Title: Tapeout: A Hidden Career Path in Semiconductor Engineering That Turns Chip Designs into Reality
Speaker: Larry Melvin, Senior Director, Product Management Group at Synopsys
Date: Tuesday, October 20, 2026
Time: 3:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Location: Exhibition Hall, Kirkwood Room (273)
Every smartphone, laptop, gaming console, and AI accelerator begins as a digital chip design. Yet one of the most important
steps in bringing that design to life remains largely invisible to most engineers and consumers. At Synopsys, engineers develop the software, algorithms, models, and simulation tools that enable both the design and manufacturing of advanced semiconductor devices. This work spans computer science, electrical engineering, physics, mathematics, high-performance computing, and advanced manufacturing, creating exciting career opportunities for students interested in solving some of the world’s most challenging technical problems.
A critical stage in a chip’s journey from concept to product is tapeout, the process between design and manufacturing. During tapeout, engineers transform a completed integrated circuit design into a set of photomasks used to print billions of transistor features onto silicon wafers. Because these features are now measured in nanometers, manufacturing introduces complex optical and physical effects that can distort the intended circuit patterns. To overcome these challenges, engineers use advanced computational lithography techniques to analyze, modify, and optimize mask patterns so the manufactured chip matches the original design intent.
This presentation will explore the fascinating technologies behind leading-edge photomask development, including pattern correction, verification, mask writing, and inspection. Attendees will learn how sophisticated software, physics-based modeling, and advanced manufacturing technologies work together to make modern semiconductor devices possible. Along the way, real-world engineering challenges that require expertise across multiple disciplines will be examined and demonstrate how innovation in computational engineering continues to drive the semiconductor industry forward.
By the end of this session, students will have a behind-the-scenes view of how a digital chip design becomes a manufacturable product and discover a hidden but highly impactful career
path at the intersection of software, physics, chip design, and semiconductor manufacturing. Whether your interests lie in computer science, electrical engineering, data science, or applied physics, tapeout engineering offers a unique opportunity to
help create the technologies that power the modern world. Manufacturing and chip design careers will also be discussed.
Bio: Larry Melvin is a Senior Director in the Product Management Group at Synopsys, where he leads development of software and models used in semiconductor manufacturing. His work focuses on predicting how microchips will be fabricated and ensuring that chip designs can be manufactured accurately and efficiently.
Throughout his career, he has worked on a variety of advanced lithography and semiconductor technologies, including extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography, optical proximity correction (OPC), and computational lithography. Recent projects include developing specifications for EUV photomasks, designing optical devices that account for manufacturing effects, and creating semiconductor digital twins to model the chip design and manufacturing process to an electrical analysis. Dr. Melvin received his Ph.D. from The University of Texas at Austin and his B.S. from the University of Illinois Urbana- Champaign. He also completed postdoctoral research in X-ray lithography and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His career spans the intersection of physics, engineering, manufacturing, and software, with a focus on helping the semiconductor industry design and build increasingly complex microchips.