wafer.space - Budget silicon manufacturing

Budget silicon manufacturing.

Contact Info
143 Cecil Street,
#17‑04, GB Building,
Singapore 069542

  • Budget silicon manufacturing
    Budget silicon manufacturing
    Create integrated circuits without breaking the bank!
    Learn how!

Half Slots Are Here!

Get 1,000 custom silicon dies from just $4 per die

New half-width (0.5×1 slot) and half-height (1×0.5 slot) options — 1,000 dies for $4,000 with Early Bird pricing.

See Half Slot Pricing

Early Bird Deadline

Lock in early bird pricing for GF180MCU Run 2

0

days

0

hours

0

minutes

0

seconds

BUY

30 April 2026 @ 11:59 PM AoE (see in your timezone)

Purchase & Submission Deadline

Final deadline to purchase a slot and submit your GDS

0

days

0

hours

0

minutes

0

seconds

BUY

30 June 2026 @ 11:59 PM AoE (see in your timezone)

Complete Timeline

Milestone Date Description
Campaign Opens 1 March 2026 Run 2 slots available for purchase on Crowd Supply
Early Bird Deadline 30 April 2026 @ 11:59 PM AoE Last day to purchase at early bird pricing
Purchase & Submission Deadline 30 June 2026 @ 11:59 PM AoE Final deadline to purchase slots and submit GDS files
Parts Shipped Early Q4 2026 Bare dies and packaged parts shipped to customers

Ready to design your chip?

Your design. Your silicon. From $4 per die.

Get Started

Need Help?

Professional design services are available from independent consultants experienced with the GF180MCU process. Whether you need a full custom design, help with verification, or guidance on your first tapeout, experts are ready to assist.

Pricing

Slot Comparison

Choose the size that fits your design

Feature 1×1 Slot New!
0.5×1 Slot
New!
1×0.5 Slot
Die Size 3.93 × 5.12 mm 1.94 × 5.12 mm 3.93 × 2.53 mm
Die Area 20.12 mm² 9.93 mm² 9.94 mm²
Usable Silicon† 19.65 mm² 9.57 mm² 9.61 mm²
Core Area* 12.92 mm² 4.46 mm² 5.02 mm²
Default I/O Pads† 56 56 56
Max I/O Pads‡ 168 122 108
Early Bird Price $7,000 $4,000 $4,000
Standard Price $7,500 $4,500 $4,500
Per Die (Early Bird) $7.00 $4.00 $4.00

†Default pad ring I/O count. The default pad ring is only required if you purchase the Chip on Board packaging add-on.

‡Maximum I/O with a custom pad ring from the LibreLane pad ring generator. You are free to use any pad ring configuration — or no pad ring at all.

*Usable silicon = die area minus seal ring (~26µm each side). Available with a custom pad ring or no pad ring.

*Core area = area inside the default pad ring.

0.5×1 Slot (Half Width)
$4.50 / die

USD $4,500

Standard

0.5×1 Slot (Half Width) New!

0.5×1 Slot — 1000 dies per slot

The half-width (0.5×1) slot delivers a tall, narrow die — ideal for I/O-heavy designs where signals concentrate along the long edges. Perfect for medium-complexity digital or mixed-signal projects, at just over half the cost of a full slot.

  • GF180MCU process — 180nm mixed-signal
  • Die size: 1.94mm × 5.12mm (9.93 mm²)
  • Usable silicon: 9.57 mm² (custom pad ring or none)
  • Core area: 4.46 mm² (default pad ring, required for COB)
  • Default: 56 I/O pads — max: up to 122 I/O with custom pad ring
  • 5 metal layers, MIM capacitors, poly & high-res resistors
  • Early Bird pricing available through 30 April 2026
Slot Documentation
1×0.5 Slot (Half Height)
$4.50 / die

USD $4,500

Standard

1×0.5 Slot (Half Height) New!

1×0.5 Slot — 1000 dies per slot

The half-height (1×0.5) slot gives you a wide, short die — ideal for designs that benefit from a wider core. Offers slightly more core area than the half-width slot at the same price.

  • GF180MCU process — 180nm mixed-signal
  • Die size: 3.93mm × 2.53mm (9.94 mm²)
  • Usable silicon: 9.61 mm² (custom pad ring or none)
  • Core area: 5.02 mm² (default pad ring, required for COB)
  • Default: 56 I/O pads — max: up to 108 I/O with custom pad ring
  • 5 metal layers, MIM capacitors, poly & high-res resistors
  • Early Bird pricing available through 30 April 2026
Slot Documentation
1×1 Slot (Full)
$7.50 / die

USD $7,500

Standard

1×1 Slot (Full)

1×1 Slot — 1000 dies per slot

The full-size slot gives you the largest die area and maximum I/O count. Ideal for complex SoCs, full mixed-signal designs, or projects that need the most routing and core area.

