Showing posts with label CAD. Show all posts
Showing posts with label CAD. Show all posts

Oct 10, 2026

[OpenPDK] GT2N

This the initial release for the GT2N PDK with 72 standard cells: <https://github.com/azadnaeemi/GT2N>.
It is based on 2nm GAAFET with BSPDN. All the device models are based on 3-stack nanosheets


Standard cell layouts can also be imported using the .gds file: GT2N/gds/gt2_6t_std_cells.gdsLVS and DRC rulesets for icvalidator are present in "GT2N/icv_runset".
Libraries are composed of 3 process corners (under development), 2 nanosheet width (W) flavors, and 5 threshold voltage (VT) flavors. (In the order of decreasing VT, HVT > SVT > LVT > ULVT > ELVT)

The collaterals required for synthesis and PnR are (depending on the process corner and W/VT flavor):
LIB: GT2N/lib/tt/gt2_6t_w31_lvt_tt_0p7v25c.lib
LEF: GT2N/lef/tt/gt2_6t_w31_lvt.lef
Techlef: GT2N/techlib/gt2_tech.lef
ICT: GT2N/qrc/GT2.ict
QRCTech: GT2N/qrc/GT2_qrc.tch
ITF: GT2N/nxtgrd/GT2.itf
NXTGRD: GT2N/nxtgrd/GT2.nxtgrd

The thermal-calibrated GAAFET (3-stack nanosheet) model card is (depending on the process corner and W/VT flavor):
GT2N/device/tt/gt2_w31_lvt_tt.sp

[ref] D. Jang, P. Kumar, M. N. H. Shazon, S. J. Ram, A. Svizhenko, V. Moroz, A. Ceyhan, N. A. Radhakrishn, and A. Naeemi, "GT2N: An Open-Source 2nm Nanosheet PDK Enabling Multi-Width/VT Benchmarking" in IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and Systems (ISCAS) 2026  








Oct 9, 2026

[ICTA2026 ] Special OpenPDK Session

IEEE International Conference on Integrated Circuits, Technologies & Applications
ICTA 2026 Special Session “OpenPDK - Global FOSS Scholar Platform"
21st - 24th (Wed - Sat) October 2026
Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel, Singapore


The OpenPDK initiative delivers a global FOSS Scholar Platform supporting analog/RF, mixed‑signal, and digital IC design. Central to this effort are accurate SPICE models for low‑power sensing MOSFETs, RF HBTs, and emerging RRAM devices, validated across cryogenic temperatures for space and quantum‑computing applications. The initiative also advances Verilog‑A compact‑model standardization, ensuring result reproducibility and seamless integration into open‑source design flows. Supported by the EU Chips JU, OpenPDK fosters collaboration among academia, startups, and industry, while providing FOSS IC‑design tools covering schematic capture, simulation, layout, and verification up to tape‑out. Similar to the EU Chips JU program, Zhejiang CoreXin in China offers an open‑source PDK together with tape‑out services for its 55nm CMOS process. To accelerate the semiconductor‑industry development across the Asia‑Pacific and Southeast‑Asia regions, semiconductor model development and parameter extraction techniques should be pursued in a more focused manner. This special session brings together experts to present and discuss advances in device characterization, compact modeling, simulation methodologies, and validation techniques for a broad range of solid‑state devices, including Si, III/V semiconductors, power devices, nanoscale structures, and emerging 2.5D/3D advanced packaging technologies [ read more...]

ICTA 2026 Special OpenPDK Session Presenters
  • SPICE/Verilog-A standard models and OpenPDK practice
    Wladek Grabinski, GMC Consulting, Switzerland
  • Open-Source Ecosystem Updates and Semiconductor Design Development Programs in Japan
    Jun-ichi Okamura, AIST Solutions, OpenSUSI, Japan
  • Open-Source EDA Meets Industrial IC Design
    Ehrenfried Seebacher, ams-OSRAM AG, Austria
  • Building an Open-Source Process Platform, Empowering VLSI Innovation and Development
    Da Zhang, Zhejiang University/CTO, Zhejiang Chuangxin Integrated Process Platform, China
  • From Silicon to Design: Intelligent Measurement and Modeling for DTCO
    Yutao Ma, VP of R&D, Primarius Technologies. Ltd. China
  • Beyond Moore, Application-Driven IC Innovation International Cooperation Opportunities at NICE
    Alex Gu, National Innovation Center Par Excellence (NICE), China
  • 2.5D/3D IC: AI+EDA Reshaping the System-Design-Technology Co0ptimization (STCO) Paradigm for Advanced Packaging
    Alex Zhao, Founder/CEO Zhuhai SiChip Technology Co., Ltd., China
  • Modelling of semiconductor devices: the heart of innovation bridging academia and industrial applications
    Fujiang Lin, University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), China
Special OpenPDK Session progeam include the panel discussion: 
How to have a close loop for PDK, EDA, PDA and ICS simulation?

