What happened: eChipHub gets an indigenous 1.2 µm PDK for IC design workflow

NIELIT, an autonomous scientific society under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), and Semiconductor Laboratory (SCL), Mohali, integrated SCL Mohali’s indigenous 1.2 µm Process Design Kit (PDK) into eChipHub. The government initiative aims to make indigenous semiconductor process technology available for integrated circuit (IC) design and prototyping across India.

Background and earlier position: eChipHub as a MeitY-funded semiconductor EdTech platform

eChipHub is implemented and managed by NIELIT under a MeitY-funded project titled “Development of EdTech Platform in Semiconductor Space to Democratize Chip Design and Development Ecosystem for Masses.” The platform supports semiconductor design education and capacity building and is jointly developed by NIELIT and SoCTeamup Semiconductors Pvt. Ltd. Prior to the PDK integration, eChipHub’s learning and skilling framework already emphasized structured courses, bootcamps, faculty development, internships, and academic-industry collaboration for chip design capacity.

What changed now: the SCL Mohali 1.2 µm PDK is embedded with a secure access mechanism

With the new integration, the indigenous open-source PDK from SCL Mohali has been made available through eChipHub. The government communication describes a secure Aadhaar-authenticated download mechanism to enable responsible access and wider adoption. The collaboration also pairs the PDK with open-source EDA toolchains to support an indigenous design-to-fabrication learning pathway.

Related current affairs