Awesome EDA 🛠️

A curated list of high-quality Electronic Design Automation (EDA) tools, projects, tutorials, books, and resources.

This list focuses on actively maintained, open-source, production-ready, or education-focused EDA tools for PCB, FPGA, ASIC, and VLSI design — excellent for learning, hobby projects, or real silicon tape-outs in 2026.

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Contents

• Getting Started
• Books
• Hands-on Tutorials & Example Flows
• Open-Source EDA Tools & Flows
  • PCB & Schematic Design
  • HDL Simulation & Verification
  • Logic Synthesis & FPGA Tools
  • ASIC & Physical Design Flows
  • Layout Editors & Viewers
  • Analog & Mixed-Signal Tools
• Tools & Utilities
• Community & Learning Resources
• Contributing
• License

Getting Started

• KiCad Official Tutorials – start with PCB design in minutes
• OpenLane Quickstart – complete RTL-to-GDSII flow
• OpenROAD User Guide – foundations of autonomous ASIC design
• Yosys Documentation – Verilog synthesis explained
• SkyWater 130nm PDK + OpenLane – free PDK for real tape-outs
• eSim Tutorials – integrated circuit + PCB workflow

Books

• Electronic Design Automation: Synthesis, Verification, and Test by Lavagno, Markov, Scheffer – the definitive EDA reference
• Essential Electronic Design Automation (EDA) by Mark D. Birnbaum – easy-to-understand overview
• CMOS VLSI Design: A Circuits and Systems Perspective by Weste & Harris – classic VLSI bible
• Algorithms for VLSI Physical Design Automation by Naveed Sherwani – physical design fundamentals
• Digital Integrated Circuits: A Design Perspective by Rabaey – RTL to silicon

Hands-on Tutorials & Example Flows

• Tiny Tapeout – submit your design and get it fabricated on real silicon
• OpenLane Example Designs – ready-to-run examples
• OpenROAD Flow Tutorials – complete end-to-end flows
• Yosys + nextpnr FPGA Workshop examples
• KiCad + ngspice Simulation Labs community projects

Open-Source EDA Tools & Flows

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PCB & Schematic Design

Tool	Description	Year Initialized
KiCad	professional-grade schematic capture + PCB layout (industry standard open alternative)	—
LibrePCB	modern, intuitive EDA suite with excellent library management	—
eSim	full-stack circuit design, simulation, and PCB (KiCad + ngspice + Verilator)	—

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HDL Simulation & Verification

Tool	Description	Year Initialized
Verilator	fastest Verilog/SystemVerilog simulator (used in industry)	—
Icarus Verilog	lightweight Verilog simulator & synthesizer	—
GHDL	VHDL simulator with excellent IEEE support	—
sv2v	SystemVerilog to Verilog translator widely used in FPGA flows	2019

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Logic Synthesis & FPGA Tools

Tool	Description	Year Initialized
Yosys	extensible Verilog RTL synthesis suite	2012
Berkeley-ABC	industrial-strength logic synthesis and verification system	2005
nextpnr	FPGA place-and-route (Lattice, ECP5, iCE40, etc.)	—
VTR (Verilog-to-Routing)	academic FPGA CAD flow	2012

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ASIC & Physical Design Flows

Tool	Description	Year Initialized
OpenROAD	autonomous RTL-to-GDSII flow	—
OpenLane	complete automated ASIC flow (used for real tape-outs)	—
iEDA	full netlist-to-GDS infrastructure	—
OpenSTA	static timing analysis engine used in modern open ASIC flows	2018
RePlAce	analytic global placement engine	2018
TritonCTS	clock tree synthesis engine	2018
OpenDP	detailed placement optimizer	2018
OpenTimer	high-performance timing analysis framework	2015

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Layout Editors & Viewers

Tool	Description	Year Initialized
Magic VLSI	venerable interactive layout editor	2017
KLayout	powerful GDS/OASIS viewer, editor, and DRC tool	2017
Qrouter	grid-based autorouter for IC layouts	2013

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Analog & Mixed-Signal Tools

Tool	Description	Year Initialized
ngspice	SPICE circuit simulator (industry-grade open source)	1999
Xschem	schematic capture for analog/mixed-signal	—
ALIGN	automated analog layout synthesis framework	2018

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Tools & Utilities

Tool	Description	Year Initialized
SkyWater 130nm PDK	free manufacturable process design kit	—
Open_PDKs	open-source process design kits	—
CVC	circuit verifier	2009
Netgen	LVS (Layout vs Schematic)	—

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Experimental, Research & Specialized EDA Projects (From clin99 Awesome-EDA See also: https://github.com/clin99/awesome-eda)

Tool	Primary Area	Description	Year Initialized
PyMTL	Hardware Modeling	Python-based hardware modeling and simulation framework used in academia	2012
ILAng	SoC Verification	Instruction-Level Abstraction modeling and verification platform	2016
Galois Parallel Framework	CAD Infrastructure	Parallel algorithm research framework used in EDA experimentation	2010
HAMMER	Flow Orchestration	Modular ASIC flow generation and configuration framework	2017
Lgraph	Synthesis Infrastructure	Graph-based synthesis and simulation infrastructure	2018
MAGICAL	Analog Layout Automation	Machine-generated analog IC layout automation framework	2019
AMPSE	Analog Design Automation	Analog parameter search and optimization engine	2019
Analog Known Good Designs	Analog Reference Designs	Verified analog circuit design repository	2019
Circuit IP Sanitizer	Analog Verification	IP validation and sanitization tooling	2019
AMC (Async Memory Compiler)	Memory Design	Asynchronous memory compiler research project	2019
PVT Sensors	Analog Test Infrastructure	Open PVT sensor development framework	2019
UW IDEA Analog TestCases	Analog Benchmarks	Analog testing and validation circuits	2019
OpenPiton	Research SoC Platform	Manycore open research processor platform	2018
PRGA	FPGA Workflow	Research FPGA architecture exploration workflow	2018
OpenFPGA (FPGA-SPICE)	FPGA Modeling	FPGA architecture modeling and SPICE co-simulation	2018
EPFL Logic Benchmark Suite	Benchmarks	Widely used combinational logic synthesis benchmarks	2018
Parser-SPEF	Physical Design Utility	SPEF parasitic extraction file parser	2018
UW BSG Pipecleaner Suite	Verification Benchmarks	Microarchitecture testing framework	2019
Graywolf	Placement	Academic ASIC placement research tool	2014
BoxRouter	Routing	Global routing academic prototype	2016

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Community & Learning Resources

• EDAboard – largest international EDA discussion forum
• r/VLSI, r/FPGA, r/ECE, r/chipdesign
• KiCad Discord – official KiCad community
• OpenROAD GitHub Discussions – active developer & user support
• VLSIGuru / VLSI Academy – free/paid training resources
• 1BitSquared Community – FPGA & open hardware

Contributing

Contributions are highly welcome! Please read the rules below.

Rules:

• Only high-quality, actively maintained tools (recent commits, good documentation, real usage).
• One line per entry:

  - [Tool Name](link) – Short, compelling one-sentence description.

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