Oct 8, 2026

Schematic to Silicon with Mini MOSbius

Zero To ASIC Course and Tiny Tapeout by Matt Venn
Schematic to Silicon with Mini MOSbius 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NM5cLWYWqG0

MOSbius

Take Matt Venn TT course: 
https://www.zerotoasiccourse.com/
Buy a copy of Mini MOSbius, part of the TT IP library, here: 
https://store.tinytapeout.com/products/TTSKY25b-Development-Kit-p849160072
Check the configurator: 
https://github.com/mattvenn/mini-mosbius-configurator

Mini MOSbius is available on these chips
  • [OK] TTSKY25a - delivered July 2026 - available in the store
  • [OK] TTSKY25b - delivered August 2026 - available in the store
  • TTSKY26b - tapeout May 2026
  • TTSKY26c - tapeout September 2026
  • GF180 - will be taped out December 2026
and finally check out the original MOSBius: https://mosbius.org/ If you are interested to acquire MOSbius kits, review the express license and email Peter Kinget for kit availability before placing an order.


Oct 6, 2026

[paper] Open Source EZ130 8T standard cell library

Oscar Castaneda, Lavinia Recchioni, Tobias Senti, Flurin Cahenzli, Marco Ferroni, Thorben Heekenjann, Robert Kenter, Stefan Odermatt, Daniel Richner, Gabriel Altendorfer, Davide Cannone, Miguel Correa, Ivan Herger, Lars Kroger, Nicolas Nanzer, Darja Nonaca, Christopher Reinwardt, Lukas Winklhofer, Enrico Zelioli, Yiheng Zhang, Yingxue Zhang, Domenic Keller, Seyed Hadi Mirfarshbafan, Zerun Jiang, Beat Muheim, Arianna Rubino, Jeremy Guichemerre, Frank K. Gurkaynak, and Christoph Studer
An Open-Source Standard-Cell Library for IHP 130 nm Developed by Students
arXiv:2609.29965v1 [cs.AR] 24 Sep 2026

1. Department of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
* The open-source EZ130 8T standard-cell library is available at https://ez.ethz.ch

Abstract: Standard-cell libraries form the critical interface between transistor-level circuit design and automated digital design flows, yet their design and characterization are rarely covered in depth in digital VLSI courses. This paper presents VLSI 5, a graduate-level course at ETH Zurich in which students design, lay out, characterize, and integrate their own standard cells using IHP’s open-source 130 nm SG13G2 process design kit. In the first course offering, 19 students developed EZ130 8T, an open-source eight-track standard-cell library comprising 220 cells. We evaluate successive library versions using eight synthesis benchmarks, across which EZ130 8T achieves significant area reduction compared to the SG13G2 library at competitive timing. For a postlayout 8×8 matrix-vector multiplier, EZ130 8T reduces cell area by 35% and energy by 39% while maintaining virtually the same clock period. The library has already been adopted in other ETH Zurich VLSI courses, enabling the creation of chips entirely designed by students down to the transistor level.
FIG: a.) ETH Zurich course series on digital VLSI design. By teaching students to create a standard-cell library, the new VLSI 5 course closes the gap between transistor-level and HDL-level IC design;
b.) and c.) Layout of two example standard cells from the EZ130 8T library.

Aknowlegements: This work has received funding from the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research, and Innovation (SERI) under the SwissChips initiative. The authors thank Cadence for their support by providing licenses to design and characterize the EZ library. The authors also thank H. Pretl, T. Benz, and P. Sauter for their feedback on preliminary versions of the EZ library.

