From smartphones to sophisticated medical devices, ICs are omnipresent, driving innovation and powering our interconnected world. However, it is a complex process of developing the architecture, logic, and physical layout of semiconductor devices that integrate millions of electronic components into a single chip. 

• In this journey the EDA (Electronic Design Automation) tools are indispensable for modern IC design due to their ability to automate, optimize, and verify complex designs. 

• The industry-grade EDA tools for IC design are very costly, limited accessibility, legal restrictions, and lack of transparency. These bottleneck create barriers for education, research, prototyping, and open innovation. 

• This is why open-source EDA tools are gaining traction, especially in academic and early-stage environments. Open-source EDA (Electronic Design Automation) tools are increasingly significant in education, research, and even parts of the industry. 

• They democratize access to IC design by removing cost and licensing barriers that exist with commercial EDA software. 

• Open-source EDA tools are empowering a new generation of IC designers by making VLSI education and research accessible, practical, and innovation-driven. They are a stepping stone for anyone aiming to explore or build a career in semiconductor design.

• Key Advantages are like 

      Hands-on Practice: Students can install and use tools at home or in labs.
      Full Design Flow Exposure: From RTL to GDS — enables real-world IC design training. 

     Fabrication Opportunity: Open MPW programs (e.g., via Efabless) allow actual chip fabrication from open-source designs. 

     Career Readiness: Prepares students for roles in ASIC/SoC designer.

• Some noteworthy open source IC Design tools are:

Circuit simulators: There are mainly two simulators available that are based on SPICE:

• nspice : ngspice is the open source spice simulator for electric and electronic circuits.

• Xyce: is a high-speed simulator with good multithreading support.

     Schematic Drawing : Schematic circuit editor for VLSI and Mixed mode circuit simulation. 

•  Xschem: It is a schematic capture program. It allows creation of hierarchical representation of circuits with a top down approach.