3 ms·

Besides cost ($2000 per sq mm for fabrication) and design (the hardware design industry requires 6-7 figure $ software, and nothing is open source), the main pr

Besides cost ($2000 per sq mm for fabrication) and design (the hardware design industry requires 6-7 figure $ software, and nothing is open source), the main problem is copyright and IP. Any venture will require sufficient funding - and (by necessity) produce sufficient volume that it creates a pile of press - that nobody will touch it unless the copyright and IP issues are 100.00% cleared by a very large pile of lawyers.

userbinator 8y ago
the main problem is copyright and IP. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integrated_circuit_layout_design_protection https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integrated_circuit_layout_desi... The term of protection for IC layouts is only 10 years in the US --- i.e. long expired. $2000 per sq mm for fabrication That's if you want to use the newer processes; if you're reproducing old chips, something like 0.7um CMOS (already considered "old" today, those in the C64 are multiple-um) is only ~$300/mm^2: http://www.europractice-ic.com/docs/archive/171213_MPW2018-general-v2.0.pdf http://www.europractice-ic.com/docs/archive/171213_MPW2018-g...
- exikyut 8y ago
  Wait. How do chip manufacturers protect their designs?! I'm very curious. And thanks for the notes about CMOS, I'm very interested in chip design and $300 is rather affordable for hobbyist-level tinkering. Now just to have chip design tools take off... :)
  - slededit 8y ago
    You make the old design obsolete and therefore worthless. Combine that with strict trade secret and contractual protections and you are fairly close. But if someone wants to reverse engineer your chip they will.
    - exikyut 8y ago
      I suddenly understand why there are so few open design tools and so much [trade] secrecy. Wow, this is kind of sad. I'm cynical any laws implemented now would truly protect though, considering the state the world seems to be in...
  - pkaye 8y ago
    I used to work for a chip design company. They would get samples of competitive product and do competitive analysis and also see if they might be copying your technology. Once we had licensed a technology to another company for inclusion in specific products with some royalties. At some point they terminated that relationship saying they are no longer using the technology. We found that was not true a bit later and a lawsuit was initiated.

userbinator 8y ago

the main problem is copyright and IP. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integrated_circuit_layout_design_protection https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integrated_circuit_layout_desi... The term of protection for IC layouts is only 10 years in the US --- i.e. long expired. $2000 per sq mm for fabrication That's if you want to use the newer processes; if you're reproducing old chips, something like 0.7um CMOS (already considered "old" today, those in the C64 are multiple-um) is only ~$300/mm^2: http://www.europractice-ic.com/docs/archive/171213_MPW2018-general-v2.0.pdf http://www.europractice-ic.com/docs/archive/171213_MPW2018-g...

exikyut 8y ago
Wait. How do chip manufacturers protect their designs?! I'm very curious. And thanks for the notes about CMOS, I'm very interested in chip design and $300 is rather affordable for hobbyist-level tinkering. Now just to have chip design tools take off... :)
- slededit 8y ago
  You make the old design obsolete and therefore worthless. Combine that with strict trade secret and contractual protections and you are fairly close. But if someone wants to reverse engineer your chip they will.
  - exikyut 8y ago
    I suddenly understand why there are so few open design tools and so much [trade] secrecy. Wow, this is kind of sad. I'm cynical any laws implemented now would truly protect though, considering the state the world seems to be in...
- pkaye 8y ago
  I used to work for a chip design company. They would get samples of competitive product and do competitive analysis and also see if they might be copying your technology. Once we had licensed a technology to another company for inclusion in specific products with some royalties. At some point they terminated that relationship saying they are no longer using the technology. We found that was not true a bit later and a lawsuit was initiated.