eSilicon Offers Free Semiconductor IP For Universities!

It is easy to forget the importance of academia’s role in the semiconductor ecosystem but it is important not to. If you look at the DNA of the semiconductor industry you will see how dependent we are on academic research for innovation and the necessary disruption that keeps us all gainfully employed. FinFETs are the first things that come to mind since it has been a trending term on SemiWiki for the past three years, but there are many more.

Unfortunately for modern day academics, semiconductor research presents more expensive hurdles than before, one of those being multi project wafers (MPWs), which is why I’m happy to write again about eSilicon and their eMuse University Program:

eMUSe stands for eSilicon MPW University Services. It is an umbrella term that describes a complete experience for semiconductor researchers – advanced Internet technology, world-class service and a community of fellow researchers. eMUSe is changing the way semiconductor research is done. Our online technology makes finding the right MPW process, schedule and cost simple and intuitive. No phone calls or paperwork, just free access to answers, 24/7. World-class service provides the right guidance, IP and on-time delivery. And our growing community allows for some significant cost reduction and information sharing.

Visit the eSilicon eMuse landing page for more information which includes blogs by some very experienced people:

• Mike Gianfagna, VP of Marketing, eSilicon
• Kar Yee Tang, Senior Manager, IP Product Marketing, eSilicon
• Bill Isaacson, Senior Director, ASIC Product Marketing, eSilicon
• Geoff Porter, Director of Customer Marketing, eSilicon

There is also a call for authors if you want to share your experience, observations, and opinions with the eMuse community:Join the community – change the world!

What’s new at eMuse since I have written last you ask? Excellent question:

New: Free IP for University Research MPWs
eSilicon takes great pride in supporting university research organizations around the world in their development of custom integrated circuits. Support includes:

• The eSilicon[SUP]®[/SUP] STAR platform, a free, automated online secure environment that provides a self-service, transparent, accurate, real-time experience from IC design through volume ASIC production. Request a STAR account.
• Universities around the world have found MPW Explorer to be particularly useful in streamlining their multi-project wafer (MPW) quote and manufacturing processes
• STAR Navigator allows users to search, select and try eSilicon semiconductor IP online

Free IP

As of June 6, 2016, eSilicon standard, off-the-shelf IP listed in STAR Navigator, below, is free to universities who are creating MPWs for research purposes (no production or commercial use).

Memory IP:

• Ternary CAM (TCAM)
  
• Binary CAM (BCAM)
• Pseudo two-port SRAM
• Dual-port SRAM
• Single-port SRAM
• Two-port asynchronous register file
• Four-port register file
• Two-port register file
• One-port register file
• Single-port fast cache
• ROM

Interface IP: I/O Libraries

• General-purpose I/O libraries
• Specialty I/O libraries
• DDR I/O libraries

Foundries: Dongbu, GLOBALFOUNDRIES, LFoundry, Samsung, SMIC, TSMC and UMC

Technologies:14nm, 16nm, 28nm, 40nm, 65nm, 90nm, 110nm, 130nm, 150nm, 180nm

I will close with the eMuse mantra because I could not have said it better myself:

We are in awe of the research being done by our university clients. We have no doubt that some of it will indeed change the world someday. Your job is to innovate and not negotiate the semiconductor technology access maze. This is where we can help. eMUSe from eSilicon lets you get your idea realized in silicon with minimal cost and effort – leaving you more time to work on the truly hard stuff.