Choosing the Right ChipCreate SoC Platform for Your Project

ChipFoundry offers a range of ChipCreate SoC platforms—Caravel, Caravan, and OpenFrame—each designed to help you integrate your project into a pre-defined chip infrastructure. These SoC platforms streamline the fabrication process through ChipFoundry's shuttle service. Understanding the unique features of each will help you select the best fit for your design.

Understanding Your SoC Platform Options

Here's a breakdown of the available ChipCreate SoC platforms:

Caravel: The Standard for Most Users Caravel is the most popular and versatile chip SoC platform from ChipFoundry, supporting analog, digital, and mixed-signal designs. It's an excellent choice for most users, especially beginners, due to its ease of use and comprehensive features. Caravel includes a RISC-V processor and essential peripherals like UART, SPI, and SRAM. It offers 38 programmable GPIOs and approximately 10 mm² of user area, making it suitable for both prototyping and production.
Caravan: Bare Pad Prototyping for Experienced Users Caravan is similar to Caravel but designed for experienced users prototyping analog and mixed-signal designs that require high-speed bare pads. It shares Caravel's peripherals but adds 11 high-speed bare pads without ESD protection, alongside 27 programmable GPIOs. This lack of ESD protection requires careful design and makes it ideal for lab use with external ESD protection. Like Caravel, it provides about 10 mm² of user area but is intended for prototyping, not production.
OpenFrame: Advanced Customization for Expert Users OpenFrame caters to experienced users who need maximum flexibility. It provides only the Caravel padframe without any peripherals or the RISC-V processor. This SoC platform offers significantly more I/Os (44 configurable GPIOs) and a larger user area (approximately 15 mm²), allowing for a highly customized System-on-Chip (SoC). However, configuring the GPIOs in OpenFrame is more complex and requires expert knowledge. It's suitable for both prototyping and production for those building custom SoCs.

SoC Platform Summary

Feature	Caravel	Caravan	OpenFrame
GPIOs	38 Programmable	27 programmable, 11 bare pads (no ESD)	44 configurable
Processor	RISC-V SoC	RISC-V SoC	None
User Area	~10 mm²	~10 mm²	~15 mm²
Usage	Production & Prototyping	Prototyping (non-production)	Production & Prototyping
Design Support	Digital, analog, or mixed-signal	Analog prototyping	Digital, analog, or mixed-signal

Which SoC Platform is Right for You?

For Beginners and General Use: We highly recommend Caravel. It's the most widely used and supported ChipFoundry chip, offering a full suite of interfaces suitable for most design needs. It's user-friendly and an excellent starting point for integrating your designs. Caravel is also a solid choice for many intermediate and advanced users, especially if low power or high-frequency designs aren't your primary concern.
For Advanced Analog Prototyping with Bare Pads: Consider Caravan if you're an advanced user prototyping an analog design that requires high-frequency bare pads. Remember the absence of ESD protection on the bare pads and plan for lab testing with external ESD safeguards.
For Custom SoC Development and More I/Os: OpenFrame is ideal for advanced users aiming to create a custom SoC with a larger user area and more I/Os. Be aware that it requires manual configuration of the I/Os, which is not provided by default.

Still unsure which SoC platform best fits your project needs? Feel free to ask for more detailed guidance!