UofT ASIC

Internal education

Learn to design a chip.

Self-paced courses that start from no background and end with a layout you drew and a design you hardened — on the same open-source tools the team uses for real tapeouts. 9 courses are open now.

Start here

IC101Onboarding onto Tools

Set up the shared Docker workspace and SKY130 toolchain every later course builds on. Every course below assumes it, so it is the one thing you have to do first.

Begin →

Then pick a track

Analog

From a waveform on a screen to transistors you have drawn yourself.

4 of 6 open

    1. AD101SignalsWaveforms, spectra, and Bode plots — a gentle primer before circuits.
    1. AD102Linear Circuits & FabricationLinear analysis folded together with how passives are fabricated on-chip.
    1. AD103Nonlinear CircuitsThe diode and MOSFET in XSchem: regions of operation and key device parameters.
    1. AD104LayoutFull-custom layout: stick diagrams, DRC/LVS-clean cells, PEX, and manual P&R.
    1. AD201Analog Signal ProcessingStretch track: filters, amplifiers, and the OpAmp.planned
    1. AD202Mixed SignalStretch track: ADCs, DACs, and the analog/digital interface.planned

Digital

From a truth table to a hardened GDSII, and proof that it works.

4 of 6 open

    1. DD101Intro to Digital LogicLogic from first principles and lowering to gates.
    1. DD102Digital Logic & FPGAsRTL on FPGAs and SystemVerilog, culminating in a ripple adder.
    1. DD103RTL on FPGAs & ASICsSystemVerilog in depth and the open-source RTL-to-GDSII flow.

  4. 3 ways on from DD103 — take them in any order

    1. DD104Pre-Silicon VerificationVerification with open-source tools: testbench a buggy core and fix it.
    2. DD201HLSStretch track: high-level synthesis languages.planned
    3. DD202Computer ArchitectureStretch track: memory architecture and a simple computer.planned

One workbench, every course

Every course mounts into the same container — XSchem, ngspice, Magic, KLayout, Yosys and LibreLane, already configured against the SKY130 process. Set it up once in IC101 and never install a tool again.

Workspace repo Course template