View source for ArtistIC: An open-source toolchain for top-metal IC art and ultra-high-fidelity GDSII renders



* Thomas Benz
* tbenz@iis.ee.ethz.ch
* Ph.D. student Digital Systems and Circuits Group, IIS, ETH Zürich

==Downloads==
* Slides [[File:ArtistIC_FSiC2025_tbenz.pptx|Slides]]
* [https://peertube6.f-si.org/w/qHggbfabeEfL2PfcBjxmHy Video recording]

==Abstract==
Open-source projects require outreach material to grow their community, secure funds, and strengthen their influence. Numbers, specifications, and facts alone are intangible to uninvolved people; using a clear brand and appealing visual material is thus ample to reach a broad audience. This is especially true for application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) during the early stages of the development cycle without running 
prototype systems. This work presents ArtistIC, an open-source framework to brand ASICs with top-metal art and to render GDSII layouts with ultra-high fidelity, reaching render densities below 25 nm/px and gigapixel-scale resolutions. Further, ArtistIC can export these generated high-fidelity renders to an OpenStreetMap database, allowing people to browse the ASIC design down to the standard-cell level with just a web browser.

==Software==
===General information===
* Repository: https://github.com/pulp-platform/artistic
* PNG logo source: https://github.com/pulp-platform/artistic/blob/main/examples/mlem/mlem_logo.png
* Final render of the chip, including generated logo: https://github.com/pulp-platform/artistic/blob/main/examples/mlem/mlem_render.jpg
* OpenChipMaps: https://iis-people.ee.ethz.ch/~tbenz/map

==References==
Whitepaper: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2502.02626