Design and Implementation of Integrated Circuits Using Open Source Tools and SKY130 Free PDK

The paper presents recent initiatives in the field of open source tools as well as open source PDKs. We also describe in details our three designs: (1) a fully digital IP core for an air coupled ultrasonic wavefront reconstruction, (2) a mixed signal circuit for smart image processing, (3) three-level flying capacitor DC-DC buck converter for high-efficiency energy power sources in CubeSat applications. All ideas were developed using open source tools, a SKY130 free PDK and taped-out under the new alliance between Google and Skywater, where anyone can access a free silicon, in SKY130 and GF180 nodes, under open source license agreement. Our work also describes some upcoming opportunities related to integrated circuits development under the open source paradigm.