Oct 4, 2026

[webinar] Colombia in OpenSilicon Age

IEEE SSCS: Colombia in OpenSilicon Age

  • Date: Thursday, October 8, 2026
  • Time: 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM (Colombia, GMT-5)
  • Platform: Cisco Webex
  • Access: Free/Open access

This open online event is the first IEEE SSCS Colombia session. It shares a vision for creating a strong microelectronics ecosystem in Colombia by bringing universities and industry together and helping develop highly skilled engineers. The event will review the current state of microelectronics in Colombia, discuss the future of integrated circuit (IC) design, present recent semiconductor policy initiatives, and explain the goals of the IEEE SSCS Colombia chapter. Speakers from Colombia and abroad will share their experience in IC design, open-source silicon, semiconductor education, and industry development. The session aims to encourage collaboration between academia, industry, and government to support the growth of the semiconductor sector in Colombia.

Featured Panelists and Keynote Speakers

  • Made in Colombia: Review of Colombian Microelectronics
    Javier Ardila, Onsilicon, UIS and President, IEEE SSCS
  • ColombiaThe Global Map of CI Design: Tools, Foundry and Methodology
    Hugo Hernández, Teradar, Boston, MA
  • OpenSilicon Opportunities
    Fernando Guarín IEEE Division 1
  • Bill for the promotion of the electronics and semiconductor industry
    Lorena García Founder, Colombian Network of Electronics and Semiconductors


Sep 20, 2026

[FOSS] AI IC Designs

Harald Pretl, Kevin Cameron, Jun‑ichi Okamura
FOSS AI IC Designs Examples

Intensive work over last three months was carried out by Prof. Harald Pretl together with an AI coding agent, thru which a substantial chip‑design knowledge base was built. At this stage, the AI agent is able to design, simulate, and layout a low‑noise, low‑voltage bandgap reference plus LDO with minimal manual intervention (along with many additional circuits that will be showcased later). The rapid progress in capability development is highly impressive.

The entire implementation was performed in OpenPDK 130nm CMOS using IIC‑OSIC‑TOOLS with almost no human involvement. The resulting layout is densely packed, the floorplan is coherent, and a manually created version would not differ significantly. Dummy structures were inserted for matching, and common‑centroid placement was applied to critical MOSFET devices.


Significant progress has also been achieved by Kevin Cameron, primarily on the simulation side, covering complete digital and AMS/RF domains. The work described in the linked repository has been developed and advanced accordingly, with sv2ghdl, which translates SystemVerilog RTL into VHDL for use with GHDL and NVC simulators. The generated VHDL leverages simulator extensions that go beyond what SystemVerilog offers, including multi‑UDN wires, bidirectional components, and improved unknown‑state handling
<https://github.com/kev-cam/sv2ghdl/blob/main/README.md>

A beta version of an automatic P&R tool for the OpenPDK TR‑1um was developed by Jun‑ichi Okamura using Claude AI and FOSS KLayout API and accompanying verification scripts. The flow is based on the newly updated standard‑cell library, incorporating both LEF and Liberty files, and STA analysis is now supported. Regression testing was carried out on three designs: I²C, SPI, and TD4
<https://lnkd.in/gMy3ThYm>

The synthesis and automatic P&R of TD4, an educational 4‑bit CPU, were completed by Jun‑ichi Okamura using Claude AI and the OpenPDK TR‑1um flow. A custom 8×16 register file was designed, the standard‑cell height was reduced, and a simplified Liberty (.lib) file was created to enable static timing analysis. The final chip implementation is made up of 4225 devices.






Aug 14, 2026

[release] IHP Open ADK

IHP Open Assembly Design Kit 
(#OpenAKD)
https://github.com/IHP-GmbH/IHP-Open-ADK


is preview ready and officially available on the IHP GitHub. This release comes with several tools to enable the workflow, including the IHP open source interposer technology process (OpenIntM4TM2). It is Assembly-level Design Kit (OpenADK) for heterogeneous chiplet integration. The OpenADK operates one abstraction layer above all process‑specific PDKs, providing the rule set and assembly tooling that define chiplet placement, routing, and interposer‑level connectivity. The interposer and the chiplet dies remain ordinary PDKs.
Status Warning ADK is currently a preview release only! v0.2.0. The KLayout assembly DRC, its runner, the KiCad DRU generator, and the IHP interposer adapter are implemented and exercised by the regression suite.

