{"id":3190,"date":"2010-10-25T15:21:14","date_gmt":"2010-10-25T20:21:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/?p=3190"},"modified":"2015-09-26T11:11:01","modified_gmt":"2015-09-26T18:11:01","slug":"diy-integrated-circuit-design-with-mosis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/2010\/10\/diy-integrated-circuit-design-with-mosis\/","title":{"rendered":"DIY Integrated Circuit Design with MOSIS"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Photo:<\/a><\/p>\n

MOSIS<\/a>, short for Metal Oxide Semiconductor Implementation Service<\/a>,\u00a0is to integrated circuits what BatchPCB<\/a> is to printed circuit boards. \u00a0That is, it’s a batch order service that makes getting your own custom ICs fabricated more affordable by allowing lots of designers to contribute their designs and share the costs of a single IC fabrication run.<\/p>\n

The difference in this case is that unlike your typical PCB pool, where a single board might cost $20, in IC-land, “affordable” means “tens of thousands of dollars’.” \u00a0For this reason, MOSIS is usually reserved for use by universities and startup companies, not by individuals.<\/p>\n

However, that doesn’t mean that some particularly ambitious people haven’t used MOSIS to make their own chips before.<\/p>\n

The photos that follow and the chip layout shown above are one example of an individual, Scot Satre of Satre Electronics<\/a>, who in 2004 decided to design some of his own application-specific integreated circuits<\/a> (see\u00a0ASIC<\/a>) in his spare-time.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/a><\/p>\n

I’m sure there have been others, but this is surely one of only a few examples of an individual having their own custom chips made.<\/p>\n

I find this sort of thing very inspiring. \u00a0Will there be a time when individuals can submit their own chip designs to a multi-project wafer (MPW<\/a>) like we submit PCB designs to group orders<\/a> today?<\/p>\n

Gold Phoenix<\/a> makes BatchPCB possible by providing cheap offshore PCB fabrication services. \u00a0Where is the Gold Phoenix of semiconductor foundries that will make DIY IC design affordable for ordinary people and not just universities, corporations, and VC-funded startups? \u00a0Where are the free, open source tools that will enable you and I to simulate and layout our own chips?<\/p>\n

If you could design your own integrated circuit, what would you make?<\/p>\n

Photos: Scott Satre \/ Satre Electronics<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MOSIS, short for Metal Oxide Semiconductor Implementation Service,\u00a0is to integrated circuits what BatchPCB is to printed circuit boards. \u00a0That is, it’s a batch order service that makes getting your own custom ICs fabricated more affordable by allowing lots of designers to contribute their designs and share the costs of a single IC fabrication run. The … Continue reading DIY Integrated Circuit Design with MOSIS<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5],"tags":[357],"class_list":["post-3190","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-electronics","tag-mosis"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pioCd-Ps","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2318,"url":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/2009\/09\/svg-circuit-symbol-library\/","url_meta":{"origin":3190,"position":0},"title":"SVG Circuit Symbol Library","author":"Jeff","date":"September 8, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Matthew Beckler has released a library of electronic component symbols in SVG format, which will make it easy for anyone with the vector drawing program Inkscape to create schematic diagrams quickly and easily.\u00a0 I have been meaning to learn Inkscape for the sole purpose of making prettier schematics, so this\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Books and Resources"","block_context":{"text":"Books and Resources","link":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/category\/books-and-resources\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"SVG Circuit Symbols","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.mightyohm.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/09\/circuit_symbols.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3522,"url":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/2011\/01\/alis-surplus-stuff\/","url_meta":{"origin":3190,"position":1},"title":"Ali’s Surplus Stuff","author":"Jeff","date":"January 10, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Over the holidays I had a chance to visit Ali's Surplus Stuff in Sacramento, CA. 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When I started blogging in July of last year I wasn't sure what I would post about or where all of this would go.\u00a0 Eight months later, the blog has exceeded my expectations in many (and many unexpected) ways.\u00a0 The\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Electronics"","block_context":{"text":"Electronics","link":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/category\/electronics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Wifi Radio Enclosure - Google Sketchup Model","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mightyohm.com\/files\/flickr\/3306019406_7879de7ace.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1408,"url":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/2009\/03\/flickr-printed-circuit-boards-photo-pool-hits-100-members\/","url_meta":{"origin":3190,"position":3},"title":"Flickr Printed Circuit Boards Photo Pool Hits 100 Members!","author":"Jeff","date":"March 9, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"100 wonderful, amazing people have joined the Flickr Printed Circuit Boards Group since I launched it in July of last year! The pool features over 400 pictures of printed circuit boards, many of them CC licensed.\u00a0 There's a little bit of everything, from homebrew board fab to PCB jewelry and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Electronics"","block_context":{"text":"Electronics","link":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/category\/electronics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Flickr PCB Photo Pool","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/03\/pcb-photo-pool-100-members.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2534,"url":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/2009\/11\/spooky-led-circuit\/","url_meta":{"origin":3190,"position":4},"title":"Spooky LED circuit","author":"Jeff","date":"November 3, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Cool carved pumpkins courtesy of the UCSD Jacobs School of Engineering blog. 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