For a while now Google has been collaborating with SkyWater Technology to create what many refer to as free and open source silicon (FOSSi). The project gained traction in 2020 and is continuing to gain momentum.
The proclaimed goal is to bring chip design to the masses and enable everyone from academia, industry and makers to create their own computer chips. If this plan succeeds it would mean a considerable shift in the chip industry which traditionally is very secretive and dominated by just a few big corporations and their partners, connected by a opaque web of interdependencies. (Surely Google counts as the underdog in comparison *cough*)
Tag: layout
Magic VLSI – or just Magic – is a free and open source VLSI layout software. Simply put Magic allows you to draw the mask layers used in a semiconductor facrication process. The Magic software is another “Berkeley Child” (like BSD and others) and first came into existence in the 1980s. Magic is still under active development as of late 2019.
Some Linux distributions offer a pre-build package for Magic from their package repository. Most often these packages are outdated and therefor it is best to build Magic from the sources.
