The FPGA industry is evolving rapidly, playing a central role in AI acceleration, automotive systems, aerospace, 5G infrastructure, and semiconductor prototyping. FPGAs are no longer just used for reconfigurable logic—they are the cornerstone for rapid innovation, enabling time-to-market acceleration, edge intelligence, and chip design verification.
This 10-day FPGA Fabric Design & Architecture Workshop is your gateway to understanding how modern FPGAs are architected from the ground up. You’ll explore what goes inside the fabric—LUTs, MUXes, DFFs, connection boxes, and switchboxes—and how these blocks come together to form a custom logic architecture. Rather than using FPGAs as black-box devices, this workshop teaches you to model your own mini-FPGA fabric using Verilog, gaining an insider’s view of tools like Vivado and simulation workflows.
The FPGA Fabric Design & Architecture Workshop is meticulously designed to go beyond surface-level learning. It brings clarity to the internal structure of FPGAs—something that many professionals use but never truly understand. Each day of the workshop is structured to build a progressive, layer-by-layer understanding of how modern FPGAs work from the transistor level all the way to interconnect logic, and how you can model this behavior using Verilog and simulation tools.
This curriculum focuses on not just how to use an FPGA, but how to think like an FPGA. You’ll simulate the essential logic that makes FPGAs programmable, starting from multiplexers and D flip-flops, building up to CLBs, switchboxes, and full routing networks. This builds a strong design intuition that recruiters from companies like Intel, AMD-Xilinx, Synopsys, and startups in edge-AI and robotics deeply value.
Each topic is paired with hands-on labs and simulations using Vivado, giving learners a real-world, project-ready experience.
Outcome: By the end of the workshop, you’ll be able to design your own FPGA slice architecture and simulate it like a professional RTL designer, making you stand out in interviews, internships, and project submissions.
Kunal Ghosh, the visionary co-founder of VLSI System Design (VSD) Corp. Pvt. Ltd., stands at the forefront of online open-source EDA and hardware design education, particularly in the realm of RISC-V.
With a portfolio of 50 top-tier VLSI online courses, Kunal has enriched the learning journey of over 90,000 students across 153 countries. His expertise extends beyond training; he’s actively involved in pioneering open-source projects and design collaborations with esteemed institutions like IIT Madras, IIT Bombay, IIT Guwahati and IIT Hyderabad.
His current focus is on crafting high-quality open-source Analog/Digital IPs, a groundbreaking endeavor in open-source hardware design. Kunal’s rich industry experience includes roles at Qualcomm and Cadence, specializing in SoC design. He holds a master’s degree from IIT Bombay, where he specialized in VLSI & Nano-electronics, with a focus on sub-100nm Electron Beam Lithography Optimization techniques.
Dr. Nanditha Rao is an Assistant Professor in the VLSI Systems group at IIIT Bangalore. She obtained her PhD in Electrical Engineering from IIT, Bombay in 2017. Her current research interests are in the area of processor architecture, RISC-V based designs, FPGA based designs, FPGA based acceleration of neural networks and radiation tolerant/hardened designs.
Prior to joining for PhD, she worked as a Hardware design engineer (mainly Signal Integrity) at Intel Technologies, Bangalore for a period of 5+ years. At Intel, she was mainly responsible for signal integrity simulations of motherboard interconnects for high-speed differential interfaces such as pci-express, LVDS, DisplayPort, HDMI and so on. She interacted with customers in the Asia Pacific region on motherboard design guidelines and specialized in buffer modeling.
No. A basic understanding of digital logic (like gates, flip-flops, and multiplexers) is sufficient. We start from foundational concepts and guide you step-by-step into Verilog and FPGA architecture.
Not mandatory. All lab exercises and projects are designed to run entirely in simulation using Vivado. If you have access to a board like Basys 3, you can extend the learning to physical testing.
You'll be capable of designing custom FPGA fabric slices, implementing CLBs, MUXes, and switchboxes, and simulating full data paths—ideal for projects in embedded systems, SoC design, and FPGA-based IP development.
Most FPGA courses teach how to use FPGAs. This workshop teaches you how they work internally. You'll gain architect-level insights by building your own simplified FPGA fabric in Verilog.
Yes. All participants who complete the 5-day workshop and submit lab exercises will receive a verified certificate of completion, which you can showcase in resumes, portfolios, and LinkedIn.
VSD, standing as a trailblazing Semiconductor EdTech company and a community-based Technology Aggregator, is revolutionizing the landscape of VLSI Design. With the belief that “Creativity is just connecting things”, VSD has mastered the art of linking the right resources with the community. This unique approach has sparked a significant transformation in the VLSI Design process.