● Current ADK documentation
https://ihp-open-adk-docs.readthedocs.io/en/latest/index.html
● Quick start ADK commands
https://ihp-open-adk-docs.readthedocs.io/en/latest/quickstart.html


Jun 10, 2026

[FSiC2026] Open EDA · Open Silicon · Sovereign by Design

FSiC2026
Free Silicon Conference 2026
Open EDA · Open Silicon · Sovereign by Design


What is FSiC? The annual gathering of the free and open-source silicon community building open EDA tools, open PDKs, and free hardware. Three days of talks and tutorials about designing chips with software you can read, share, and modify.

Who should come? Chip designers, EDA developers, researchers, students, and anyone curious about building silicon without proprietary lock-in. All experience levels welcome.

When? 6–8 July 2026

Where? University of Ljubljana, 
Faculty of Electrical Engineering
Tržaška cesta 25
SI-1000 Ljubljana

Registration closes 22 June: https://pretix.eu/FSiC/2026/

FSiC2026 Program: https://wiki.f-si.org/index.php/FSiC2026

May 22, 2026

[Lecture 13-16] supplementary by Prof. Kim

Prof. Kwantae Kim, Analog Integrated Circuits at Aalto University, recorded additional videos that cover walkthroughs of the CAD exercises in his Integrated Analog Systems course. These videos should provide useful guidance for ADC design simulation and verification practice! 

  • Integrated Analog Systems D - Lecture 13S CAD (Bootstrapped Sampling Switch)
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSDzmijax3c
  • Integrated Analog Systems D - Lecture 14S CAD (Linearity and FFT)
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwJ_tlZTaq8
  • Integrated Analog Systems D - Lecture 15S CAD (Transient Noise and VerilogA Modeling)
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YW2nnI3DD_c
  • Integrated Analog Systems D - Lecture 16S CAD (ADC ENOB Verification)
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIFXidfTYxE
Visit also webpage: https://kwantaekim.github.io

May 6, 2026

Revolution EDA Mistral AI Experiments

Revolution EDA MistralAI Experiments

There was a recent article by Prof Razavi, where the problems of Large Language Models in identifying various analogue integrated circuit blocks were recounted.

Revolution EDA uses structured JSON data format to store design files. JSON also happens to be very easy for LLMs to parse and understand. In fact, Mistral AI has a JSON mode. Mistral AI is the latest addition to the growing number of LLMs that Revolution EDA is able to use.

We did ask a few questions to Mistral AI to test its understanding of designs in Revolution EDA and its potential to help designers. The results have been very encouraging. The future analogue integrated circuit designers will be able to use large language models like Mistral AI to quickly gain understanding of a circuit and improve on it.

The transcription below is taken exactly from the interaction with Mistral AI except for small formatting changes [read more...]

Apr 29, 2026

[Newsletter] Revolution EDA April 2026

Revolution EDA has two updates to share this month: 
  • a browser-based cloud trial environment is now live, and 
  • hierarchical Layout vs Schematic (LVS) verification has been added to the platform
Cloud Trial Environment

Apr 25, 2026

[paper] Multi-Agent Self-Evolved ABC

Cunxi Yu and Haoxing Ren
Autonomous Evolution of EDA Tools: Multi-Agent Self-Evolved ABC
In 63rd ACM/IEEE Design Automation Conference (DAC ’26)
July 26–29, 2026, Long Beach, CA
DOI: 10.1145/3770743.3804221

Abstract: This paper introduces the first self-evolving logic synthesis framework, which leverages Large Language Model (LLM) agents to autonomously improve the source code of ABC, the widely adopted logic synthesis system. Our framework operates on the entire integrated ABC codebase, and the output repository preserves its single-binary execution model and command interface. In the initial evolution cycle, we bootstrap the system using existing prior open-source synthesis components, covering flow tuning, logic minimization, and technology mapping, but without manually injecting new heuristics. On top of this foundation, a team of LLM-based agents iteratively rewrites and evolves specific sub-components of ABC following our “programming guidance“ prompts under a unified correctness and QoR-driven evaluation loop. Each evolution cycle proposes code modifications, compiles the integrated binary, validates correctness, and evaluates quality-of-results (QoR) on multi-suite benchmarks including ISCAS 85/89/99, VTR, EPFL, and IWLS 2005. Through continuous feedback, the system discovers optimizations beyond human-designed heuristics, effectively learning new synthesis strategies that enhance QoR. We detail the architecture of this self-improving system, its integration with ABC, and results demonstrating that the framework can autonomously and progressively improve EDA tool at full million-line scale.
Fig: Overview of the multi-agent self-evolving framework for ABC. Specialized LLM agents evolve distinct subsystems (flow optimization, core algorithms, and mapping), with each iteration undergoing compilation, formal CEC verification, and full QoR evaluation. A planning agent coordinates global decisions, a coding agent implements edits, and all agents follow a shared rulebase and unified evaluation pipeline to enable coordinated, correctness-preserving improvements.


