Deadline Extended: Universalization of IC Design from CASS (UNIC-CASS) Program!
The IEEE Circuits and Systems Society (CASS) invites you to participate in the Universalization of IC Design from CASS (UNIC-CASS) program, a structured end-to-end Integrated Circuit (IC) design-to-test experiential learning. The program aims to improve the know-how and accessibility to IC Design technologies for enthusiasts and design communities worldwide in low-to-middle-income and/or low-opportunity countries. This program is of strategic cooperation with the Solid-State Circuits Society serving geographical-complementing locations.
There are no restrictions to designing your ideal chip on design complexity or type (digital, analog/RF, or mixed-signal). Based on the quality of their submitted chip design proposals, selected participants will get the opportunity to learn from carefully curated materials on the CASS MiLe platform, hands-on design mentoring by experts in the field, submit designs to CASS-sponsored fabrication runs via Efabless chipIgnite program and test your fabricated chip at selected testing facilities.
Benefits
- Learn by experience on IC conception, functional specifications, design and verification of IC, silicon fabrication, and chip test/bring-up.
- Hands-on design experience using open-source Electronic Design Automation (EDA) tools and Open PDKs.
- Enhance students' professional careers in this exciting and challenging field of turning system ideas into real electronic circuits.
How to Participate
- Form a team of three to five members, undergraduate and graduate-level students (until 31 December 2023). At least three team members must be IEEE CASS members (for 2023 and 2024).
- Invite one faculty member as a supervisor/mentor to your team.
- Register for this program by submitting a proposal containing "design title", “team composition (students and supervisor/mentor)”, "description of the design idea", "block diagram" and "expected outcome". You may use these open-source silicon project 1, project 2, and many others as a reference. Submit your proposal here before the deadline.
- Attend design review mentoring sessions scheduled once every two weeks through Zoom or Webex with CASS mentors. Our expert-in-the-field volunteers, including IC design professionals, professors, and advanced graduate students, will meet online to answer questions and interact with your design team.
- Travel (one representative from each team) to the CASS testing hub for the chip testing activities.
Important Dates
- 22 June 2023 - First call for participation
- 28 July 2023 - Deadline for proposal submission (extended)
- 10 August 2023 - Result announcement
- 15 August - November 2023 - Learn from specially curated educational materials, Design-to-tapeout mentoring sessions
- November 2023 - Deadline for layout submission
- April 2024 - Chip test/bring-up
View our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on the UNIC-CASS webpage.