An ASCII text file (with the extension .vqm) that contains a node-level (or atom) netlist. VQM files are typically generated by EDA synthesis tools such as Synopsys Synplify, and contain the logic for the design.
A VQM file can also be generated by the Quartus® Prime Standard Edition Compiler in order to save synthesis results for the LogicLock Import / Export flow in one of the following ways:
Altera recommends using the Incremental Compilation flow to preserve synthesis and fitting results in preference to the LogicLock Import / Export flow or back-annotation flow.
When generated from intermediate synthesis results in the Quartus® Prime Standard Edition software, the VQM File is placed in the <project directory>\atom_netlists\ directory. You can then use the VQM File by creating and then compiling a new project from the file.
The VQM Writer does not support the generation of VQM Files for designs targeting the CycloneIII or StratixIII device families.
Altera recommends that you do not edit VQM Files.