Over the past decade, VSD has made remarkable strides in the open-source semiconductor domain. Our journey includes the development of comprehensive training content, empowering students to design silicon-grade IP/SoC. Notably, we’ve successfully guided these projects through the tapeout cycle via the Google open shuttle program. This achievement is a testament to our commitment to hands-on, practical education.
At VSD, our role extends beyond traditional education. While we didn’t invent EDA tools or design flows, we’ve made them accessible to a wider community. Our mentorship has been instrumental in the development of over 50+ Analog/Digital IPs and solutions. Impressively, 20+ of these have successfully transitioned from concept to Silicon – a clear indicator of our effective approach and the high quality of work produced under our guidance.
We pride ourselves on fostering a community-based revolution in the Semiconductor Industry. By democratizing access to advanced tools and knowledge, VSD is not just educating individuals; we are building a community of innovators poised to lead the next wave of advancements in the semiconductor sector. With VSD, the future of VLSI Design is not just being written; it’s being rewritten by a passionate and empowered community.
VSDSquadron was launched by Prof. V. Kamakoti, Director of IIT Madras
VSD Launches VSDSquadron In Collaboration With IIT Madras & DIR-V
Job Roles, Convergence With Embedded Systems, and Startups
VSD showcased at Semicon India 2023
VSDSquadron Educational board on Tamil News channel
5 Day Workshop on VLSI Design Flow using RISCV and EDA Tools
Karnataka VLSI roadshow at Sahyadri College, Mangalore
Welcome to Ethical RISC-V IoT Workshop
The “Ethical RISC-V IoT Workshop” at IIIT Bangalore, organized in collaboration with VSD, is a structured, educational competition aimed at exploring real-world challenges in IoT and embedded systems. Participants progress through three stages: building an application, injecting and managing faults, and enhancing application security. The event spans from May 9 to June 15, 2024, culminating in a showcase of top innovations and an award ceremony. This hands-on hackathon emphasizes learning, testing, and securing applications in a collaborative and competitive environment.
VSDSquadron, a cutting-edge development board based on the RISC-V architecture that is fully open-source. This board presents an exceptional opportunity for individuals to learn about RISC-V and VLSI chip design utilizing only open-source tools, starting from the RTL and extending all the way to the GDSII. The possibilities for learning and advancement with this technology are limitless.
Furthermore, the RISC-V chips on these boards should be open for VLSI chip design learning, allowing you to explore PNR, standard cells, and layout design. And guess what? vsdsquadron is the perfect solution for all your needs! With its comprehensive documentation and scalable labs, thousands of students can learn and grow together.
With VSD Hardware Design Program (VSD-HDP), you have the opportunity to push the boundaries of what exist in open source and establish the new benchmark for tomorrow.
It will leverage your degree in Electrical or Computer Engineering to work with
Sounds exciting to just get started with expert mentors, doesn’t it? But we are looking for the next generation of learners, inventors, rebels, risk takers, and pioneers.
“Spend your summer working in the future !!”
Outcomes of VSD Online Research IP Design Internship Program
VSD – Intelligent Assessment Technology (VSD-IAT) is expertly built training platform and is suited for designer requirements. Semiconductor companies understand the value of training automation and Engineer performance enhancement, and do not need to be convinced of the impact of a virtual platform for learning. VSD trainings are quick, relevant, and easy to access from any device at any time zone.
VSD is working towards creating innovative talent pool who are ready to develop design and products for the new tech world. VSD believes in “Learning by doing principle” , and always prepare the student to apply the knowledge learned in the workshops, webinars and courses. We always push our students to work on new designs, test it and work continuously till it becomes the best performing design. Any student who enrolls to VSD community starts working with small design and grows with us and develops a tapeout level design with complete honesty and dedication towards the Work !!
Check out VSD Interns Achievement!
Welcome to the World’s only online conference in Semiconductor Industry VSDOpen Conference. With enormous support and global presence of audience from different segments of industrial lobby and academia made a highly successful event. Evolution is change in the genetic makeup of a population over time, online conference is one kind evaluation everyone adapt soon.
VSD offers online course in complete spectrum of vlsi backend flow from RTL design, synthesis and Verification, SoC planning and design, Sign-off analysis, IP Design, CAD/EDA automation and basic UNIX/IT, Introduction to latest technology – RISC-V, Machine intelligence in EDA/CAD, VLSI Interview FAQ’s.
Current Reach – As of 2021, VSD and its partners have released 41 online VLSI courses and was successfully able to teach ~35900 Unique students around 151 countries in 47 different languages, through its unique info-graphical and technology mediated learning methods.