Fabricate your own integrated circuit?

[eskowitz2]

In one of my lectures many years ago the professor mentioned that there was a collaboration between manufacturers which would allow you to buy space on part of a wafer for a small amount of money. I tried googling about this and couldn't find anything so here are my questions...

How would I go about fabricating my own integrated circuit? Which CAD tools would I want to use? How much does it cost to have a circuit fab'ed in limited quantities?

Thanks in advance for any information you can provide. I've seen a lot of discussions about making PCBs, but nothing about building ICs which seem to be the next logical step in the manufacturing process.

-Mike

 

[BrownTown]

Yeah, we did it in my VLSI class.

link:
http://www.mosis.com/

Just use the same sort of CAD programs that the professionals use, you can get them much cheaper for an educational liscence. If you are just one person it may still be very expensive though, but my VLSI class we had 6 groups and we each got like 5 chips fabricated in a 40 pin DIP package. ITs obviously a much older process so you don't get all that many transistors and such, but its a good learning tool.

Just a random pic of what it might look like from Googles:

http://www.pjrc.com/tech/decm/really_large.gif

 

[TuxDave]

I did it for my Master's thesis using ST Microelectronics' fab. Doing it by yourself (aka non-University related) could be fairly difficult as you'd need to get access to CAD software that the company uses. Most commonly you'll be using Cadence Virtuoso and other Cadence family products. These are $$$.

After that, you need to get an NDA from the company to use their technology and design rules and then for them to send you the technology files so you can start simulation and layout.

Then after you get all that done, you get in line and if they have space on their wafer they'll stick you in. As a non-profit University project, you are always at the back of the line when any company related product is being taped out. Sometimes they have too much space and the wafer you were supposed to go on gets cancelled all together.

Unfortunately I don't know as an individual how you'd get the company to work with you with a University sponsorship. For me since it was a thesis project, it cost me $0.

I can't find my high-res photo so this is the best you'll get (5mm x 5mm)

 

[Stiganator]

You can't do it in your garage, but as the previous posters have said, for school fabs will put you at the back of the list. If you want to pay for it, a run will cost about 80K.
I know National Taiwan University has a great Chip Implementation Center (CIC) and they make several thousand chips a year. It's not likely, but you could always check. Fabs are much more accessible there.

 

[dmens]

Did mine with MOSIS a few years back... professor mentioned it was about $5000 for a 5 part run using a 50um process, 3 metal layer. Layout pic here.

 

[TuxDave]

Originally posted by: dmens
Did mine with MOSIS a few years back... professor mentioned it was about $5000 for a 5 part run using a 50um process, 3 metal layer. Layout pic here.

lol very nice

 

[eskowitz2]

I currently work at a University, but I have no sponsorship and am not currently affiliated with their engineering department. Would it be possible to go through the university's channels to get a device fabricated if I put up the money for it? Who would I want to speak with about that?

 

[darthsidious]

Originally posted by: eskowitz2
I currently work at a University, but I have no sponsorship and am not currently affiliated with their engineering department. Would it be possible to go through the university's channels to get a device fabricated if I put up the money for it? Who would I want to speak with about that?

You could, but remember that this can get expensive you have to pay for it. I don't know about the cost of the fariction itself, but the tools you'd typically need to use like cadence virtuoso, LVS, layout extraction, etc. will be really expensive. Also, are you familiar with the steps needed to take an IC design into a fabrication ready format (what people in the industry call"tapeout").

Also, are you looking to build an analog IC or all digital stuff? If it's all digital, you could use an FPGA to model the device without having to fab it in an ASIC. But if you're trying to get an analog IC fabricated on you own, that might be hard. Your best bet is to sign up for a class that let's you fabricate your final project (I know at my school, we had some of those; typically at a graduate level). Then, if your professor is OK, you can make your final project the "idea" you want to fabricate.

 

[darthsidious]

Originally posted by: TuxDave

Originally posted by: dmens
Did mine with MOSIS a few years back... professor mentioned it was about $5000 for a 5 part run using a 50um process, 3 metal layer. Layout pic here.

lol very nice

nice, what was it? Also, a 50um process? how long ago was this? Plus designing with only 3 metal layers? I guess I'm spoiled with the 65nm, 7 metal layer process that I'm currently using.

 

[dmens]

4-bit cellular automata, designed in fall semester 2002 at cornell university

 

[TuxDave]

Originally posted by: darthsidious

Originally posted by: TuxDave

Originally posted by: dmens
Did mine with MOSIS a few years back... professor mentioned it was about $5000 for a 5 part run using a 50um process, 3 metal layer. Layout pic here.

lol very nice

nice, what was it? Also, a 50um process? how long ago was this? Plus designing with only 3 metal layers? I guess I'm spoiled with the 65nm, 7 metal layer process that I'm currently using.

And I thought my 90nm, dual oxide 8 metal layer process was teh shizzle.

 

[dmens]

Originally posted by: TuxDave
And I thought my 90nm, dual oxide 8 metal layer process was teh shizzle.

on the upside, doing layout was pretty easy on an older process. also, we had to use domino to achieve the required speed on such an old process, that was "fun".

 

[Eskimo]

Originally posted by: eskowitz2
I currently work at a University, but I have no sponsorship and am not currently affiliated with their engineering department. Would it be possible to go through the university's channels to get a device fabricated if I put up the money for it? Who would I want to speak with about that?

I'd speak to someone within your Electrical Engineering department, probably the head of the department, as they'd be the most likely to have used such services before. Also if you have a Computer Engineering department they might have experience as well.

We had our student run fab at my university and my classmates and I would fabricate designs for the students in other departments for college credit. When we needed something that we couldn't make ourselves we usually tapped MOSIS which has been previously mentioned or used our connections with Photronics for reticle creation and IBM for foundry services.

 

[Fox5]

What do you want to fabricate an IC for? If you just want to test something out, you can buy an FPGA for around $150 and reprogram it as much as you like.

 

[BrownTown]

Originally posted by: Fox5
What do you want to fabricate an IC for? If you just want to test something out, you can buy an FPGA for around $150 and reprogram it as much as you like.

Its just for the educational experience of laying out your own circuit like the "pros" do in real life.