Frequently Asked Questions
FAQ
efabless corporation is an open innovation, hardware creation platform for “smart” products. Our community delivers the customized integrated electronics required for semiconductor and hardware system innovators to turn their product visions into a marketable reality.
Today, efabless focuses on on-demand and custom IP. Efabless gives chip companies two ways to obtain analog & mixed-signal IP: you can search for existing IP in our growing library of verified designs, but more importantly you can also request the efabless community to design new IP and derivatives.
We are opening new markets. Our initial application for the service is to fill the need by foundries, design service firms and IC providers for on-demand and custom IP. For example, foundries post design requests or search our marketplace to fill gaps in IP for process nodes. Design firms and IC companies, large and small, access efabless and its community to source custom analog and digital IP for new designs. We will soon provide full chip assembly and our community will serve hardware innovators requiring customized electronics solutions.
efabless focuses on Ad (Big A-little d) IP at this time. “Big A” means primarily analog circuits. “Little d” means digital circuits as necessary to build powerful mixed signal IP and ICs.
Community members retain the rights to IP created on the system under the Technology Licensing Agreement. However, the IP is maintained on our system and is not available for downloading from the system. This is necessary to enable the ability to design with foundry PDK’s without requiring NDA’s. .
This is one of the most unique and valuable aspects of the efabless system. We segment and protect your IP so that each individual involved with your design sees only those specifications and design files necessary to complete his job. The rest of the design is a “black box” represented by simulation models and vectors.
All IP files are abstracted and hidden from everyone except for the designer. If the IP is offered in the efabless marketplace, customers can only access the datasheets and abstracted views for simulation and integration - no schematics or gds data is exposed.
At efabless, the customer can search and purchase or license IP modules and more importantly the customer can also request derivatives and new IP directly in the efabless marketplace, including IP to be designed by the efabless community. Our “try before buying” solution allows a customer to integrate IP in a design and simulate it before user & licensing. This ensures first-time success and dramatically reduces the upfront cost and risk of design.
- A github-like openness for the design IP – as a “IP/IC Design Hub” with specific focus on Analog/Mixed-signal IP
- A complete foundry-supported design toolset to enable designers to adapt, implement and prototype their work based on the customer requirements.
- A customer focused marketplace for community-developed finished hard IP that originated from the design-hub.