r/ASIC

Every summer I watch people in this field complain about not getting placed, not having experience, not knowing where to start.

So here. Free. Cloud. One click. No setup. No install. No excuse.

VSD has put together free GitHub-based programs for every major area of VLSI and semiconductors. Each one has a cloud lab you open in a browser and start immediately. Build the repo. Show the work. That is what gets you hired.

Physical Design (SoC Design and Planning)

Free: https://github.com/fayizferosh/soc-design-and-planning-nasscom-vsd

Cloud lab: https://github.com/vsdip/vsd-openlane

RISC-V Based MYTH

Free: https://github.com/AnoushkaTripathi/NASSCOM-RISC-V-based-MYTH-program

Cloud lab: https://github.com/vsdip/vsd-riscv2

Semiconductor Packaging

Free: https://github.com/arunkpv/Semiconductor-Packaging

Lab (Windows): https://www.ansys.com/en-in/academic/students/ansys-electronics-desktop-student

CMOS Circuit Design — start here if you are new to this

Free: https://github.com/PRIYANKADEVYADAV15/CMOS-Circuit-Design-Spice-Simulation-using-Sky130nm-technology

Cloud lab: https://github.com/vsdip/vsd-cmos/

RTL Design and Synthesis — also a great starting point

Free: https://github.com/vlsienthusiast00x/RTL_workshop

Cloud lab: https://github.com/vsdip/vsd-rtl

TCL Programming — do this one regardless of where you are in your career

Free: https://github.com/AnoushkaTripathi/VSD_TCL_PROGRAMMING_WORKSHOP/

Cloud lab: https://github.com/vsdip/vsd-tcl

7nm FinFET Design

Free: https://github.com/arunkpv/vsd_asap7_workshop

Cloud lab: https://github.com/vsdip/vsd-7nm

FPGA Fabric Design and Architecture

Free: https://github.com/ShonTaware/FPGA_Design_Fabric_Architecture

Cloud lab: shared during workshop

RISC-V Edge AI

Free: https://github.com/AayusHJainCodely/Risv_Edge_AI

Cloud lab: https://github.com/vsdip/vsd-riscv-edgeai

Analog Bandgap IP Design

Free: https://github.com/chandranshu24-hue/bgr_chandranshu/blob/main/README.md

Cloud lab: https://github.com/vsdip/vsd-bandgap/

All of this is free. All labs run on the cloud. You do not need a beefy machine, you do not need to configure a Linux environment, you do not need to buy anything.

What you do need is to stop waiting and start committing to GitHub.

The semiconductor industry does not care about what you watched on YouTube this summer. It cares about what you built.

Many beginners treat development boards and FPGA boards as similar because both can blink LEDs, read sensors, drive motors, or connect to peripherals.

But internally, they represent two very different learning paths.

On a development board, the chip architecture is already fixed. You write C, Python, or Arduino-style code, and an existing processor executes those instructions.

On an FPGA board, you are not just writing software. You are describing hardware using Verilog or VHDL. The FPGA fabric gets configured into actual digital logic such as counters, UARTs, PWM blocks, small CPUs, accelerators, or custom datapaths.

That is the key difference:

Development board = software running on fixed hardware.

FPGA board = custom hardware built inside programmable silicon.

This is a simple question, but I think it quickly reveals whether someone understands the difference between embedded programming and digital hardware design.

For students entering RTL design, FPGA design, SoC design, or hardware acceleration, this clarity is important.

Blinking an LED is easy. Understanding whether the blink came from a software instruction or synthesized hardware logic is where real hardware learning begins.

Curious to hear from others: how would you explain this difference to a beginner in one line?

Built a hardware scan-line triangle rasterizer from scratch, full writeup here if interested

https://mummanajagadeesh.github.io/blogs/rasterizer/

It’s simulation-based for now, asking for feedback/suggestions on improvements

Most students use an FPGA like a black box.

They write Verilog, press synthesize, generate a bitstream, and celebrate when the LED blinks.

That is a good starting point, but the real learning begins when you understand what is actually inside the FPGA fabric.

A LUT is not just a “logic block”. It is a tiny programmable memory that can implement any Boolean function for a given number of inputs. Once you connect LUTs with flip-flops, multiplexers, connection boxes, switch boxes, and programmable routing, an FPGA stops looking like magic. It starts looking like architecture.

This is the difference between someone who only knows how to use FPGA tools and someone who understands how FPGA hardware is built.

For students aiming at FPGA prototyping, ASIC front-end design, verification, embedded systems, AI/ML acceleration, or hardware architecture roles, this foundation is extremely useful.

Basic Verilog is important, but stopping at Verilog is not enough. Understanding LUTs, CLBs, slices, routing, interconnects, waveform debugging, testbenches, and simple FPGA fabric modeling gives much deeper confidence.

We are running a 10-day cloud-based FPGA Fabric Design and Architecture Workshop at VSD, where the focus is on understanding FPGA internals from the ground up. No FPGA board is mandatory, and the labs are simulation-ready using Vivado and GTKWave.

If you are serious about FPGA, don’t stop at blinking LEDs.

Learn the fabric.

Registration link in comments.

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