Design & Build My Own IC

I can think of much better things to spend 1030 of my hard earned post-tax dollars on! It's probably do-able but you are totaly nuts! :->

Dave :)

I'd be tempted to sign up for some analog IC design class at your local university (probably will cost just as much :-) -- although if you sweet-talk a professor they'll probably let you sit in for free) where you'll get to use commercial IC design software and go through the whole process of designing your initial circuit, laying it out, and them simulating the final design with parasitics and all. Then, if you're still up for it, go ahead and spend the money to get the thing fabbed. (Heck, if you're willing ot give up, say, two years of your life minus summers, you can probably find a professor who has some pet IC he or she would like designed and will even pay you some pitance to do it.)

The problem with the free software tool approach is that fewer and fewer fabs release device models for them, so you end up being stuck with older technology.

What you want to do isn't nuts -- it is quit doable -- but when you start looking at the expenses and time commitment around, you can probably understand why FPGAs and programmable analog chips are so popular for the little guys!

You'd be better off playing about with FPGAs. A Xilinx Spartan-3 Starter Kit only costs $99, and you can download the free WebPack software.

Leon

Thanks, it seems "Alliance" could very well be the FREE tools needed to build your own IC. I found an overview here

only

Been there, done that, got the T-shirt. It was lots of fun by the way.

Well I spent a good deal more than that on my share in a canal narrowboat. The enjoyment of which has been described as "like standing in a cold shower, tearing up ten-pound notes".

Each to his own masochism. Though in siliconluvr's case I'd be tempted to try to get someone else to pay.

Paul Burke

I think that you are totally nuts and that it is doable and your really should do it! If you have some programming knowledge, you may even be able to create missing software pieces and prove, that online knowledge is pretty much infinite.

Seriously, if you have the time and money, dedicate a web page to this, publish some open source software. Create a Wiki and people will help you. Maybe you can get Mosis to support you. With free software available, more people might actually design their own chips and prices could come down dramatically.

Imagine creating a single tiny chip instead of a whole PCB. I'd do it!

Matthias

I discovered many yeards back that modern narrowboats as hired out by the week actually have central heating ! This made a big difference to the answer I gave when asked if I wanted to join a group holiday on one !

I've had loads of fun out of them actually.

Graham

Un bel giorno siliconluvr digitò:

Which open source tools will you use? I know just Electric:

I can't imagine what you'd want to design that you can't just buy - oh, I see - to prove it can be done. =:-O

I guess whether you're nuts or not is not at issue here ;-) - just ask Jim Thompson about designing ICs (personality conflicts aside, he's apparently quite an awesome chip designer), albeit I can't say whether he knows of any free software to do it with. :-)

In either case, Good Luck! Rich

I was gonna ask, "WTF 'canal narrowboat'?", but googled instead. Ew!

Looks pretty cold!

Notwithstanding, "A boat is a hole in the water, lined with wood, into which one pours money." ;-)

Thanks! Rich

Yes, you're nuts. Why design a whole chip from scratch when you could use one of these?

Cheers! Rich

I had the impression the guy wanted to build some nice analog circuits, e.g., "full custom" analog design like Jim does. Far more interesting than standard cell digital design, or even standard cell analog design.

Alliance claim to have a path from HDL to Silicon and to have successfully used it. see

I don't know if they havea Mosis compatible output though. Maybe the VLSI and ASIC Technology Standard Cell Design Library can be of some use here, since they also link to the Alliance home page. For this see

Best of luck, Charles

The MOSIS Service

Ah, there's the problem! If you get some guy in China or India to do it, probably the cost would go down by a factor of ten or so.

(cheesy grin)

If your planning a VHDL flow, I would strongly recommend using ghdl

I guess the trick would be to keep as close to the Alliance VHDL-subset as possible. Otherwise, you will need some form of equivalence checking between the more complete ghdl VHDL-subset and the Alliance one.

Regards, Charles

ago,

connection.)

Geez, I've gotta see that! *Loads Google lickety-split*

Tim (enjoying tube amplifiers)

-- Deep Fryer: a very philosophical monk. Website:

There is more to be designed than just digital stuff.

Rene

That's intriguing. Someone built a Z80 from discrete 74x logic not long ago, to much acclaim. (I still shoot B&W photos. There's probably a connection.)