedInterface
}

// BlackBox implementation
class PhyImpl extends BlackBox with HasBlackBoxPath {
override val desiredName = "phy_impl"
val io = IO(new Bundle {
val phy = new PhyInterfaceIO
})
addPath("phy_impl.v")
}

// Wrapper module that contains the BlackBox
class PhyWrapper extends Module {
val io = IO(new PhyInterfaceIO)

val impl = Module(new PhyImpl)

io.mixed <> impl.io.phy.mixed
}

object Main extends App {
(new chisel3.stage.ChiselStage).emitVerilog(new PhyWrapper)
}
```

- example2.scala: Fails because the bundle (PhyAnalogInterface) consists only of Analog signals.

```
//> using scala "2.13.12"
//> using dep "org.chipsalliance::chisel::6.5.0"
//> using options "-language:reflectiveCalls", "-deprecation", "-feature", "-Xcheckinit", "-Xmaxerrs", "1500", "-Ymacro-annotations",

import chisel3._
import chisel3.experimental.{Analog, attach}
import chisel3.stage.ChiselStage

// Interface definition
class PhyAnalogInterface extends Bundle {
val signal_0 = Analog(1.W)
val signal_1 = Analog(1.W)
}

class PhyDigitalInterface extends Bundle {
val signal = Output(UInt(1.W))
}

class PhyInterfaceIO extends Bundle {
val digital = new PhyDigitalInterface
val analog = new PhyAnalogInterface
}

// BlackBox implementation
class PhyImpl extends BlackBox with HasBlackBoxPath {
override val desiredName = "phy_impl"
val io = IO(new Bundle {
val phy = new PhyInterfaceIO
})
addPath("phy_impl.v")
}

// Wrapper module that contains the BlackBox
class PhyWrapper extends Module {
val io = IO(new PhyInterfaceIO)

val impl = Module(new PhyImpl)

io.digital.signal := impl.io.phy.digital.signal

// Connect analog signals using attach
attach(io.analog.signal_0, impl.io.phy.analog.signal_0)
attach(io.analog.signal_1, impl.io.phy.analog.signal_1)
}

object Main extends App {
(new chisel3.stage.ChiselStage).emitVerilog(new PhyWrapper)
}
```

- example3.scala: bulk connection is used instead of attach, but the result is same (also fails)

```
//> using scala "2.13.12"
//> using dep "org.chipsalliance::chisel::6.5.0"
//> using options "-language:reflectiveCalls", "-deprecation", "-feature", "-Xcheckinit", "-Xmaxerrs", "1500", "-Ymacro-annotations",

import chisel3._
import chisel3.experimental.{Analog, attach}
import chisel3.stage.ChiselStage

// Interface definition
class PhyAnalogInterface extends Bundle {
val signal_0 = Analog(1.W)
val signal_1 = Analog(1.W)
}

class PhyDigitalInterface extends Bundle {
val signal = Output(UInt(1.W))
}

class PhyInterfaceIO extends Bundle {
val digital = new PhyDigitalInterface
val analog = new PhyAnalogInterface
}

// BlackBox implementation
class PhyImpl extends BlackBox with HasBlackBoxPath {
override val desiredName = "phy_impl"
val io = IO(new Bundle {
val phy = new PhyInterfaceIO
})
addPath("phy_impl.v")
}

// Wrapper module that contains the BlackBox
class PhyWrapper extends Module {
val io = IO(new PhyInterfaceIO)

val impl = Module(new PhyImpl)

io.digital.signal := impl.io.phy.digital.signal

// Connect analog signals using bulk connection
io.analog <> impl.io.phy.analog
}

object Main extends App {
(new chisel3.stage.ChiselStage).emitVerilog(new PhyWrapper)
}
```

- phy_impl.v: blackbox verilog code
```
// blackbox
module phy_impl (
output wire digital_signal,

// Analog interface
inout wire signal_0,
inout wire signal_1
);
// Empty module implementation
assign digital_signal = 1'b0;

endmodule
```

**Other Information**

Please note that I am not using scala-cli, so my build might not exactly match the standard setup.
And I used firtool 1.75.0.
If there are any additional details I should provide about my environment to help reproduce the issue, please let me know. Thanks!

**What is the use case for changing the behavior?**

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

Research direction

Start by reproducing the failure with example2.scala and firtool 1.75.0, then compare its generated FIRRTL and intermediate IR with example1.scala. Trace the FIRRTL lowering step that turns the analog-only bundle connection into firrtl.strictconnect instead of preserving attach semantics; done means the analog-only case lowers and emits Verilog without the analog connection error.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
scala
Domain
compilers
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Quiet
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
48/100

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