VSDOpen2022 – Ground-level efforts to boost Semiconductor tapeouts and Skill Development

VSDOpen conference is an attempt to bring out some cutting-edge activities especially around open-source EDA with a special focus on skill development using open and proprietary tools. VSDOpen also focuses on milestones achieved by VSD in the past year, and some interesting projects which VSD will be working on in the next year. It’s like the VSD Annual Hands-on meeting where everyone is invited for free and allowed to rate us for our work 🙂

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Random Verification in Hardware – A Primer

Join us to explore such concepts and more, where we use Python to leverage its library-rich environment feasible for verification using Vyoma’s UpTickPro platform, in this edition of Capture the Bug hackathon, organized by NIELIT, Calicut, mentored by IIT Madras, in association with VLSI System Design and Vyoma Systems.
Hackathon details – https://nielithackathon.in/

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Opencores.org – Encyclopedia to begin the Hackathon

For the upcoming Capture The Bug Hackathon, participant is free to choose any Verilog Open Source design from any website/reference similar to that of OpenCores with appropriate licensing which is compatible with Icarus Verilog and also the Verilog code needs to be synthesizable.

Happy Verification!!!

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Successful VSD hackathon mantra – Trust, plan and execute !!

To provide a basic hands-on for design verification, which enhances practical verification knowledge. The verification challenge helps to understand the verification intent to detect bugs in designs, understand debugging and fix the buggy designs. It provides a practical exposure to real world design verification activities

The hackathon aims to generate skilled manpower in the domain of Design Verification, which will strengthen the quality of designs being manufactured. It reduces chip failure, improving the time to market cycle of Semiconductor products.

The Indian government initiative Chips to Startup (C2S) programme aims to propel innovation, build domestic capacities to ensure hardware sovereignty, and build a semiconductor ecosystem that requires 85,000+ highly trained engineers. Working towards this vision statement, we have planned the 3-Week “Capture the Bug” , a Design Verification Challenge.
This Hackathon is organized by NIELIT Calicut and technically facilitated by Vyoma Systems , VLSI System Design & IEEE Robotics and Automation Society and ably mentored by Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras).

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Ever heard of Chip Design Pentagon?

Know what Pentagon is? It is a plane figure which has 5-straight sides and 5-angles. For a perfect pentagon, it needs all its sides and angles to be the same, till the last decimal. Do you know what is the similarity between pentagon and our upcoming workshop “Advanced Physical Design workshop using OpenLANE/SKY130”?  Look above image and you would guess it right. It is a perfect blend of topics where even a fresher can jump-start his/her career in chip design in just 5-days

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150+ students have decided to upskill in VLSI

And that’s where VSD must play an especially important role to bring in latest and greatest VLSI skills to you, atleast in the field of open-source hardware. VSD owes a lot to VLSI community and hence has planned 3 exclusive cloud lab-based VLSI workshops on 3 important topics, with top 3 expert instructors from around globe,  having more than 2 decades of experience – Tim Edwards, Steve Hoover, and Prof. Mohamed Shalan

Open-source EDA tool development with lab exercises using Sky130 pdk’s by Google/Skywater
RISC-V micro-architecture using transaction level – Verilog with lab exercises on Makerchip Platform
SoC and Physical Design using Automated RTL2GDS OpenLANE tool with lab exercises using demo design and Sky130 pdk’s.

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7th mile-stone in open-source analog IP design – 10-bit DAC

Ashutosh had joined our VSD Research IP design internship group 8-weeks back, along with 30 other interns. His journey on was from “I can’t, its too difficult” to “I did it”. Personally, only I know how hard it was for him when he saw an industry grade 10-bit DAC specifications on VSD IP website. We managed to achieve post-layout DNL of 3.5LSB and INL of 3.7LSB, which as per experience, is really tough for a fresher to achieve in a span of 8-weeks, but not impossible.

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