14–17 June 2027·Seville, Spain

2027

Open-Source Design Challenge

A real circuit, built fully in the open

New in 2027 · Open to everyone

Compete for the $1,000 award

A better design, made with open-source tools on an open PDK.

For the first time, SMACD 2027 holds an Open-Source Design Challenge, open to everyone: students, researchers, independents and companies. Design a circuit (analog, RF, digital or mixed-signal) using only open-source tools and an open PDK, and show us how you did it.

# what we will do with your entry

$ git clone https://…/your-entry && cd your-entry

$ less README.md

✓ open PDK ✓ open tools ✓ GDS ✓ DRC/LVS clean

$ make reproduce # optional, and it earns you points

Download the call (PDF)Paper and repository due: 19 February 2027

From repository to silicon

  1. 01

    Submit

    A 4-page SMACD paper and a public repository that shows what you did and how.

  2. 02

    We check it

    Our team goes through your repository and re-runs whatever you made reproducible.

  3. 03

    You present it

    At SMACD you present the paper, then answer the judges’ questions. No live demo.

  4. 04

    Win

    $1,000 and your open design named the best of the SMACD 2027 Challenge.

What you submit

Two things, both required.

A paper

Four pages, IEEE format, the standard SMACD 2027 submission guidelines. Accepted papers are presented in the Challenge session and published in IEEE Xplore.

A public repository

It shows what you did, and that you did it with open-source tools on an open PDK.

It must contain

  • A README.md describing the design, the tools, the PDK (with its commit) and the results you claim
  • The clean DRC and LVS reports of your design

Add whatever demonstrates your work

  • The design itself: schematics or RTL, netlists, GDS, testbenches, sizing or generator scripts
  • Further verification: post-layout simulation results and any other checks
  • One command that reproduces your results, or a CI workflow (for example GitHub Actions) that runs it
  • A container that pins the tool versions, such as a tagged IIC-OSIC-TOOLS image (optional)

A repository with your GDS and clean DRC and LVS reports is enough to enter. The more of your results others can reproduce, the better your entry scores.

The rules

  1. 01

    Open tools only

    Every step from schematic or RTL to GDS and verification uses open-source software. Proprietary tools may be used only to cross-check, must be declared, and earn nothing.

  2. 02

    Open PDK only

    Any open-source PDK (IHP SG13G2, SkyWater Sky130, GlobalFoundries GF180MCU, or equivalent), named by repository and commit. The choice of open PDK plays no part in judging.

  3. 03

    DRC and LVS clean

    Your design must pass DRC and LVS, proven with the open-source tools of your choice. The reports go in the repository.

  4. 04

    Publish it

    Sources under Apache-2.0, CERN-OHL-P or CERN-OHL-S; documentation CC-BY-4.0. If you cannot publish it, you cannot enter it.

  5. 05

    Scope

    Analog, RF, digital and mixed-signal designs within the scope of SMACD 2027.

  6. 06

    Generators welcome, as a means

    If your design comes from a generator, include the generator and the design or designs it produced. We judge the generated designs as circuits; a generator as such belongs in the EDA Competition.

How we judge

A Judging Committee selects a single winner, in two steps.

  1. 1

    We check it

    After the submission deadline, our team goes through your repository, confirms the open tools, the open PDK and the clean DRC and LVS, and re-runs whatever you made reproducible. It reports facts (what built, what broke, what deviated) and no scores.

  2. 2

    You present it

    At SMACD you present the paper, and then the judges ask you about the repository, with our team’s report in front of them. No live demo is required.

Tip: check your repository from a clean clone before you submit.

The judges score every entry on five criteria

  1. 01

    Design achievement

    Is the circuit good?

    Difficulty, quality against the state of the art, soundness of the verification.

  2. 02

    Reproducibility

    How much of your result can others re-run?

    Clean build, pinned versions, results that match the paper.

  3. 03

    Open Defence

    Do you know your own flow?

    Honesty about its gaps and manual steps; the repository under inspection.

  4. 04

    Tool use and openness

    Open end to end?

    Open toolchain used end to end; built on existing open frameworks rather than a private fork; fixes contributed upstream.

  5. 05

    Documentation and community value

    Could a stranger reuse it?

    Licence, documentation, worked examples.

An entry without its public repository cannot win. Ties go to the higher Reproducibility score.

What you can win

Grand Prize

$1,000

To a single winner, presented at SMACD 2027.

SMACD Reproducibility Seal

Not a prize, a record: every entry whose results our team reproduces, winner or not, is listed in a permanent public index.

Important dates

  1. 19 Feb 2027

    Paper and repository due

  2. 22 Feb – 26 Mar 2027

    Repository check and reproduction

  3. 9 Apr 2027

    Notification

  4. 30 Apr 2027

    Camera-ready; repository frozen and archived with a DOI

  5. 14–17 Jun 2027

    Challenge session at SMACD 2027, Seville

How to apply

  1. 1

    Write the 4-page paper following the standard SMACD 2027 guidelines and submit it on EasyChair, choosing “Open-source Design Challenge” as the Submission Type.

  2. 2

    Make your repository public, with its README.md, and put its URL in the paper and in the submission form.

  3. 3

    Check your repository from a clean clone before you submit.

  4. 4

    Archive the frozen repository with a DOI (for example on Zenodo) by the camera-ready deadline.

Use the regular paper guidelines and the same deadline as every SMACD 2027 paper.

Which SMACD competition is yours?

If your contribution is the tool, method or flow, enter the EDA Competition; if it is what you designed, enter the Open-Source Design Challenge.

The goal

Open-Source Design Challenge: A better design: a real circuit, built with open-source tools on an open PDK

EDA Competition: A better designer: a new tool, method or design flow

What you show

Open-Source Design Challenge: Your design, and a public repository that shows how you made it

EDA Competition: Your tool, and a design that demonstrates it

A generator

Open-Source Design Challenge: The design or designs it produces, judged as circuits

EDA Competition: The generator itself, judged as a method

Toolchain

Open-Source Design Challenge: Open source only

EDA Competition: Anything, commercial included

Who may enter

Open-Source Design Challenge: Everyone

EDA Competition: M.Sc. and Ph.D. students

The EDA Competition

The small print

  • Everyone may enter: no affiliation or membership requirement. Individuals or teams; one presenter attends SMACD 2027 in Seville.
  • Review is single-blind.
  • Prior open-source release of your design is fine, encouraged even. Submitting the same paper elsewhere at the same time is not.
  • Entries previously built for Chipalooza, the SSCS Chipathon or similar are welcome if the SMACD entry adds something new.

Questions? Ask the co-chairs

  • Rafael Castro-López

    IMSE-CNM · Spain

  • Marko Kosunen

    Aalto University · Finland

Write to info@smacd-conference.org with “Open-Source Design Challenge” in the subject.