Acknowledgment: The authors would like to thank Prof. Zhiru Zhang and his students for their valuable feedback and insightful discussions.

Apr 13, 2026

[OpenSUSI] Kicks off Five-Year Plan

Industry-Academia Collaboration Project Launches for Real Chip Manufacturing 
Using NDA-Free PDK - Tokai Rika, Kyushu University, AIST Solutions, 
OpenSUSI Kicks Off Five-Year Plan for FY2026

Tokai Rika Co., Ltd., Kyushu University, AIST Solutions Co., Ltd., and OpenSUSI have announced a joint project on a five-year plan to develop semiconductor human resources and verify their implementation through industry-academia collaboration to actually manufacture chips using PDK (Process Design Kit) that does not rely on NDAs (non-disclosure agreements). The 2026 launch ceremony was held. The biggest feature of this project is that it allows students to experience a series of processes from design to chip manufacturing under an open design environment using NDA-free PDKs #OpenPDKs

Positioning and future development in FY2026 as the first year that this project will be fully developed over a five-year span. Based on an open design and manufacturing environment utilizing NDA-free PDK #OpenPDK, we will continue and develop the following initiatives:
  • Continuation and advancement of hands-on semiconductor human resource development
  • Providing opportunities for actual chip manufacturing and verification using NDA-free PDK
  • Building a practical and highly reproducible education and implementation model through industry-academia integration
  • In exchange for the cost support for this program, we will embed the company's logo on the prototype chip to spread awareness of semiconductor design human resource development as a social contribution activity
(From left) Junichi Okamura, Representative Director of OpenSUSI, 
Haruichi Kanaya, Professor of Kyushu University, 
Taketoshi Sakurai, Executive Officer of Tokai Rika, 
and Seiji Osaka, President and CEO of AIST Solutions

If you are interested or interested in this matter, please contact us at:
OpenSUSI Secretariat <secretary@opensusi.org>

 

Apr 10, 2026

[DATE2026] Open Source Related Talks


DATE 2026 Verona, Italy
Open Source Related Talks
Monday, 20 April - Wednesday, 22 April 2026
<https://date26.date-conference.com/programme>

  Label   Title Authors
TS02.8 ML-DSA-OSH: An Efficient, Open-Source Hardware Implementation of ML-DSA Quinten Norga; Suparna Kundu; Ingrid Verbauwhede
LK03 Democratizing Silicon: The Rise of Open-Source EDA and Europe’s Strategic Roadmap Luca Benini
TS10.1 PICOSNN: Partially Incoherent Configurable Optical Computing Architecture for SNN Acceleration Bowen Duan; Zhenhua Zhu; Zhengyang Duan; Huazhong Yang; Yuan Xie; Yu Wang
TS16.1 Non-Volatile Spintronic Flip-Flops with Checkpoint Preservation Supported in RISC-V Platform Jiongzhe Su; Mingtao Chen; Zhanpeng Qiu; Bo Liu; Hao Cai
LBR01.4 Float Fight - Verifying Floating-Point Behavior In Risc-V Simulators Katharina Ruep, Manfred Schlaegl and Daniel Grosse
LBR01.7 Hybrid Virtual Platform + FPGA Co-Emulation Framework Lorenzo Ruotolo; Giovanni Pollo; Mohamed Amine Hamdi; Matteo Risso; Yukai Chen; Enrico Macii; Massimo Poncino; Sara Vinco; Alessio Burrello; Daniele Jahier Pagliari
TS20.1 Fault-Tolerance Mapping of Spiking Neural Networks to RRAM-Based Neuromorphic Hardware Yuqing Xiong; Chao Xiao; Zhijie Yang; Lei Wang; Mengying Zhao
TS21.4 Substrate: A Statically Typed Framework for Designing Highly Configurable Analog and Mixed-Signal Circuit Generators Rahul Kumar; Rohan Kumar; Borivoje Nikolic
SD03 Open-Source Hardware Landscape
SD03.1   Open Silicon Fabrication – Made in Europe Gerhard Kahmen, IHP GmbH, DE
SD03.2 From Schematic To Silicon: Mixed Signal Ic Design In Open Source Flows Harald Pretl, JKU Linz, AT
SD03.3 Bringing Software Design Thinking To Chip Design Tomi Rantakari, ChipFlow, GB

