- Libresilicon-developers - libresilicon.com

Update
by David Lanzendörfer 04 Sep '20

04 Sep '20

Hi everyone So I had some beer with a professor from INL, she's doing Optronic design, ranging from building quantum CPUs to treating cancer. Besides having a pleasurable two hours, she also advised me on how to approach INL and offered help in establishing contact. I also discussed with her the mask less stepper aligner idea and INL would most likely be taking one. I also have talked to Mohamed and discussed with him the mask less stepper aligner idea as well, he can put me into touch with Skywater, as soon as I'm done. In order to avoid mechanical deformation which might bring the aperture out of focus due to thermal expansion, I decided to manufacture the machine from Aluminum Oxide, an industrial ceramic which is harder than steel. I think the rigidity of the material is acceptable, considering that it will be a stationary machine in a clean room. On Sunday I can't make it to the Mumble session BTW, because I'll be on a bus ride to another city, to visit the parents of a friend for a few days. Cheers -lev

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Mumble & Maskless lithography stepper
by David Lanzendörfer 09 Aug '20

09 Aug '20

Hi So around when the Mumble session was supposed to start, the Mumble daemon crashed. I now restarted the service. I'm still busy designing the mechanics in the web MCAD, which is a shitty job on this tiny little laptop I've got here. Drawing CAD 3D designs on a machine which already is nearly breaking down running kwin and not having a mouse is a nightmare. I think I've got to divert some more time to a software project of a buddy of mine now in order to be able to buy myself a better setup. Cheers -lev

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some funny film about semiconductor production of the 80s
by ludwig jaffe 25 Jul '20

25 Jul '20

Hi, this is bid for power an educational film to learn english produced for siemens, germany. It contains some funny product placement and also tells how siemens developed chips in the 1980s. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjN3-zsLl0Y maybe, one can adopt some of the simplicity. Cheers, Ludwig

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Concerning the use of the LibreSilicon name in VSD-OIPD
by David Lanzendörfer 25 Jul '20

25 Jul '20

Dear VSD-OIPD team Philipp notified me that you require a email with formal permit for the paper trail, so I write this email to you. I'm David, the founder of LibreSilicon project. As long as you don't claim the project name for your own purpose, and use it to manufacture and market closed source semiconductors, I'm fine with your declaration of cooperation. In case you wanna cooperate deeper BTW, you might wanna sign up to our mailing list https://list.libresilicon.com Also, I'm right now designing a mask less stepper aligner, which has me totally wrapper up, I'm drawing technical drawings into my sketch note book like that guy from Deathnote writing names down xD You can join me in the design process, I'm using a web based CAD tool now https://vention.io/dashboard, it's like Altium360 for machine design :-) Cheers -lev

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Competition to LS: Skywater 130nm production-ready PDK gets opensourced
by Éger Ferenc 21 Jun '20

21 Jun '20

Hello Everyone! I just came along this: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23524428 Wrap-up: Google and Skywater partner up to provide an open-source PDK (incl. primitive library and models, mostly what we do) for an actually existing technology node. Compared to LS1U, MFS is 130nm, voltage range is 1,8V core + 3,3-5V IO, HV MOS and SONOS is also available. What seem to be differentiating factors are: - Only the PDK is open, the process steps not. Proprietary single-source tech. with no geographical diversity - Commercial mask-based volume-optimized foundry with the usual pain-in-the-ass for MPW projects (expensive for the general public, takes too long) - Made-in-USA with DoD accreditation (can attract US govt customers, but hmm-hmm... otherwise) At the end, if we wish to underline the importance and necessity of our work, we may need to put more emphasis on maskless lithography and a business model geared towards unique, fast, cheap (i.e. comparable to a catalog component) single-piece orders. Regards, Ferenc

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Badgood news on USA/TSMC/Huawei
by Éger Ferenc 18 May '20

18 May '20

Hello Everyone, Today I ran about two interesting articles (they are unfortunately in Hungarian, but they may be found in English somewhere, or use a translator): https://index.hu/gazdasag/2020/05/15/a_feher_haz_fokozza_a_nyomast_a_huawei… https://index.hu/techtud/2020/05/18/huawei_egyesult_allamok_amerika_kereske… Short warp-up: 1. USA government practically bans domestic and overseas licensees and users of US semiconductor IP and technology (including fab equipment) worldwide to do business with the Chinese, 2. Huawei's supplier TSMC stops accepting orders from Huawei, 3. TSMC opens new fab and relocates R+D to the USA for USD12bn. The bad side is that (besides the apparent restart of the Cold War) our experience with HKUST's CMP machine (no spare parts) may become the new global norm in the near future. The good side is that the bad side may undermine trust in the reliablity of US suppliers and devaluate their IP, while up-rating the value and importance of the open-source, worldwidely distributed silicon ecosystem that is not bound to to any corporation bound to a government (e.g. Kyrin is more or less based on ARM, whose licensing and subjection to US export control is an attack surface, while its direct competitor RISC-V is free of such restrictions), as companies may perceive either the US may say "You are the next who is locked out", or their non-US supplier may say next " I lock You out". Regards, Ferenc

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PearlRiver NG
by Philipp Gühring 10 May '20

10 May '20

Hi, Could we create larger PearlRiver like Testwafers, or is it already the largest size possible on our wafers? I would like to add some more structures on PearlRiver. Can I just enlarge it, or do I have to replace things? What would be the maximum size? According to David: "ideally we wanna make the next PearlRiver even smaller, rather than bigger, because the more dies you can fit on one wafer the better you can characterize issues with edge effects" What we could do is splitting the test structures across multiple test wafers based on the complexity level a lab can do. If a lab can't build polysilicon for instance, it's pointless for them to test polysilicon zener diodes." My idea at the moment is to build a Test Wafer generator which would help us there. Lets try to discuss this tomorrow in the Mumble call. Best regards, Philipp

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Keybase
by Éger Ferenc 23 Apr '20

23 Apr '20

Hello Everyone, I "just" received (actually on Apr. 13, but I did not log in to my mail since then, so I just read) a notification from "Keybase" that "Lawson English" invited me to a "libresilicon" team. Did anyone got similar mail, or can anyone confirm if it is not a scam? BTW: @David: I wasn't in Jitsi (sorry for that), can you please wrap up shortly what the heck happened? Regards, Ferenc

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LibreSilicon foundation
by David Lanzendörfer 22 Apr '20

22 Apr '20

Hi everyone So, since there is still NO LibreSilicon foundation, I've decided, that I'll probably just incorporate it myself, where I am right now, in Portugal. For 375€ I can register the LibreSilicon foundation within two weeks, by going to this office here: https://www.irn.mj.pt/sections/irn I'll pay this fee from my own wallet. Two people will have to be present, so I hope Hernani and I can do that together, when he comes visiting me, after Corona Chan is done here, especially, because I could really use his help with the language. Does anyone have a problem with me incorporating the LibreSilicon foundation in Portugal? Cheers -lev

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Warning: Don't hand out your MoU
by David Lanzendörfer 21 Apr '20

21 Apr '20

Hi all Another thing. I don't know, whether Devon still is talking with Merik, but in case he comes and asks you for your MoU, don't hand out a copy! I don't know exactly what his plan is, with those MoUs, but better don't risk anything. Cheers -lev

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