Planning a turnkey IC design project: a practical handoff checklist

A turnkey IC design engagement works best when the handoff is defined as carefully as the implementation. Before discussing a delivery date, engineering teams need a shared view of the starting design, the work to be completed, and the evidence that will demonstrate completion.

This checklist is a practical starting point for scoping a project. The exact requirements depend on the design, technology, tools, and commercial agreement.

1. Describe the starting point

Record what already exists: a product requirement, an architecture proposal, a partially verified RTL block, or an implementation that needs closure. List the available sources, specifications, verification environments, constraints, reports, and known issues. A design handoff should include enough context to distinguish a reproducible result from an isolated report.

Identify dependencies that may affect access or execution, including process design kits, EDA licenses, third-party IP, reference models, and test data. Confirm who is responsible for providing each dependency and when it will be available.

2. Turn the goal into acceptance criteria

“Complete the design” is too broad to be a useful acceptance criterion. Break the goal into reviewable deliverables. For a verification work package, that might include an agreed test plan, testbench sources, regression instructions, coverage reports, and a record of unresolved issues. For implementation, define the target constraints, required reports, signoff responsibilities, and the conditions under which the results will be reviewed.

Do not treat one successful simulation or a single timing report as evidence that every requirement has been met. Define the relevant configurations and review conditions before execution begins.

3. Make interfaces and ownership explicit

Document the boundaries between blocks and teams. Clock and reset assumptions, register behavior, protocol requirements, constraints, and integration responsibilities should have named owners. Decide how interface changes are proposed, reviewed, and communicated.

The engagement should also distinguish pre-existing IP, newly developed work, third-party dependencies, and the rights needed to use or modify each deliverable. These commercial terms should be agreed alongside the technical scope.

4. Establish useful review milestones

Reviews should help teams make decisions. A milestone might confirm that the architecture is ready for implementation, that the verification environment can reproduce expected behavior, or that a delivery candidate meets the agreed review criteria.

For each milestone, define the inputs, expected outputs, reviewers, and actions that follow an unresolved issue. Keep assumptions and risks visible; an open issue should have an owner and a next step.

5. Plan the final handoff

• Sources: the agreed design, verification, scripts, and configuration files.
• Reproduction: tool and environment requirements, run instructions, and required input data.
• Evidence: reports tied to an identifiable source revision and configuration.
• Integration: interface documentation, constraints, known limitations, and support arrangements.
• Decisions: accepted deviations, unresolved issues, and the next validation steps.

Fabrication, packaging, third-party licensing, production test, and silicon validation should be named separately in the scope. A design-services handoff does not automatically include those activities.

Start with a technical discussion

A useful first conversation covers the design challenge, current state, available inputs, intended deliverables, and target timeline. From there, the team can identify the questions that need a deeper technical review before making a delivery commitment.

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