Siemens, TSMC Jointly Work to Enhance 3D IC and AI-Driven Systems Design

Siemens Digital Industries Software announced various new collaborations with TSMC, including product certifications and design solutions enablement initiatives for the foundry’s advanced process technologies. Mutual customers can leverage these advancements, which include innovations in artificial intelligence (AI), 3D IC design, and advanced packaging, companies report.

“Our longstanding relationship with TSMC underscores the transformative power of collaborative innovation,” says Mike Ellow, CEO, Siemens EDA, Siemens Digital Industries Software. “By combining Siemens’ leading IC and advanced packaging solutions with TSMC’s state-of-the-art process technologies, we enable our mutual customers to achieve new levels of design innovation and faster time-to-market, reshaping the future of semiconductor development.”

“The collaboration with Siemens illustrates our persistent focus to enable our shared customers for the latest and most advanced process and packaging technologies,” says Aveek Sarkar, director of the Ecosystem and Alliance Management Division at TSMC. “EDA solutions from our OIP partners have significantly contributed to advancing energy-efficient AI chip innovation, and TSMC will continue working with our ecosystem to enable the rapid proliferation of AI through collaborative efforts.”

New collaborations and technology enablement readiness updates include:

AI-focused collaboration with TSMC evaluated Design Rule Check (DRC) productivity improvements using Calibre Vision AI software. This AI-driven initiative to analyze and prioritize DRC violations demonstrated enhancements in debugging efficiency, and results were jointly validated. 

Calibre nmPlatform software suite is certified for TSMC’s advanced processes: Calibre nmDRC, Calibre nmLVS, Calibre PERC, and Calibre xACT software are certified for TSMC’s advanced N3C, N2P, and A16 process technologies.

Siemens and TSMC have teamed up to certify Siemens’ Solido Simulation Suite software for SPICE accuracy in TSMC’s N3C, N2P, and A16 process technologies, enabling customers to create and verify analog, mixed-signal, RF, standard cell, and memory designs using advanced TSMC nodes. This collaboration expands into TSMC’s custom design reference flow (CDRF) on its A16 process, as Siemens’ Solido Simulation Suite software supports Reliability Aware Simulation technology, which addresses IC aging, real-time self-heating, and Safe Operation Area (SOA) checks. 

Siemens is collaborating with TSMC to certify its Aprisa software for TSMC’s N2P process. The implementation flow has been validated to meet N2P requirements across placement, routing, chip finishing and engineering change orders (ECOs).

Siemens and TSMC have established major milestones for 3D IC and enabled design flow for TSMC Compact Universal Photonic Engine (TSMC-COUPE) technology. Siemens’ Calibre 3DSTACK Advanced software is now certified for targeted physical verification solutions while Calibre 3DThermal software is now certified for static thermal analysis of designs based on TSMC 3DFabric technologies. Siemens’ Calibre 3DThermal software combines the strengths of Calibre technology for detailed chip level analysis, together with the thermal analysis of Siemens’ Simcenter Flotherm software.

Additionally, Siemens tools have been enabled to support customers to design using TSMC-COUPE^T technology. The companies’ joint activity on silicon photonics includes flow development using Siemens’ Innovator3D IC software, Calibre 3DSTACK software, L-Edit software, Solido Simulation Suite software, Calibre xACT software and Calibre Interactive software for design, implementation and verification of TSMC’s COUPE technology. Innovator3D IC is enabled for supporting the 3Dblox language format across abstraction levels and Siemens is working to achieve certification for other advanced requirements. 

As part of TSMC’s cloud-based initiative, Siemens and TSMC successfully demonstrated Solido Simulation Suite software, Calibre nmDRC software, and Calibre PERC software running in the AWS Cloud. 

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.