What does Silvaco make for semiconductor manufacturing?

Nine products in four families. TCAD is the largest — process simulation, device simulation, meshing, atomic-scale transport, parasitic extraction and SPICE model extraction. Lithography covers computational lithography, Plasma covers chamber and recipe modelling, and Photonics covers optical component design.

How do TCAD, lithography, plasma and photonics simulation relate to each other?

They model different stages of the same manufacturing problem, and they hand off to each other. Plasma models what the chamber does and produces particle distributions that Victory Process takes as feature-scale input. Victory Process builds the structure; Victory Device simulates the device that results; Victory RCx extracts parasitics from it. Lithography runs alongside, deciding what mask will actually print the layout you drew. Photonics is the one that stands most on its own, because optical components are designed against different physics.

Do I need all four, or can I buy one on its own?

One on its own is normal. Licensing is per tool on 1, 2 or 3 year terms, so most customers start with the single family that solves the problem in front of them. If you expect to move across the TCAD tools, the Victory Omni licence gives access to every TCAD framework one tool at a time for a fixed annual fee, and can be combined with term licences for individual tools.

How does the manufacturing portfolio connect to Silvaco design tools?

Through two specific objects rather than through a platform. Utmost IV extracts SPICE models from characterization data, and Victory RCx extracts parasitics from the simulated 3D structure — and both are what a circuit team consumes. They are standard formats, so they are not tied to Silvaco's own simulator: SmartSpice is HSPICE and Spectre compatible, and so is whatever your circuit team already runs.

What is FTCO and where does it sit?

Fab Technology Co-Optimization is a workflow, not a tool. It uses artificial intelligence and machine learning over the simulators in this portfolio to calibrate models, optimize a process, and build surrogates that run far faster than the full simulation. Because it is a workflow rather than a product, it lives under Solutions rather than under Products — but what it runs on is the TCAD family.

Which foundries and process nodes are supported across the portfolio?

Seventeen foundries appear in the published coverage set, weighted heavily towards specialty and mature nodes — the great majority of entries sit between 150nm and 350nm or between 55nm and 130nm, with coverage above 350nm and down into the 22–45nm range. Coverage is not only PDKs: it also includes DRC/LVS rule decks, standard cell libraries and memory compilers.

Can these tools run on GPUs or an HPC cluster?

It varies by tool, and it is worth asking rather than assuming. Victory Process is multi-threaded. VSim was built for high-performance computing and runs on large clusters. GPU work is strongest on the Tech-X side of the portfolio — the April 2025 acquisition release specifically credits Tech-X with algorithms that harness high-performance, multi-node GPU-based computing. There is no published per-tool matrix, so name the tools you care about and an application engineer will confirm what your hardware buys you.

How does Silvaco differ from Synopsys for manufacturing simulation?

Silvaco's published foundry coverage is weighted towards specialty and mature nodes rather than leading-edge logic. The portfolio spans process, device, lithography, plasma and photonics under one roof, with two of those four families added in 2025. And the tools are built to sit inside an existing flow — GDSII in, standard SPICE models out, an open interface for physics Silvaco does not model. The fit question is best answered against your own node and layer stack.

Is there a licence option for universities and research laboratories?

Yes, and it is a separate track from the commercial one. There is a TCAD Academic Omni License and an EDA Academic Suite, with low-cost research licences and curriculum packages that cover a whole class on a single licence. Academic and research enquiries route through the University Program rather than the standard sales path.

How do I evaluate the portfolio?

Not by downloading it — there is no self-serve trial build. An evaluation runs under licence on your own hardware, against your own process and device data, with a named application engineer attached for the duration. Evaluations are governed by the Silvaco Evaluation License Agreement and a mutual non-disclosure agreement, both of which are published.

AI-Driven Manufacturing: semiconductor manufacturing simulation software

Every wafer run you replace with a simulation is a learning cycle you don't pay for in silicon. Silvaco's semiconductor manufacturing simulation goes as deep as a TCAD specialist needs, and through FTCO it reaches the fab engineers who have to act on the answer.

