The IIS Chip Gallery
MLEM (2024)
by
| Application | Pulp |
| Technology | 130 |
| Manufacturer | IHP |
| Type | Research |
| Package | QFN56 |
| Dimensions | 2235μm x 2235μm |
| Gates | 350 kGE |
| Voltage | 1.2 V |
| Clock | 80 MHz |
MLEM, named after the sound Yoshi (from Super Mario) makes when eating a tasty fruit, is the first tapeout based on the Croc SoC platform. MLEM was designed and prepared for tapeout by students using a complete open- source tool flow, including a new SystemVerilog frontend for Yosys developed by Martin Poviser. This chip serves as a pilot for the new Open VLSI Lecture due to start in 2025, where students get the opportunity to prepare a Croc tapeout with any custom addition they may choose to add in IHP 130nm Open PDK.
For MLEM, students contributed a SystemVerilog UART peripheral to replace the existing VHDL version after additional verification, a GPIO peripheral already included in Croc and a Neopixel hardware unit for controlling RGB LEDs.
This design has received generous support from Leibniz Institute for High Performance Microelectronics.