Free Silicon Foundation @fsi@mastodon.f-si.org

@Chaos_99

It depends from the foundry. Still, 100% self-created standard cells do not contain (if at all) accurate spice models necessary to make analog components (needed for example for input/output) so only simple digital-only circuits are possible.

If the self-created cells can be derived from general abstract principles (and then adapted to the exact foundry parameters), the foundry should not be able to claim any ownership.

@maiki

Some members are listed here: https://wiki.f-si.org/index.php/FSiC2019#Organizing_committee .

Our logo intentionally resembles the FSF logo because we aim to be for silicon what the FSF is for software. We had extensive discussions with Richard Stallman before deciding to create the F-Si.

The F-Si is formally a "Swiss Verein" according to Art. 60-79 of the ZGB (see en.wikipedia.org for legal details and budget checking rules).

The F-Si budget is currently below 10kEur.

@phryk
Thank you!

Last year's conference was a smaller event (one day only) and the slides are available here:
https://www-soc.lip6.fr/events/pastevents/2018/ . For this year, recordings are not planned yet.

We contacted foundries too - let's see how far we can go in the direction of opening the PDKs: We have already fabricated RISCV chips, but various NDAs did not allow to publish layouts. We are working to change that. At FSiC there will be a session about this too.

#Introductions

We are proud to announce the birth of the Free Silicon Foundation (https://f-si.org)!

We organize a conference in Paris, March 14-16 2019, to promote:

1. Free and Open Source (FOS) CAD tools for designing #VLSI circuits
2. the sharing of hardware designs
3. common standards
4. the freedom of users in the context of #silicon technology

Program and submissions:
https://wiki.f-si.org/index.php/FSiC2019

#Hardware #FSiC