Click or Update . A new sub-window will appear showing your layout in a rotatable 3D canvas. Rotate: Left-click and drag your mouse. Pan: Right-click and drag. Zoom: Use the mouse scroll wheel. Advanced Features and Optimization Tips Cross-Sectional Slicing
Avoid expensive third-party TCAD visualizers. KLayout renders 2.5D structures rapidly, directly within your active workspace. How to Set Up and Use the 2.5D View
For decades, integrated circuit (IC) and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) designers have relied on two-dimensional (2D) tools to create complex physical layouts. KLayout, the open-source, high-performance layout viewer and editor, has become an industry favorite precisely because of its lightning-fast 2D rendering and robust polygon manipulation. However, as semiconductor technology pushes into advanced nodes (5nm, 3nm) and heterogeneous integration (chiplets, TSVs, and MEMS structures), the limitations of flat, top-down viewing become painfully apparent.
: Developers looking for the internal implementation can find it in the Class D25View API , which was introduced in version 0.28. Core Features of the 2.5D View : It is an extruded 2D view klayout 25d view
To render the third dimension accurately, you must configure a stack-up definition. KLayout allows you to define: The specific GDS layer mapping.
Easily spot structural flaws, such as missing vias, misaligned contacts, or overlapping layers that look correct in 2D but fail vertically.
This is the core function for creating individual layers. It takes a layer and extrudes it with a set of options. For a full technical breakdown, refer to the official documentation. Click or Update
While full 3D rendering engines can be resource-heavy and complex to configure, the 2.5D view offers a highly efficient, accurate, and interactive way to inspect vertical stack-ups directly from your mask layers. What is the KLayout 25D View?
Here is a conceptual Python snippet to define a 25D stack programmatically:
As you make changes to your layout in the 2D editor, your 2.5D view will not update automatically. To refresh the scene, you can do one of the following: Pan: Right-click and drag
In the main menu, go to Tools > 2.5D View . (Note: This may require a recent version of KLayout). Configure the Stack:
. This is particularly useful for verifying material stacks, such as MEMS devices or CMOS metal layers. 1. Prerequisites OpenGL Support
: The practical performance limit is currently around 100,000 polygons . How to Use the 2.5D View
You can quickly visualize how layers sit on top of one another without running a full process simulation.
values are not zero and that you have valid shapes on the specified input layers. complex script example involving multiple material groups or specific 3D navigation shortcuts? The 2.5d View - KLayout Layout Viewer And Editor