[HN Gopher] IHP open source 130 nm BiCMOS PDK with 500 GHz fmax ...
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       IHP open source 130 nm BiCMOS PDK with 500 GHz fmax transistors
        
       Author : henrikf
       Score  : 48 points
       Date   : 2023-03-11 12:37 UTC (10 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (github.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (github.com)
        
       | kayson wrote:
       | This is great! I love seeing new open pdks. It's still a pain to
       | use these for complex analog design, compared to something from
       | tsmc or samsung, but every step is progress in the right
       | direction.
        
       | varispeed wrote:
       | Russia and other rogue states must certainly love this release...
        
         | lnsru wrote:
         | Why? They don't have technology for manufacturing anyway.
        
       | kken wrote:
       | Nice! I wonder whether there will also be public MPW shuttles?
       | 
       | Also, curious whether open tools suitable for HF design are
       | available that could be used with this PDK.
        
       | henrikf wrote:
       | This is a very fast BiCMOS process with both MOSFETs and bipolar
       | transistors. Some digital logic can be implemented with MOSFETs
       | but since they are 130 nm it's not very competitive with smaller
       | cutting edge CMOS processes. Bipolar transistors are really the
       | whole point of choosing this process and it's aimed for
       | implementing analog and RF circuits. Bipolar transistors are
       | extremely fast and can be used to make amplifiers operating at
       | >200 GHz. MOSFETs can be used to implement some simple digital
       | blocks for controlling the RF blocks.
       | 
       | I have made several tapeouts with this process and I have very
       | good experiences with it. Compared to other open source PDKs that
       | Google has open sourced previously this one is quite modern and
       | offers very good RF performance.
       | 
       | It doesn't seem quite ready for design yet. Transistor models and
       | stackup are published so schematic level simulation is possible.
       | There is a roadmap chart in the repository
       | (https://github.com/IHP-GmbH/IHP-Open-PDK/blob/main/ihp-sg13g...)
       | and it seems that they are going to offer free MPW runs.
        
         | erdewit wrote:
         | Isn't this what's used for military applications like AESA
         | radars? If so how come it's open source?
        
           | baybal2 wrote:
           | [dead]
        
           | henrikf wrote:
           | What's open sourced here is the design kit. Designed chips
           | need to be sent to IHP to be manufactured.
           | 
           | SiGe isn't also that useful for military radar applications.
           | Compared to SiGe GaN has much greater breakdown voltage which
           | leads to greater output power and better efficiency. It's
           | possible to get 10 to 100 times more output power from GaN
           | chip compared to SiGe. It isn't really possible to make high
           | performance long range radar with just SiGe although it could
           | be used in some parts of it.
        
         | p_j_w wrote:
         | Is there any FOSS you can use these PDKs with?
        
       | gautamcgoel wrote:
       | Dumb question: if this can be used for 200 GHz electronics, why
       | is it not useful for digital electronics? Is the power draw
       | prohibitive or something?
        
         | aappleby wrote:
         | 200 ghz analog amplifiers, not 200 ghz digital logic. Very
         | different circuit design rules.
        
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       (page generated 2023-03-11 23:01 UTC)