From Research to Semiconductor IP
Date and time: Wednesday, June 10, 11:00 am -12:00 pm
Location: QNC 1201, Mike & Ophelia Lazaridis Quantum-Nano Centre, University of Waterloo
RSVP: Please fill out the registration form by Tuesday, June 9, 2026
Abstract Highlight: Bridging the gap between functional RTL and production-quality, reusable silicon IP.
Abstract:
Turning cutting-edge research into professional semiconductor Intellectual Property (IP) products that customers will actually adopt requires far more than functional RTL—it demands a shift in how you design, document, verify, and support your work. This presentation discusses what it takes to package your expertise as reusable, production-quality IP: designing for flexibility across applications, building comprehensive verification and documentation, and maintaining the security and quality standards that customers expect. Whether you're interested in commercializing your research or simply understanding how your work might be integrated into real-world designs, we'll walk through the practical realities of semiconductor IP development and the practices that separate research prototypes from professional products.
Bio:
Mike Borza is an industry consultant specializing in business and technical aspects of security for integrated circuits. From 2015 through January 2026, he was Synopsys Scientist working broadly on security and security intellectual property for integrated circuits and systems at Synopsys, Inc. He has more than 25 years of leadership and technology experience in security and safety critical systems engineering. In 2002, he co-founded and was CTO of Elliptic Technologies, acquired by Synopsys in 2015. His previous experience includes Chrysalis-ITS (now Thales), Ankari (HID Global), and Alcatel Transport Automation (Thales Transport). He holds more than 20 US patents. He has been an active contributor to the security task group of IEEE 802.1, and was an editor of the 802.1 AR secure device identifier standard. He was vice-chair of the Accellera IP Security Assurance standard and a member of the IEEE P3164 Security Annotation for Electronic Design Integration working group. He was a Principal Investigator in the DARPA Automatic Implementation of Secure Silicon program.