HACKER Q&A
📣 matt3210

IC Design Resources


Is it possible in this day and age to make custom ICs (ASIC) as a hobbyist? Lets say that I want an IC based on some verilog... lets say that I want 120 of them... Is it possible to get them made for reasonable price for hobby work... lets say... 1$ per chip?

Also looking for resources to learn how to make the designs (GDSII?). I have absolutely no clue what I'm doing here but I'm willing to sink about 1k into this little diversion while I'm looking for work.

I am currently an embedded software engineer and this appears to be the next level lower in the stack.


  👤 therealcamino Accepted Answer ✓
The only thing I'm aware of is Google's open source silicon program: https://developers.google.com/silicon

👤 mac3n
It really depends on what you're trying to do and how much you can spend. For that quantity, an fpga might be better, although you won't find $1 per chip. And you can program it in Verilog.

If you really want to go low, look up what's currently available in printed electronics. But you might have to do your own transistor layouts.