Mar 11, 2026

26th Workshop Analog Circuits

26th Workshop Analog Circuits 
12.03.2026 and 13.03.2026
at Leibniz University Hannover

The workshop series offers a platform to present one's own ideas and discuss results with science and industry. The focus is on integrated analog and mixed-signal circuits.

The workshop will take place on 12.03.2026 and 13.03.2026 in the Royal Horse Stable of the University of Hannover.  Registration - Participation in the workshop is free of charge.

The programme will be compiled after the call for papers has been completed and is avalable online 

In the run-up to the 26th Workshop on Analog Circuits, the DE:Sign cooperation event on the topic of "Open Source Tools for Analog Design" will take place on the morning of 12.03.2026. In this event, the funded projects will present their current status on open design tools and methods for analogue design. Participants will receive an overview of the contribution of the respective projects to the development of technology open, accessible, and sustainable design chains in the sense of the DE:Sign guideline.

If you have any questions, please contact the organizers by e-mail at: analog2026@ims.uni-hannover.de

Mar 2, 2026

Aalto Microelectronics Fair

Aalto Microelectronics Fair
March 20, 2026, 9.00-15.30
Aalto Yliopisto, Kandidaattikeskus, H304, Otakaari 1, 02150 Espoo

Time Session
8:30–9:00 Morning coffee
9:00–9:15Opening
Aleksi Korsman
Keynotes
9:15–10:00Keynote 1: “OpenPDK - Global Scholar Platform”,
Wladek Grabinski, Open PDK Initiative


10:05–10:50Keynote 2: “Open Source Design Tools in SME IC Design Companies”,
Ari Paasio, Kovilta




Research overviews
11:00–11:15Research overview: Kari Stadius
11:15–11:30Research overview: Prof. Marko Kosunen
11:30–11:45Research overview: Prof. Kwantae Kim
11:45–12:45Lunch (and posters)
12:45–13:15Student talk: “Five years of RISC‑V processor design at Aalto”,
Aleksi Korsman
13:15–13:45Student talk: “Beyond Neural Networks: Overcoming the Symbolic Bottleneck via Approximate Logarithm Acceleration”,
Lingyun Yao
Posters
13:45–14:00Poster intro
14:00–15:00Posters with coffee and snacks
15:00–15:30Feedback and closing

Should you have any questions, please email Marko Kosunen

Feb 4, 2026

[chapter] Compact/SPICE Modeling


Wladek Grabinski and Daniel Tomaszewski
Compact/SPICE Modeling
In: Rudan, M., Brunetti, R., Reggiani, S. (eds) 
Springer Handbook of Semiconductor Devices
DOI 10.1007/978-3-030-79827-7_34
Abstract: The microelectronics and nano-electronics industry strongly relies on compact models to reduce a new microelectronic product development costs. The goals of this review are to highlight critical issues for the development of compact models for microelectronics and nano-electronics. In this chapter, we’ve covered the main principles of the compact device modeling. Also discussed are the possibilities of integrating compact models into circuit simulation and design tools, with an emphasis on the Verilog-A standardization, which simplify model implementation into EDA tool.


 

Jul 1, 2025

[mos-ak] [OpenPDK] IHP Analog Academy

IHP Analog Academy


We, IHP Analog Academy, are excited to present this deep dive into analog, RF, and mixed-signal IC design, powered by open-source FOSS CAD/EDA tools and the IHP Open PDK.

This hands-on course is designed for engineers, researchers, and students eager to gain practical experience with the SG13G2 process at the 130nm technology node. Originally hosted on-site at IHP in Frankfurt (Oder), participants spent five intensive days exploring everything from fundamental analog simulation to advanced RF, 3D EM modeling, and mixed-signal integration. And now we're excited to release it to the open-source community!

