IC Studio

A modern, cross-platform environment for full-custom integrated circuit design — schematic capture, circuit simulation, layout and physical verification in one native, GPU-accelerated app.

IC Studio is written in Rust and renders through wgpu (Metal, Vulkan, DX12), so it runs on Windows, Linux and macOS. Unlike a standalone layout viewer, the schematic, the simulator and the layout share one design database: layouts are generated from schematics, checked against them (LVS) and their parasitics flow back into simulation.

User guide · Quick tour · Demo gallery and scripts

Schematic with DC operating point back-annotation	Transient / DC sweep waveforms
Hierarchical layout: 8192 inverters, level of detail	Parametric devices (PCells)
Common-centroid matched OTA, placed and routed automatically	8 × 8 SRAM array
Layout generated from the schematic, with flylines	Rule-deck DRC on placed cells
Monte Carlo with spec statistics, yield and histogram	Visual DRC rule designer with self-tested rules

Install

# Windows (PowerShell)
irm https://github.com/geniuskey/ic-studio/releases/latest/download/install.ps1 | iex

# macOS (Apple silicon) and Linux (x86_64)
curl -fsSL https://github.com/geniuskey/ic-studio/releases/latest/download/install.sh | sh

The installer puts the app ic-studio and the command line tool ics (CLI and MCP server) in one folder on the PATH, adds a launcher (Start Menu on Windows, desktop entry on Linux) and registers the MCP server with Claude Code if claude is installed. Options, uninstall and manual downloads: Installation.

Build from source

# Rust 1.95+ (https://rustup.rs)
cargo run --release                     # launch the desktop app
cargo run --release -- --demo           # ... with the bundled demo designs
cargo run --release -- --demo --cell inv_tiles --workspace layout
cargo run --release -- path/to/project  # ... opening a project folder
cargo build --release --workspace       # both programs into target/release/

Optional: install ngspice (brew install ngspice, apt install ngspice, or the Windows build) to use it as a simulation backend. Without it, IC Studio uses its own built-in simulator.

Linux needs the usual windowing libraries: libxkbcommon-dev libwayland-dev libx11-dev libxcursor-dev libxrandr-dev libxi-dev.

Features

Application

• Project → library → cell → view model (schematic / simulation / layout), stored as human-readable JSON that works well with version control
• Workspaces for Home, Schematic, Simulation and Layout with shared cell tabs, project explorer, command palette (⌘K / Ctrl+K), console, problems and netlist panels, dark and light themes
• Every action is an app::Command: menus, shortcuts, the palette and automation share it
• Cadence Virtuoso conventions: default bindkeys and two-click commands in the layout editor, a Virtuoso or conventional mouse profile, and Cadence SKILL (.il) scripts with an interactive CIW prompt

Schematic and simulation

• analogLib-style primitives (R, C, L, V, I, diode, NMOS, PMOS, ground, supply), wiring, labels, live connectivity, property inspector, SPICE netlister
• Operating point, DC sweep, AC and transient analyses on the built-in Rust MNA engine or ngspice; waveform viewer with Bode plots and automatic measurements
• Optional post-layout simulation: wire capacitance to substrate, lateral and overlap coupling between nets, MOS drain / source junctions (ad as pd ps) and an RC network of wire, via and gate resistance extracted from the layout are added to the matching schematic nets and devices
• Schematic checker (Check and Save): missing ground, bad names, missing values, shorted devices, voltage-source loops, floating nets and dangling wires, live in the Problems tab

Layout

• Hierarchy: cell instances and arrays (GDS SREF / AREF) with 90° rotations and mirroring, hierarchy tree, drawn-level control, flatten and make-cell
• Scales to large designs: cached per-cell R-tree indices, view culling and level of detail (small cells collapse to boxes, tiny shapes to dots), bounded work per frame
• Editing: rectangles, Manhattan or any-angle polygons, paths, labels, rulers; vertex and edge handles that keep Manhattan outlines Manhattan; rotate / flip; µm-accurate inspector
• Boolean engines: AND / OR / NOT / XOR, grow / shrink, merge, layer operations; a fast Manhattan region engine and an exact any-angle polygon engine (45° sizing, holes) used for non-Manhattan input by layer operations, SKILL dbLayer* and layout compare
• Via generator (single cut or area fill) and PCells: NMOS / PMOS (W, L, fingers), poly resistor, MOM capacitor and well / substrate taps, stored as ordinary cells of a pcells library
• GDSII and OASIS import and export with full hierarchy; unknown GDS layers are kept

以上为 README 的开头部分。其余内容请阅读原文。 查看完整 README ↗