Siemens announced significant advances in its collaboration with NVIDIA to accelerate computational lithography workflows. By integrating NVIDIA cuLitho, a CUDA-X library for GPU-accelerated computational lithography, with Calibre manufacturing software, Siemens is enabling semiconductor manufacturers to overcome the runtime-limited challenges of advanced patterning, making next-generation AI semiconductors a manufacturing reality.
The patterning bottleneck challenge
As the industry aggressively moves toward leading-edge process nodes, the complexity of lithographic patterning has increased exponentially. Traditional optical proximity correction (OPC) and computational lithography techniques face a “runtime wall.” The transition to High-NA EUV and the requirement for advanced curvilinear patterning – such as Inverse Lithography Technology (ILT) – demand massive computational resources.
Without acceleration, these essential techniques are often too slow for full-chip, manufacturing-scale deployment, and forcing engineering teams to make trade-offs between optimization depth and project schedules. This creates a risk of lithographic hotspots and reduced process margins, which can impact yield for the most advanced AI compute and memory devices.
GPU-accelerated patterning to radically accelerate lithography simulation
Siemens and NVIDIA are transforming this challenge into an enabling technology. By delivering at least 10x acceleration for key lithography simulation workloads, the collaboration allows manufacturers to perform more comprehensive optimization and identify potential hotspots before tapeout.
Measurable value to chip and photomask manufacturers
The collaboration provides semiconductor and mask manufacturers with measurable performance gains across critical computational lithography workflows. Verified engineering data supports simulation speed-ups ranging from at least 10x to 17x for key workloads, helping make full-chip curvilinear patterning practical for High-NA EUV production.
By reducing simulation runtimes, manufacturers can complete more iterations in less time, identify lithographic hotspots earlier and improve process margins before tapeout. This faster turnaround can also help accelerate manufacturing readiness and support the deployment of new AI silicon.
For more information, visit siemens.com.
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