A VLSI design benchmark suite that runs open-source hardware designs through the OpenROAD RTL-to-GDSII flow on academic and open-source technology nodes (ASAP7 7nm, NanGate 45nm, SkyWater 130nm).
New here? See the Quick Start Guide to build your first design in 5 minutes.
8 designs across 3 technology platforms, ranging from a small LFSR to a quad-core RISC-V processor:
| Design | Type | asap7 | nangate45 | sky130hd |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| lfsr | LFSR/PRBS generator | x | x | x |
| minimax | RISC-V RV32I core | x | x | x |
| liteeth | Ethernet MAC (6 variants) | x | x | x |
| NyuziProcessor | Multi-threaded GPGPU | x | x | |
| bp_processor | Black-Parrot RISC-V (2 variants) | x | x | |
| gemmini | ML systolic array | x | x | |
| cnn | CNN accelerator | x | x | |
| sha3 | SHA3 hash | x | x |
Each design's upstream source lives in a git submodule at designs/src/<design>/dev/repo/. A build script converts the source HDL (SystemVerilog, Chisel, LiteX, etc.) into plain Verilog, which is checked into the repo as the release RTL at designs/src/<design>/. The release RTL may include patches or modifications beyond simple conversion — for example, SRAM memories are replaced with FakeRAM black-box macros so the design can be synthesized without an SRAM compiler. This release RTL is what builds use by default — no submodule checkout or conversion tools needed.
To regenerate RTL from the upstream source (e.g., after updating the submodule to a newer commit):
bazel build --define update_rtl=true //designs/asap7/lfsr:lfsr_finalThe release RTL is then run through the OpenROAD-flow-scripts RTL-to-GDSII flow: synthesis (Yosys) → floorplan → placement → clock tree synthesis → routing → GDSII output. Each design has per-platform configuration (clock constraints, utilization targets, pin placement) tuned for the target technology node.
- Quick Start Guide — install, build, and view results
- Design Catalog — all designs, platforms, variants, and complexity
- Architecture — build system, flow stages, RTL management, caching
- Adding Designs — how to add a new design to the suite
- Kubernetes Builds — building at scale on NRP Nautilus
- Legacy Make Flow — Docker-based Make flow (still functional)