Talk to our Technical Experts See all nine products

Product families: 4; TCAD, Lithography, Plasma, Photonics
Products: 9; Six in the TCAD family
Span: Device physics to chamber physics; Atomic-scale transport in Victory Atomistic, wafer-scale plasma in VSim

Semiconductor manufacturing simulation, in four families

Each family covers one part of the process, from the device on the wafer to the plasma in the chamber above it.

TCAD

Process and device simulation. Run the process steps in software, watch the device take shape, and give your circuit team models it can trust.

Explore TCAD

Lithography

Computational lithography, so the pattern on the wafer matches the one in your layout.

Process Proximity Correction An optical proximity correction (OPC) suite, acquired from Cadence in March 2025

Explore Lithography

Plasma

Wafer-scale plasma modeling, for teams tuning the chamber and the recipe rather than the device.

VSim Plasma Particle-in-cell plasma simulation that tracks full particle kinetics. Victory Process imports its particle distributions at feature scale

Explore Plasma

Photonics

Waveguides and optical components for silicon photonics and optoelectronic devices.

XSim Photonics Electromagnetic and photonic multi-physics simulation, part of Silvaco since it acquired Tech-X in April 2025

Explore Photonics

FTCO is built on the TCAD family. Its AI surrogate models learn from physics TCAD has already validated, so fab and process engineers can put questions to it directly.

Explore FTCO

Start with the problem in front of you

You know the problem. Here's where to start on it.

Develop or transfer a process, and predict the device it produces: TCAD Victory Process gives you the structure. Victory Device shows how it will behave.
Make the printed pattern match the drawn layout: Lithography Proximity correction on the mask, before the pattern ever reaches a wafer.
Design or debug chamber hardware and process recipes: Plasma See what the plasma is doing to the wafer, then change the recipe in software.
Design a photonic component or a waveguide: Photonics Optical and electromagnetic behavior of the component, in one multi-physics tool.
Build a digital twin of a process and run virtual experiments: TCAD FTCO TCAD supplies the calibrated physics. FTCO turns it into surrogate models you can sweep before you commit a wafer lot.
Extract parasitics from a simulated structure: TCAD: Victory RCx RC extraction taken from the 3D structure TCAD built, not from a layout.

What this portfolio covers, and where it stops

Where these tools stop, a standard format such as GDSII or SPICE carries your work into the flow you already run.

Covers The process steps from implant to stress, and the device that comes out, in 1D, 2D and 3D.

Stops at Your layout database. Victory Process reads your GDSII files as they are and builds the structure from them.
Covers Physics you can extend. Add process models through the Open Model Interface, and new materials or parameters through the Open Material Database.

Stops at The built-in model set. Physics Silvaco doesn't ship goes in through that published interface.
Covers The handoff to circuit design: compact models from Utmost IV and parasitics from Victory RCx.

Stops at Circuit simulation. Utmost IV output runs in Eldo, HSPICE, LTspice, QSpice, SmartSpice and Spectre, whichever your circuit team uses.
Covers The equipment side. VSim models the plasma chamber and passes particle distributions to Victory Process at feature scale.

Stops at Running the fab. There's no MES, scheduling or equipment control here. The portfolio predicts what the process will do.
Covers Semiconductor manufacturing simulation from atomic-scale transport to computational lithography.

Stops at Circuit design, physical verification and interface IP. Those belong to AI-Driven Design.

The portfolio, in figures

The track record you'd want before trusting a simulator with your process.

1984

Founded

Silvaco has built semiconductor software since 1984.
7

Foundry partners

ams AG, GlobalFoundries, ON Semiconductor, TSMC, Tower Semiconductor, UMC and X-FAB.
See all partners
8 of 10

Largest display makers

Silvaco TCAD is in use at eight of the ten biggest display manufacturers.
2

Manufacturing partnerships announced in 2026

NVIDIA: physics-based digital twins running on accelerated computing. Dassault Systèmes: digital twin workflows aimed at getting a new process right the first time.
Read the announcements

Release and version index

Version numbers as Silvaco publishes them for the 2025 baseline software release.

