Chips power everything from smartphones to autonomous vehicles, and now you can learn to design them using powerful open-source tools in this beginner-friendly course led by Luca Berton in collaboration with Starweaver. Whether you’re a student, hobbyist, or junior engineer, this course makes the world of chip design approachable and hands-on.
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What You’ll Learn
- ✅ Develop basic chip layouts with open-source tools
- ✅ Analyze and evaluate the chip design workflow
- ✅ Simulate and validate digital logic circuits
- ✅ Solve real-world design challenges with tools like Magic, NGSPICE, and KiCAD
Who Should Enroll?
Ideal for:
- Electrical engineering students
- Aspiring chip designers
- Open-source developers
- Junior hardware engineers
Basic knowledge of electronic circuits and digital logic is helpful but not required.
Course Overview
- Introduction to the Course & Meet Your Instructor
- What is Chip Design?
- Open-Source Tools in Chip Design
- Chip Design Flow with Magic and SkyWater PDK
- Exploring the Capabilities of Magic
- Exploring the Interface of KiCAD
- Configuring NGSPICE for Simulation
- Building a Logic Circuit in KiCAD
- Simulating a Circuit with NGSPICE
- Generating the Final Layout with OpenROAD
- Congratulations and Continuous Learning Journey
Readings Included
- Course Overview
- Hands-On: Create and Verify Layout Using NGSPICE
- SkyWater PDK Documentation
- Hands-On: Simulate Logic Circuit via Software
- Setting up OpenROAD
- The Ultimate Guide to Open Source EDA Tools
Assignments & Peer Reviews
- Assignment: Chip Design with Open-Source Tools (20 minutes)
- Peer Review: Design a 4-Bit Binary Adder
Certificate
On completion, you’ll receive a Coursera Career Certificate—perfect for sharing on LinkedIn or your resume.
Course updated in February 2025 and included with Coursera Plus.
About the Instructor
Luca Berton brings chip design to life through clear instruction and hands-on exercises. With multiple courses under his belt, Luca makes technical concepts easy to grasp for learners of all levels.
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