Publication of the journal

The use of proprietary Process Design Kit (PDK) in the educational process and its handing on to students can lead to disclosure of confidential information. This raises the problem of searching for alternate and open source PDK maximally similar to the target one in technological standards, metallization layer volume, final areas, and IC watt consumption. In this work, the possibility of replacing the proprietary HCMOS8D PDK with the freely distributed gf180MCU PDK along with their accompanying libraries of standard digital cells is considered. An intellectual property (IP) digital block of a wireless data transmission controller based on the NFC protocol was chosen as a typical design object that can be used as an educational task for a student. Both the free and open source programs OpenLane and OpenROAD, as well as the proprietary software stack from Cadence, were used as design tools. The topologies of an IP digital block were obtained for the following PDK variations: HCMOS8D HS, HCMOS8D LL, gf180 7T, gf180 9T, with use of both Cadence and OpenROAD layout process flow. As a result of the design, the occupied area on the chip and the total watt consumption were calculated for each variation, and the statistics of the used primitives were considered. A comparative analysis of the technologies was carried out and conclusions were drawn about their interchangeability. It has been established that gf180MCU technology can be used for preliminary estimation of die size, which could be thereafter transferred to HCMOS8D technology.

• Key words: integrated circuits design, 180 nm technology, free open-source software, FOSS, NFC protocol
• Published in: UNIVERSITY EDUCATION PROBLEMS
• Bibliography link: Zezin D. A. 180 nm based Process Design Kits comparison for educational purposes. Izv.vuzov. Elektronika = Proc. Univ. Electronics.2025;30(4):520–526. (InRuss.).https://doi.org/10.24151/1561-5405-2025-30-4-520-526.
• Financial source: the work was done as scientific IC manufacturing project “the digital part of the wireless communication controller based on NFC protocol”, released by National Research University of Electronic Technology (MIET) with MPW service as a part of “Methodology of the domestic electronic component base MPW – design (FSMR-2023-0008)” according to federal government project “Training of personnel and scientific foundation for the electronics industry”. HCMOS8D HS variant presetnted in the article was manufactured usin MPW service.