fa23-si/talk.md
Sean Cross 2672e4059c talk: initial outline
Signed-off-by: Sean Cross <sean@xobs.io>
2023-04-02 17:28:16 -07:00

206 lines
4.8 KiB
Markdown

- [What does it mean for silicon to be "Open"?](#what-does-it-mean-for-silicon-to-be-open)
- [Parts of chip design](#parts-of-chip-design)
- [Open tooling](#open-tooling)
- [Manual design (In The Beginning)](#manual-design-in-the-beginning)
- [Digital logic overview](#digital-logic-overview)
- [How can we use standard cells?](#how-can-we-use-standard-cells)
- [Digital design](#digital-design)
- [Process Design Kits](#process-design-kits)
- [What about blackboxes?](#what-about-blackboxes)
- [Place and route](#place-and-route)
- [Other tools](#other-tools)
- [What is the current state of the art?](#what-is-the-current-state-of-the-art)
- [Things are looking pretty good!](#things-are-looking-pretty-good)
- [End-to-end tool flow possible!](#end-to-end-tool-flow-possible)
- [Current open PDKs are "ginormous"](#current-open-pdks-are-ginormous)
- [Hardware synthesis](#hardware-synthesis)
- [High level languages](#high-level-languages)
- [Floorplanning, Placement, Routing](#floorplanning-placement-routing)
- [Power and Clock generation](#power-and-clock-generation)
- [Verification](#verification)
- [Wide selection of existing chips](#wide-selection-of-existing-chips)
- [Large selection of existing IP](#large-selection-of-existing-ip)
- [Where are we going from here?](#where-are-we-going-from-here)
- [More open PDKs](#more-open-pdks)
- [Improved analogue IP](#improved-analogue-ip)
- [Better IP discoverability](#better-ip-discoverability)
- [Better integration](#better-integration)
- [Memories are still hard](#memories-are-still-hard)
- [Flash is still hard](#flash-is-still-hard)
- [EEPROM is still hard](#eeprom-is-still-hard)
- [Exotic, non-digital IP is hard!](#exotic-non-digital-ip-is-hard)
- [Getting involved!](#getting-involved)
- [Siliwiz for raw tapeout](#siliwiz-for-raw-tapeout)
- [TinyTapeout](#tinytapeout)
- [](#)
# What does it mean for silicon to be "Open"?
## Parts of chip design
* Tooling
* PDKs
* IP
## Open tooling
* Industry tools cost $1mm plus per seat
* Process design kits (PDKs) are closed and under NDA
* Tooling includes synthesis, placement, and routing
* Tooling also includes verification, clock generation, and power generation
## Manual design (In The Beginning)
* Rubylith
* Magic
* [Picture of Siliwiz]
## Digital logic overview
* Boolean values
## How can we use standard cells?
* Manual synthesis
* Automated synthesis
Almost all code is automatically synthesized from source code!
## Digital design
Source code can be in a Hardware Description Language. For example:
* Verilog
* SystemVerilog
* VHDL
[Example of live generation of cells]
## Process Design Kits
* Very low-level logic
* AND
* NOR
* NOT
* Diode
* Tie
Digital logic is, for the most part, a collection of these standard cells!
[Image of standard cells]
## What about blackboxes?
* Frequently called "IP"
* Blackboxes allow for more functionality, or higher performance
* Memories, RF, ADC, etc.
* Usually have Verilog models that are non-synthesizable.
* Place-and-route tool wires up the ports
* Blackboxes are how we get analogue!
## Place and route
The tool will automatically place cells, and will add wires between them!
## Other tools
* Clock generation
* Power generation
* Reset inserters
* Parasitic extraction
* Layout-vs-Schematic
# What is the current state of the art?
## Things are looking pretty good!
## End-to-end tool flow possible!
* Open tooling, open PDK
* Chips have been produced using this flow
* Production is still an issue
## Current open PDKs are "ginormous"
* 180nm and 130nm are peak-1999 technology
* Still can do interesting things at 180/130nm!
* "Fake" PDKs exist
## Hardware synthesis
* Yosys
* GHDL
Ingests Verilog or VHDL and generates basic netlists
## High level languages
* LiteX [Python]
* SpinalHDL [Scala]
* [Rust]
These all geneate Verilog, and are fully open!
## Floorplanning, Placement, Routing
* OpenROAD is the current gold-standard
* Compatitive with closed tools
## Power and Clock generation
* Setup and hold timing validation
* Basic power nets supported
* Straps are generated as expected
## Verification
* Parasitic extraction works
* Layout-versus-Schematics
* Simulation of extracted netlist
* Design Rule Checking
## Wide selection of existing chips
* Taped out
* Still being characterized
## Large selection of existing IP
* [Picture of MPW list]
# Where are we going from here?
## More open PDKs
* GF180MCU is relatively new
* ??? PDKs
## Improved analogue IP
* Each run adds even more designs
## Better IP discoverability
* Indexes of IP cores
## Better integration
* Wishbone is standard in open source
* AXI4 is common in industry
## Memories are still hard
## Flash is still hard
## EEPROM is still hard
## Exotic, non-digital IP is hard!
# Getting involved!
## Siliwiz for raw tapeout
## TinyTapeout
##