{{about, the specification for representing a circuit, the CAD data file format, AutoCAD DXF
Design Exchange Format (DEF) is an open specification for representing physical layout of an integrated circuit in an
ASCII
ASCII ( ), abbreviated from American Standard Code for Information Interchange, is a character encoding standard for electronic communication. ASCII codes represent text in computers, telecommunications equipment, and other devices. Because ...
format. It represents the netlist and circuit layout. DEF is used in conjunction with Library Exchange Format (LEF) to represent complete physical layout of an integrated circuit while it is being designed.
DEF was developed by Cadence Design Systems.
DEF files are usually generated by place and route (P&R) tools and are used as an input for post analysis tools, such as extraction tools or power analysis tools.