In the last decades, producing a "real" silicon chip was an effort that required a large-ish team, a fair amount of money, and inside knowledge that only a small, selected group of individuals and companies had. That has changed: free and open source silicon is here, and it democratizes access to chip design for anyone. Free tools in all areas of chip design, from simulation to synthesis and physical design, have attracted renewed attention and are at a point where they are powerful enough to be used for actual chip tapeouts. The last barrier of entry for prospective chip designers fell with the announcement of the SkyWater PDK two years ago: real-world design rules, required to manufacture chips, are now freely available as well.

In this talk, we'll look at the open source silicon ecosystem: which tools do we have available, how are they working together in a toolflow, and can all of that be combined to produce a working chip?

Open source software has irrevocably changed the way software is developed. Open source silicon is set to do the same: inject new life into the traditionally closed chip development ecosystem, combining ideas from the open source software world with the accumulated wisdom of seasoned hardware engineers.