The course covers:
- Bandgap reference design and simulation using the gm/Id methodology
- RF design of a 50 GHz Medium Power Amplifier with EM simulation
- Mixed-signal integration and verification of an 8-bit SAR ADC

Each module emphasizes a real-world design flow using tools like:
ngspice, Xyce, KLayout, OpenEMS, QUCS, and Python for data analysis.

Over time, we will expand the repository with:
- More modules
- Updated toolchain support
- Improvements to existing flows

Explore the IHP Open PDK:
- Open PDK GitHub Repository https://github.com/IHP-GmbH/IHP-Open-PDK 
- Interactive Help via ChatGPT https://chat.openai.com

Note: This is not an introductory IC design course. A basic understanding of electronics and microelectronics is assumed. We're proud to contribute this initiative to the community to help lower the barrier to IC design using open-source tools. We encourage contributions via GitHub Issues or Pull Requests! Your feedback and contributions, are welcome!

Lead Author: Phillip Ferreira Baade-Pedersen
Co-Author: Christian Wittke

The Development of this course is funded by the public German project FMD-QNC (16ME083) from BMFTR (Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space / Bundesministerium für Forschung, Technologie und Raumfahrt): https://www.elektronikforschung.de/projekte/fmd-qnc

#opensource #analog #mixedsignal #rf #design

Apr 11, 2025

[C4P] ICEE 2025

7th International Conference on Emerging Electronics (ICEE 2025)
Hilton Embassy Manyata Business Park, Bengaluru (IN)
December 13-16, 2025

Upcoming ICEE 2025 is a flagship IEEE EDS four-day conference, organized to foster cutting-edge discussions and collaborations in semiconductor technologies. ICEE 2025 will feature a diverse range of sessions, including, Technical and rump sessions, Industry-academia discussions, Plenary talks by distinguished experts, Policy sessions on the future of semiconductor technologies.

ICEE 2025 invites papers (4 page Abstract submission deadline: Aug.25 2025) on a diverse and comprehensive range of topics that span materials, processes, devices, circuits, systems, modeling, and reliability. This program is curated by an international team of academic and industry leaders. This edition of ICEE is especially important, given the ambitions of major global economies (such as USA, EU, Japan, India, etc.) in semiconductor manufacturing. This focus is reflected in the composition of ICEE's technical program and organizing committee, with top industry leaders on board. ICEE'25 edition plans to offer 3 Plenary Talks, 5 Keynote Talks, 150+ Invited and Platform/Oral Talks, 100+ Posters, Tutorial Sessions, Evening Industry Sessions, and Industry Exhibits with 800+ International Audiences and Industry Participation. The conference will offer opportunities to contribute, network, learn, collaborate and grow in the areas listed below. For the contributed papers, please find below the call for paper, ICEE themes/tracks, submission guidelines and 4-page abstract templates. In case of questions, please feel free to write to us at secretary@ieee-icee.org. Please keep checking the website and our social media handles for new updates [read more]

Jan 20, 2025

[book] From Code to Chip

Jakob Ratschenberger and Harald Pretl
From Code to Chip:
Open-Source Automated Analog Layout Design
pp: XV, 120 Publisher: Springer Cham (10 January 2025)
eBook ISBN 978-3-031-68562-0

This book shows how the layout of an analog circuit can be automatically generated in a fully open-source way. Based on an exemplary design flow, it introduces and explains the necessary steps for transforming a SPICE netlist into a layout, which can be inspected by the open-source layout editor Magic VLSI. This is done by using the industry’s first open-source process design kit SKY130. Furthermore, the implementation of the design flow in the programming language Python is available as open-source on GitHub. 

Authors' Affiliations
Johannes Kepler University, Linz, Austria




Table of contents (8 chapters)
  • Front Matter pp. i-xv
  • Download chapter PDF 
  • Introduction pp. 1-4
  • Theoretical Basics pp. 5-13
  • Circuit Capturing pp. 15-36
  • PDK—Design Rule Capturing pp. 37-41
  • Placement pp. 43-55
  • Routing pp. 57-71
  • Experimental Results pp. 73-99
  • Outlook pp. 101-103
  • Back Matter pp. 105-120