Current release version by product across the AI-Driven Manufacturing portfolio
Family	Product	Current version	Release date
TCAD	Victory Process	8.57.5.R	Not published
	Victory Device	2.0.1.R	Not published
	Victory Atomistic	1.12.0.R	Not published
	Victory Mesh	1.12.0.R	Not published
	Victory RCx	1.4.6.R	Not published
	Utmost IV	2.24.0.R	Not published
Lithography	Process Proximity Correction	Not in the baseline release	Not published
Plasma	VSim Plasma	Not in the baseline release	Not published
Photonics	XSim Photonics	Not in the baseline release	Not published

Read the release notes Go to Downloads

The other business unit

AI-Driven Design

Circuit simulation, analog and custom IC design, and licensed Design IP. The two units meet at the models: the SPICE models from Utmost IV and the parasitics from Victory RCx are what a design team simulates against.

Explore AI-Driven Design

Tell us which result didn't match

Start with the step in your process that keeps surprising you. An application engineer will work out which family models it, and what data an evaluation would need.

Talk to our Technical Experts

Questions about the manufacturing portfolio

Four families with nine products between them. TCAD is the largest, with six tools that run from process and device simulation to meshing, atomic-scale transport, parasitic extraction and SPICE modeling. Lithography handles proximity correction, Plasma the etch chamber, and Photonics optical components.

Three of them feed each other along one process. VSim hands particle distributions to Victory Process, which produces the structure; Victory Device works out how it behaves, and Victory RCx pulls out its parasitics. Lithography decides what the mask needs for your layout to print. Photonics is the most self-contained, since optical parts answer to different physics.

You can buy one on its own. Time-Based Licensing gives you floating licenses per tool on 1-, 2- or 3-year terms. Work that moves across TCAD tools suits the Victory Omni License instead. It covers Silvaco TCAD software except Interactive Tools on a fixed annual fee, runs one tool at once, and sits alongside term licenses.

Through two outputs your circuit team already knows how to use. Utmost IV turns measured or simulated device data into SPICE models, and Victory RCx supplies the parasitics. Both arrive in standard formats, ready for SmartSpice or an HSPICE or Spectre flow.

FTCO, Fab Technology Co-Optimization, is part of AI-Driven Manufacturing and sits on top of the TCAD family. Its surrogate models turn physics TCAD has already validated into predictions a process engineer can use directly, with no specialist in the loop. Victory Analytics and Victory DoE are among its tools, on the FTCO page.

Process and device simulation runs on the process you define, from your process steps to your GDSII layout. That means it isn't bound to one foundry's PDK. For your specific node, an application engineer will confirm coverage, and Silvaco's seven foundry partners are listed on the Partners page.

It depends on the tool. Victory Process is multi-threaded, and Tech-X, the team behind VSim and XSim, designed its solvers to spread across many GPUs and nodes. Hardware requirements aren't published per tool. Tell us which tools you plan to run, and an application engineer will check them against your cluster.

The fairest comparison runs on your own process data, which is how Silvaco evaluations work. Some things you can check before that: one vendor covers process, device, lithography, plasma and photonics simulation. GDSII goes in, standard SPICE models come out, and an Open Model Interface takes any physics you need to add.

Yes. Academic terms are separate from commercial ones and cover research and teaching. The TCAD Academic Omni License gives a lab every TCAD framework under one license, one tool running at a time. The EDA Academic Suite covers the core design functions, and curriculum packages license a whole class at once. Over 200 universities use this track, and requests go through the University Program.

Under license, on your own hardware and your own process data, with an application engineer working alongside you. There's no trial build to download first. The terms are Silvaco's published Evaluation License Agreement and a mutual NDA, so Talk to our Technical Experts to scope one.