conferences/iit_roorkee_2021.mdwn

   1 # IIT Rourkee 2021
   2
   3 ## Abstract
   4
   5 The Libre-SOC Project aims to create an entirely Libre-Licensed,
   6 transparently-developed fully auditable Hybrid 3D CPU-GPU-VPU,
   7 using the Supercomputer-class OpenPOWER ISA as the foundation.
   8
   9 Our first test ASIC is a 180nm "Fixed-Point" Power ISA v3.0B
  10 processor, 5.1mm x 5.9mm, as a proof-of-concept for the team,
  11 whose primary expertise is in Software Engineering.  Software
  12 Engineering training brings a radically different approach to
  13 Hardware development: extensive unit tests, source code revision
  14 control, automated development tools are normal.  Libre Project
  15 Management brings even more: bugtrackers, mailing lists, auditable
  16 IRC logs and a wiki are standard fare for Libre Projects that are
  17 simply not normal Industry-Standard practice.
  18
  19 This talk therefore goes through the workflow, from the original
  20 HDL through to the GDS-II layout, showing how we were able to keep
  21 track of the development that led to the IMEC 180nm tape-out in
  22 July 2021.  In particular, by following a parallel development
  23 process involving "Real" and "Symbolic" Cell Libraries, developed
  24 by Chips4Makers, will be shown how our developers did not need to
  25 sign a Foundry NDA, but were still able to work side-by-side with
  26 a University that did.  With this parallel development process,
  27 the University upheld their NDA obligations, and Libre-SOC were
  28 simultaneously able to honour its Transparency Objectives.
  29
  30 # Links
  31
  32 * IIT Roorkee, 2021 July 16th.
  33 * <https://www.iitr.ac.in/>