Google Launches Open Silicon Developer Portal for Its Skywater, Efabless Open MPW Program

Google has redoubled its efforts in the field of free and open-source silicon, announcing a new developer portal for the Open MPW shuttle program it runs alongside Skywater Technologies and Efabless — and that allows open hardware developers to produce physical chips at zero cost.

"Since November 2020, when Skywater Technologies announced their partnership with Google to open source their Process Design Kit for the SKY130 process node, the Hardware Toolchains team here at Google has been on a journey to make building open silicon accessible to all developers," claims Google's Johan Euphrosine.

"Having access to an open source and manufacturable PDK changes the status-quo in the custom silicon design industry and academia," Euphrosine continues. "Designers are now free to start their projects liberated from NDAs and usage restrictions. Researchers are able to make their research reproducible by their fellow peers. Open source EDA tools can integrate deeply with the manufacturing process. Together we've built a community of more than 3,000 members, where hardware designers and software developers alike, can all contribute in their own way to advance the state of the art of open silicon design."

Google isn't yet satisfied, however, and has announced the launch of a developer portal through which it aims to lower the barrier to entry still further. Offering a showcase of existing projects and a gentle introduction to the design-to-silicon workflow, the portal offers the ability to create brand-new projects or use external tools to create an export file compatible with the program — meaning existing open hardware projects, as well as new ones, can submit designs to be produced in physical silicon at zero cost.

The first MPW shuttle saw 45 designs submitted in 30 days, of which 60 per cent came from first-time designers with no prior silicon tape-out experience. 40 of those were selected to form the first chips to come out of the program, and while issues with the toolchain meant difficulties getting the finished parts fully functional the program has been attracting users ever since with a record 78 projects submitted for the latest shuttle, MPW-5.

The developer portal is live now, while submissions for MPW-6 — which, like its predecessors, will be built on Skywater's proven SKY130 process node — are open through to Monday, June 8, 2022. "We can't wait to see the variety of projects the open silicon community creates," Euphrosine concludes, "building on top of the corpus of open source designs steadily growing one Open MPW shuttle after the next."