Foundry
Beginner
A factory that makes chips designed by other companies.
Novice
A company that manufactures chips to other companies’ designs. It publishes the rules a layout must obey, receives the final layout file at tapeout, makes the masks and processes the wafers.
Expert
Supplies the process design kit (device models, design rules, rule files for the checking tools, layer map) and runs its own intake checks and mask data preparation on every tapeout.
Explained in GDS & tapeout (Design Flow).
See also: Tapeout, Mask data preparation (MDP).