Efabless Extends Partnerships for Rapid Development Solution of Custom ICs

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Efabless Corporation,  the leading open innovation platform for IC design, announced a collaboration with imec, a world-leading research and innovation hub in nanoelectronics and digital technologies to support customers with low-cost rapid solutions for IC development. The solutions enable a broad range of customers with diverse areas of expertise, to create or have created, custom ICs supporting their products or technologies. The partnership enhances these solutions to leverage imec’s world-class supply chain solution for fabrication, assembly and test.

The solution is based on automated configurable design templates. The initial SoC Design Templates are based on X-FAB 180nm process technology and include a broad selection of analog and digital peripherals that can be readily configured into a design.

By choosing templates based on specific application requirements, custom SoC designs are automatically generated from a web-based UI using drop-down menus. The solution enables designers to create a complete SoC without needing expertise for the full chip design. For customers who need turn-key or partial design services, cost and time-to-market can be reduced as much as 3-5x through leveraging automated design generation and development on the Efabless platform.

Custom analog or digital block can be readily incorporated enabling further customization and providing a means to create a complete controller around customer developed IP. The solution is great for customers looking to build initial POCs or developing first product iterations. Unlike FPGAs, custom ICs (ASICs) support rich analog and digital mixed-signal designs and can provide better speed, cost and power consumption.

Romano Hoofman, Program Director at imec comments: “For many years, imec has supported customers and provided them with access to leading-edge foundries such that those customers can realize their ideas in silicon. The Efabless platform is great for customers who are looking for a low-cost, easy and fast route to fabrication of their ASIC solutions. Our collaboration will start with support for the XH018 technology from X-FAB, but we will add more technologies and foundries to the Efabless platform in the coming years.”

“We are very excited to be working with imec to eliminate traditional barriers for IC creation. We share a common vision for a simplified solution to address a large growing demand for custom electronics driven by requirements for intelligent connected products. By providing a complete path for many more designers to quickly and cost-effectively turn their innovative ideas into commercial products, imec and Efabless are taking a big step in making this vision a reality,” said Jeff DiCorpo, SVP Business Development at Efabless.