Visualizing and exploring open-source microchips
summary
Three manufacturable open PDKs (SkyWater 130, IHP 130, GF 180) drive open EDA work using OpenROAD/OpenLANE, KLayout, Magic and smaller tools; the workflow converts GDS -> gdsPy -> STL -> Blender or GDS3D to produce 3D-printed inverter at 40,000:1 scale, revealing concrete differences like distinct power-rail layouts between IHP and SkyWater. Students generate an explorable web view of GDS in browser, do a tiny tapeout in a day, and animate camera fly-throughs via a GDS-to-STL-to-Blender pipeline with no NDAs or license fees.
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chapters (9)
- 0:00Introduction
- 1:28Teaching microchip design
- 3:35Motivating students
- 4:16Visualizing microchip cells
- 6:233D printing models
- 8:13Exploring full designs
- 9:423D rendering software
- 11:08Tools and resources
- 12:02Q&A
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