From chiplets to systems: Overcoming the hidden pitfalls of 3D IC design
In this episode of the Siemens 3D IC Podcast, host John McMillan is joined by returning guest John Ferguson, Senior Director of Product Management for Calibre 3D IC Solutions at Siemens EDA, and first-time guest Tarek Ramadhan, Application Engineering Manager for 3D IC Technical Solutions.
Together, they explore why traditional SoC methodologies fall short in the 3D world, how early predictive analysis can save teams from costly late-stage surprises, and why effective collaboration across domains (and companies) is essential. From thermal and stress concerns to data format mismatches and emerging standards like 3D Blocks, this episode delivers powerful insight into future-ready 3D IC design.
👉 Ideal for IC designers, system architects, packaging engineers, RTL and ESD teams, and anyone involved in the transition from 2D to 3D IC workflows.
Find what you’re looking for:
- How is the design process shifting from 2D and 2.5D to 3D IC (2:25)
- What is multi-physics, and how does it impact 3D IC design? (5:00)
- The hidden collaboration pitfalls between die, interposer, and packaging teams (7:30)
- How is it impacting collaboration between companies or within companies and between teams? (10:45)
- The role of new standards like 3D Blocks and 3D IC PDKs (13:10)
- How emerging standards like 3D Blocks and 3D IC PDKs are streamlining design workflows (14:30)
- Final thoughts (16:00)
John Ferguson, Ph. D.
John Ferguson is the Sr. Director of Product Management for the Calibre products in the 3DIC space at Siemens EDA, in Wilsonville, Oregon. He manages the vision and product offerings in the Calibre domain for 3DIC design solutions. The Calibre 3DSTACK offering has been deployed in production by many of the leading electronic design companies for physical verification (DRC and LVS) of 3DIC processes and has been extended to enablement of full assembly parasitic extraction, including TSV coupling and die-to-die coupling. Leveraging the success of the 3DSTACK approach, the focus now turns to identifying Multi-Physics reliability issues including power, thermal, mechanical stress and more.Â
Tarek Ramadan
Tarek holds Bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Electronics and Communications Engineering from Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt. Tarek has 12 years of experience in the electronic design automation (EDA) industry, holding different roles (product engineering, product management and technical sales) in Siemens EDA, Siemens Digital Industries Software. Tarek has a track record of managing and driving successful 3D-IC EDA products including Calibre 3DSTACK and Innovator3D IC. Currently, Tarek holds an applications engineering manager role in which he is overseeing a team of applications engineers deploying Siemens 3D-IC flows all over the globe.
3D IC
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