Lithography hotspot
Beginner
A spot in a chip’s design whose tiny shapes are likely to print badly when the chip is made, even though they follow the rules.
Novice
A spot in a chip layout that passes the design rules but is likely to print badly, for example two lines that may merge or a line that may pinch off.
Expert
Found traditionally by pattern matching or slow lithography simulation. ML classifiers trained on small layout snippets flag candidates faster, trading false alarms against misses.