OpenROAD-Powered IC Design Course for Spanish Learners
Professor Erick Carvajal designed a semester-long VLSI curriculum at the University of Costa Rica using OpenROAD and OpenLane, giving students a full RTL→GDSII experience without commercial licenses.
When Professor Erick Carvajal began planning an undergraduate microelectronics course, commercial EDA tooling created licensing hurdles and limited lab access. After catching an OpenROAD™ presentation in 2021, he turned to the open-source stack to deliver hands-on learning for his Spanish-speaking students and to expand their path into semiconductor careers.
The goals were clear: provide an accessible flow that students could run from their own machines, tailor material to Spanish learners, and build practical skills that translate directly into industry roles. OpenROAD and the OpenLane flow controller delivered the full RTL→GDSII toolchain, rapid turnaround, and the freedom to experiment.
Course structure & labs
The four-month course (August–December) blended weekly lectures with labs on OpenLane and the SkyWater 130 nm PDK. Students progressed from RTL synthesis through physical design, using reference material such as CMOS VLSI Design by Weste & Harris and working through three core lab projects—including an 8-bit adder—as they learned how design decisions affect PPA.
To visualize synthesized netlists the class adopted netlistsvg, converting Yosys JSON into SVG schematics. This made technology mapping tangible and helped students debug and document their designs.
netlistsvg.Exploring design trade-offs
OpenROAD’s GUI and reporting let teams iterate quickly on floorplans, pin placements, power grids, and timing strategies. Students compared area and critical-path metrics across multiple runs to understand how architectural choices manifest in layout.
Results & next steps
Graduates left with practical experience in debugging, analyzing reports, and optimizing designs—experience that has already helped several students land physical design roles. Professor Carvajal is expanding the curriculum with OpenROAD-centered capstone projects and welcomes collaboration from fellow Spanish-language instructors. You can reach him at erick.carvajalbarboza@ucr.ac.cr.
“OpenROAD™ was essential for the class I taught… Students were able to learn and gain practical experience with EDA tools: analyze reports, debug errors, optimize the design, and have a free and safe environment for experimentation and exploration. OpenROAD is, without a doubt, democratizing VLSI education and spurring research opportunities—it gave me the chance to teach a class I couldn’t afford.”
About Professor Erick Carvajal
Prof. Carvajal earned his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Universidad de Costa Rica (2014), his M.S. from The University of Texas at Austin (2017), and his Ph.D. in Computer Engineering from Texas A&M University (2021). His research spans machine learning-assisted design flows and innovative approaches to engineering education.