Siemens and TSMC to advance integrated circuit and systems design

Mutual customers can develop highly differentiated end-products with confidence using Siemens’ best-in-class EDA solutions together with TSMC’s silicon process and advanced packaging technologies.

"Strengthening our ongoing alliance with Open Innovation Platform (OIP) ecosystem partners like Siemens keeps us at the forefront in accelerating advancements in 3D IC design for AI innovation," said Dan Kochpatcharin, Head of Ecosystem and Alliance Management Division at TSMC. "Our longtime collaboration with Siemens allows our mutual customers to fully harness the power, performance, and efficiency of TSMC's cutting-edge technologies."

N2/N3 certifications

Siemens’ Calibre nmPlatform tool is now certified for TSMC’s N2 and N2P processes. The N2 certification includes the new LSVRF (Local Standard Verification Rule Format) functionality in Calibre, which enables independent rule checking within specific regions of a processor for optimal verification accuracy. The collaboration around Siemens’ Calibre portfolio also includes TSMC N2 qualification for Siemens’ Calibre xACT software.

Siemens and TSMC have collaborated to certify parts of Siemens’ Solido Simulation Suite software for analog, mixed-signal, RF, and memory designs, with the recent certification of Siemens’ Solido SPICE and Analog FastSPICE (AFS) tools for TSMC’s N2 and N2P processes. Further, as part of the custom design reference flow (CDRF) for TSMC’s N2 process, Siemens’ AFS tool now supports TSMC’s Reliability Aware Simulation technology, which addresses IC aging and real-time self-heating effects, among other advanced reliability features. The CDRF for TSMC’s N2 technology also integrates Siemens’ Solido Design Environment software for advanced variation-aware verification.

To support and advance next-generation physical implementation designs, TSMC has qualified Siemens’ Aprisa software for place-and-route for the foundry’s N3E and N3P processes to offer Aprisa customers new levels of performance and power efficiency.

Additional collaboration

Further extending the partnership into the realm of silicon photonics, Siemens and TSMC are working to develop a flow methodology to help customers leverage the foundry’s Compact Universal Photonic Engines (COUPE) silicon photonics technology using Siemens’ tools. The on-going collaborations include Tanner software custom IC tools for photonics IC design, Xpedition Substrate Integrator software for system assembly and Siemens’ Calibre 3DStack software for the physical verification of the entire COUPE integrated system.

Siemens and TSMC have also collaborated on the definition and testing of Calibre 3DThermal software, which is Siemens’ newest thermal analysis solution for verification and debugging of advanced 3D integrated circuits (3D-ICs).

Siemens’ relationship with TSMC now also extends into the services realm, with Siemens officially joining the TSMC Design Center Alliance (DCA). As a member of this alliance, Siemens offers a broad portfolio of services with a track record of success in enabling design for TSMC customers, ranging from startups to Fortune 500 companies. Siemens services encompass crucial elements of the IC design flow, including support for place-and-route, design-for-test, functional verification, emulation, custom memory development, and IC packaging initiatives. Customers around the globe have collaborated with Siemens’ services organisation to deliver products for a broad array of applications including the AI, high performance computing (HPC) and other fast-growing markets.

Further, as part of TSMC’s Cloud-based Secure Chamber initiative, Siemens and TSMC have successfully demonstrated the Calibre, mPower and AFS toolsets running in the AWS Cloud. Intended for toolsets qualified for TSMC’s N3/N2 Cloud Certification, this initiative demonstrates tool accuracy while running in Cloud-based environments, as well as the ability to use Cloud-based virtual secure chambers to optimise performance and troubleshoot issues – all focused on streamlining time to tape-out and improving quality of results.

“Siemens EDA’s extensive and successful collaboration with TSMC enables advanced solution certifications for the latest process technologies required by our mutual customers,” said Mike Ellow, CEO, Silicon Systems, Siemens Digital Industries Software. "By integrating Siemens' top-tier IC design tools with TSMC's state-of-the-art processes and advanced packaging technologies, we empower our shared customers to achieve groundbreaking and transformative innovations."