Space grade Instrumentation Amplifier ASIC
Validate open toolchains with Open Hardware with high quality ASIC
This project will develop an instrumentation amplifier (INA) with programmable gain (through I2C / SPI interfaces) which achieves high accuracy(< 1% gain error), low noise (< 20nV/rtHz at 1kHz), and high common mode rejection (> 80dB). It will produce an ASIC using free and open tools which will be taped out on IHP’s 130nm open source PDK, with performance guaranteed across process (slow / fast silicon), voltage (± 10%) and temperature. Because of its high performance, the INA will be applicable to high accuracy sensing applications (pressure, strain, temperature) typical to those found in a wide variety of industry / medical applications. In addition, the INA will be made robust to high radiation environments, making it applicable to low earth orbit / high energy particle applications, where single even latch up can be problematic. The final chip will be characterised as a tangible proof of the maturity of today's free and open source toolchains and their readiness to produce high performance semiconductors.
- The project's own website: https://www.slicesemiconductor.com/
Why does this actually matter to end users?
Developing an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) is expensive, with non-recurring engineering (NRE) cost starting in the millions of euros. This represents a significant barrier to startups and SMEs, in addition to the growth of Europe’s semiconductor ecosystem. As commercial EDA tools and silicon (commercial PDKs), represent the bulk of these NRE costs, the most effective route to lowering them is by migrating to open source development tools, and taping out on open source PDKs. Although academia has widely accepted / adopted this flow, industry remains skeptical on the ability of this open source model to deliver products whose performance can be guaranteed across industry standard process, voltage and temperature (PVT) conditions.
This project will demonstrate how the open source model has finally reached a level maturity capable of producing high performance, industry standard ASICs, which can be used in both terrestrial and non-terrestrial applications.
Run by SLICE Semiconductor
This project was funded through the NGI0 Commons Fund, a fund established by NLnet with financial support from the European Commission's Next Generation Internet programme, under the aegis of DG Communications Networks, Content and Technology under grant agreement No 101135429. Additional funding is made available by the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI).