  • GF180MCU process — 180nm mixed-signal
  • Die size: 3.93mm × 5.12mm (20.12 mm²)
  • Usable silicon: 19.65 mm² (custom pad ring or none)
  • Core area: 12.92 mm² (default pad ring, required for COB)
  • Default: 56 I/O pads — max: up to 168 I/O with custom pad ring
  • 5 metal layers, MIM capacitors, poly & high-res resistors
  • Early Bird pricing available through 30 April 2026
Slot Documentation

Enhance Your Order

Get your chips packaged and ready to test, or take home an entire wafer

Chip on Board Packaging
Learn More
Add-on
Chip on Board Packaging
$1,500 USD · $1.50 per die

Receive your dies wire-bonded onto small PCBs, ready for testing and integration.

  • Wire-bonded onto individual PCBs
  • Ready to power up and test immediately
  • Requires the default pad ring for wire bonding

Add-on to any slot purchase. Requires the default pad ring.

Add to Order
Full Undiced Wafer
Learn More
Add-on
Full Undiced Wafer
$2,000 USD

Take home a complete 200mm wafer with your design alongside other Run 2 projects.

  • Complete 200mm wafer, uncut
  • Includes all designs from this run
  • Perfect for custom dicing or display

Requires slot purchase

Add to Order

Technology

Technical Specifications

GF180MCU Process Technology Details

Technical Specifications
Slot Options

3 Sizes

1×1, 0.5×1 half-width, 1×0.5 half-height

Process Node

180nm MCU

GlobalFoundries GF180MCU

Metal Layers

5 Layers

Full routing capability

Quantity

1,000 dies

Per manufacturing slot

Capacitors

MIM & PIP

Metal-insulator-metal available

Resistors

Poly & High-Res

Multiple resistor types

Run 1: Many Designs on a Single Reticle

29 open-source designs from universities, startups, and hobbyists worldwide

Silicon currently in fabrication — expected delivery late April 2026

What fits on 1 mm² of GF180MCU silicon?

Theoretical maximum standard cell density

Hard upper bounds — if you packed cells edge-to-edge with zero routing overhead

D Q

~14,320

Flip-Flop (FF_1)

per mm² theoretical max

~30,430

Buffer (BUF_4)

per mm² theoretical max

~39,380

3-input AND (AND3_2)

per mm² theoretical max

What Run 1 designers actually achieved

Real density from 24 designs on the GF180MCU shuttle

22k

Best Core Average

logic cells/mm² — 44% of theoretical max

Cloneless1

31k

Best Peak Region

logic cells/mm² — 62% of theoretical max

Cloneless1

3k–14k

Typical Range

logic cells/mm² for most digital designs

across 24 designs

Achieved Logic Density by Design

Design Library Core SC/mm² % of max Logic Cells SRAM
Cloneless1 7t-5V22k44%316k0
Tiny Tapeout (52 sub-designs) mixed14k29%204k0
FABulous FPGA 7t-5V14k29%204k12
Chess Move Gen. 9t-5V10k25%145k0
FazyRV Hachure 7t-5V7k14%101k40
KianV RISC-V 9t-5V6k16%89k42
Racquet 23-core 7t-5V5k11%78k46

Data from the Run 1 Density Report. Logic cell counts exclude infrastructure cells (fillers, taps, antenna diodes). “% of max” compares against buf theoretical max for each library (50k for 7-track, 40k for 9-track).

What fits in each slot?

Logic and memory capacity by slot type

Theoretical Logic Capacity (with default pad ring)

Cell Type 1×1 Slot New!
0.5×1 Slot
New!
1×0.5 Slot
Flip-Flop (FF_1) ~185,014 ~63,867 ~71,886
Buffer (BUF_4) ~393,156 ~135,718 ~152,759
3-input AND (AND3_2) ~508,790 ~175,635 ~197,688

Theoretical maximums with zero routing overhead. Run 1 designs typically achieved 10–44% of these values.

SRAM Capacity

SRAM Type Voltage 1×1 Slot 0.5×1 Slot 1×0.5 Slot
GF 5V sram512x8 5V 40 kilobytes (80 blocks) 20 kilobytes (40 blocks) 20 kilobytes (40 blocks)
GF 5V sram256x8 5V 28 kilobytes (112 blocks) 14 kilobytes (56 blocks) 14 kilobytes (56 blocks)
3.3V sram1024x8 3.3V 108 kilobytes (108 blocks) 54 kilobytes (54 blocks) 48 kilobytes (48 blocks)
3.3V sram512x8 3.3V 90 kilobytes (180 blocks) 45 kilobytes (90 blocks) 42 kilobytes (84 blocks)
3.3V sram256x8 3.3V 66 kilobytes (264 blocks) 33 kilobytes (132 blocks) 33 kilobytes (132 blocks)

Block counts use die area minus seal ring (26µm each side). Run 1’s most SRAM-heavy design (RISCBoy-180) used 60 blocks in a full slot.

Theoretical numbers use core area (with default pad ring). Using your own pad ring or no pad ring increases available area.

Real designs achieve 10–44% of theoretical max due to routing overhead, infrastructure cells (~75% of instances), power planning, and clock distribution.

3.3V SRAM blocks from Tim Edwards and Tholin, introduced in Run 1.

Full analysis: Run 1 Standard Cell & SRAM Density Report.

Get notified!

We'll email you when details are confirmed.

Let's Talk

Let's Talk

If you got any questions, don't hesitate to get in touch with us.

Contact Us