Author Topic: I know this probably isnt possible but...  (Read 4243 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline sci4meTopic starter

  • Regular Contributor
  • *
  • Posts: 139
  • Country: us
    • sci4me.com
I know this probably isnt possible but...
« on: July 04, 2013, 11:45:54 pm »
Hey guys. So, I have been working on designing a very simple CPU as a basic simple project for fun. Well, not simple but.. anywho, I was wondering if its in any way possible to have it put on to an actual chip. Not an FPGA but its own custom chip. I am just wondering if it is possible to do for a price that is ... well.. not a lot.. In the hundreds... Any more than a few hundred and i'm out of luck. If I can't have my own chip then I suppose I may settle with an FPGA but I would have to learn how to use FPGA's and get one.
 

duskglow

  • Guest
Re: I know this probably isnt possible but...
« Reply #1 on: July 04, 2013, 11:48:59 pm »
This is exactly what FPGAs are for.  Rolling your own custom chip would cost a lot of money, and I don't even think chip houses would do it for orders of less than, say, a hundred thousand devices.
 

Offline Stonent

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 3824
  • Country: us
Re: I know this probably isnt possible but...
« Reply #2 on: July 04, 2013, 11:54:21 pm »
Just strip off the Altera/Xilinx/Lattice branding. :)
The larger the government, the smaller the citizen.
 

Offline sci4meTopic starter

  • Regular Contributor
  • *
  • Posts: 139
  • Country: us
    • sci4me.com
Re: I know this probably isnt possible but...
« Reply #3 on: July 04, 2013, 11:54:47 pm »
Okay. In that case, Ill use an FPGA if I ever actually make the CPU.
 

Offline sci4meTopic starter

  • Regular Contributor
  • *
  • Posts: 139
  • Country: us
    • sci4me.com
Re: I know this probably isnt possible but...
« Reply #4 on: July 04, 2013, 11:55:02 pm »
Just strip off the Altera/Xilinx/Lattice branding. :)

Will do :P
 

Offline mariush

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 4982
  • Country: ro
  • .
Re: I know this probably isnt possible but...
« Reply #5 on: July 04, 2013, 11:57:07 pm »
There was a mention on The Amp Hour podcast a few episodes ago about a company taking your designs and making actual chips out of them.. but all i remember was something about taking 4-8 months to actually have the chip in your hands.

Go to http://www.theamphour.com/ and read the episode summaries for the last 10-20 episodes or thereabouts if you're interested, sorry I don't know more accurately.
 

Offline EEVblog

  • Administrator
  • *****
  • Posts: 37661
  • Country: au
    • EEVblog
Re: I know this probably isnt possible but...
« Reply #6 on: July 05, 2013, 12:01:36 am »
No, it's not possible to do your own chip for that price.
FPGA's are:
- Massively cheaper
- Instant (don't have to wait many months)
- Infinitely reprogrammable
- Easier to use (that's saying a lot) and get help with.

FPGA are designed specifically for what you want to do, use them.
« Last Edit: July 05, 2013, 12:03:48 am by EEVblog »
 

Offline sci4meTopic starter

  • Regular Contributor
  • *
  • Posts: 139
  • Country: us
    • sci4me.com
Re: I know this probably isnt possible but...
« Reply #7 on: July 05, 2013, 12:07:34 am »
Okay, and can anyone recommend me a fairly cheap (hundred dollar or so?) fpga kit that has everything I need to program it and get things working? Thanks.
 

Offline free_electron

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 8515
  • Country: us
    • SiliconValleyGarage
Re: I know this probably isnt possible but...
« Reply #8 on: July 05, 2013, 01:28:16 am »
Terasic design board.
Professional Electron Wrangler.
Any comments, or points of view expressed, are my own and not endorsed , induced or compensated by my employer(s).
 

Offline EEVblog

  • Administrator
  • *****
  • Posts: 37661
  • Country: au
    • EEVblog
Re: I know this probably isnt possible but...
« Reply #9 on: July 05, 2013, 01:52:24 am »
Okay, and can anyone recommend me a fairly cheap (hundred dollar or so?) fpga kit that has everything I need to program it and get things working? Thanks.

Depends entirely on your design requirements.
But something like this cheap DE0-Nano should do the job
http://www.terasic.com.tw/cgi-bin/page/archive.pl?Language=English&CategoryNo=139&No=593
 

Offline notsob

  • Frequent Contributor
  • **
  • Posts: 690
  • Country: au
Re: I know this probably isnt possible but...
« Reply #10 on: July 05, 2013, 02:53:08 am »
Just as a reality check, once you have designed your chip as a silicon entity ($$$ cost), there is a 'photographic' process - overlays etching etc to create the final silicon. Others with real world experience can put their 2 cents worth in here, but the cost of just the photographic 'plates' would be quite a few more times more expensive than the average house and that is before you start the fabrication process.
 

Offline sci4meTopic starter

  • Regular Contributor
  • *
  • Posts: 139
  • Country: us
    • sci4me.com
Re: I know this probably isnt possible but...
« Reply #11 on: July 05, 2013, 10:22:23 am »
Okay, now I see why you are saying its not possible in my price range :D
 

Offline romovs

  • Contributor
  • Posts: 20
  • Country: il
    • My Personal Blog
Re: I know this probably isnt possible but...
« Reply #12 on: July 05, 2013, 03:40:19 pm »
Okay, and can anyone recommend me a fairly cheap (hundred dollar or so?) fpga kit that has everything I need to program it and get things working? Thanks.

XuLA board. Comes with a nice tutorial for beginners and only 55USD.
 

Offline hlavac

  • Frequent Contributor
  • **
  • Posts: 536
  • Country: cz
Re: I know this probably isnt possible but...
« Reply #13 on: July 05, 2013, 05:25:36 pm »
Terasic DE0 Nano. That has fairly big Altera Cyclone IV E. You can fit whole SoC with OpenRISC running Linux on it.

Or, if your design is small, have a look at MachXO and MachXO2 breakout boards from Lattice.
These are extremely cheap yet good way to learn VHDL/Verilog.

For Xilinx you may look for some Spartan 6 boards like the one from Avnet.
Good enough is the enemy of the best.
 


Share me

Digg  Facebook  SlashDot  Delicious  Technorati  Twitter  Google  Yahoo
Smf