Teaching Chip Design with Open-Source Tools

• Speaker(s): Martin Schoeberl Martin Schoeberl
• email: masca@dtu.dk

Downloads

• Slides
• Video recording

Abstract

Chip design is usually a high-effort, high-cost, and high-risk process. However, Google has recently taken the lead in bringing chip design to a level where many engineers, researchers, and even students can actively participate. In this talk, I will report on a course at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) where a group of BSc students could design and produce a chip using open-source tools and the SkyWater process. I will present the toolchain, explain the implemented hardware architecture, and discuss the challenges encountered in the process as well as the learning values of the course. The project was finalized within one semester and has recently achieved tape-out for the next multi-project wafer manufacturing.

Software

General information

• Repository: https://github.com/os-chip-design
• Main documentation website: https://github.com/os-chip-design/os-chip-design
• Article in Engineering newspaper: https://ing.dk/artikel/dtu-studerende-bygger-designer-mikrochip-bunden-261808
• Article on this course: https://www.compute.dtu.dk/english/news/nyhed?id=ed010284-154f-43a3-a352-6dce97eaf72c
• Paper: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9934685

Roadmap

• We want to get a chip back from SkyWater finally
• The project should be developed to a regular course at DTU