Pioneering CMOS IC Fabrication in Undergraduate Curriculum Using Open-Source CAD Tools

In this paper, we present a fabricated, working ring-oscillator designed in a 180 nm standard CMOS process node and using only free and open-source CAD tools. While this topology is well-known, a common practice in all textbooks, the novelty in our work lays in the fact that the silicon-ready design (GDS files) was achieved within an undergrad course with zero investment in industry standard vendor software licenses. The IC is packaged into a DIL16 housing and here we demonstrate correct operation in a breadboard setting using a standard measurement setup.