Current Arpelier capabilities

Process-flow editing

Create, order, group, modify, and ignore process steps while keeping each step connected to its structural result. Step-specific controls cover materials, masks, thickness, profiles, and other available geometric or process conditions. Changing an earlier step recalculates affected downstream structures.

Supported process types

The public editor currently offers the following process types. Individual options vary by process, and the geometric model is intentionally bounded rather than a representation of every equipment or material behavior.

SUBSTRATE

Creates the substrate that serves as the starting structure for the process flow.

• Parameters: substrate type and thickness

WAFER BONDING

Places a saved final structure onto the current structure and preserves it as an independent attachment.

• Parameters: source project, placement, source flipping, grid subdivision or expansion consent, and optional interface planarization

DEPOSITION

Deposits a selected material over the current structure, optionally within a mask-defined area.

• Parameters: material, mask, and thickness
• Detailed parameters: conformality

ALD

Builds an atomic-layer-deposition film and can model uniform or nucleation-based surface growth.

• Parameters: material, seed material, and thickness
• Detailed parameters: 3D isotropic analysis, growth model, surface roughness, roughness seed, initial nucleation coverage, additional nucleation rate, initial nucleus size, and cycle growth

SPIN COATING

Coats the structure with a selected material to form a spin-coated layer.

• Parameters: material and thickness

PARTICLE

Places particles on the structure with configurable size, material, and incident-angle behavior.

• Parameters: particle materials, seed materials, particle count, and particle diameter
• Detailed parameters: diameter variation, contact angle, angular spread, angular exponent, trajectory display, and random seed

ETCH

Removes selected materials to a specified depth, optionally using a mask and directional profile.

• Parameters: etched materials, mask, and depth
• Detailed parameters: positive profile and bowing ratio

WET ETCH

Removes selected materials with the wet-etch geometry model.

• Parameters: etched materials, depth, and seam threshold

CMP

Planarizes to a plane lowered from the highest surface by the specified removal amount, limited by the top of the selected stopper material.

• Parameters: removal amount from the highest surface and stopper material
• Detailed parameters: dishing target materials and dishing amount

STRIP

Removes the selected material from the current structure.

• Parameters: material to strip

PHOTO

Creates a mask-defined photo pattern and can include simplified optical and OPC effects.

• Parameters: mask and thickness
• Detailed parameters: optical effects, wavelength, numerical aperture, exposure threshold, and corner/edge correction

IMPLANTATION

Adds a doped region with configurable implantation depth and diffusion behavior.

• Parameters: doping type, mask, and seed thickness
• Detailed parameters: implant depth, depth spread, diffusion distance, and diffusion of existing dopants

OXIDATION

Grows an oxide region from the applicable source material.

• Parameters: oxidation thickness

MODIFICATION

Converts a selected source material into a target material with a geometric volume change.

• Parameters: source material, target material, source-consumption thickness, and volume ratio
• Detailed parameters: reaction directionality

Masks and materials

Create and edit masks with shapes, arrays, and alignment controls, then assign them to applicable steps. Create project materials, edit their descriptive and display properties, and use them as inputs to supported process operations.

3D structures and cross-sections

Rotate and zoom the generated 3D structure, inspect X, Y, and Z two-dimensional cross-sections, or choose a bounded three-dimensional cutaway. Camera, slice position, surface presentation, lighting, and shadow settings adjust observation without changing the calculated structure.

Structure Explorer and four exploration modes

Switch among Composition, Provenance, Change, and Connect in the 3D structure and two-dimensional cross-sections. Composition uses materials, Provenance uses the step that first created each region, Change uses added, removed, and material-changed regions between steps, and Connect uses geometric nodes formed by metals and selected semiconductor materials. A selected region can carry across modes wherever a related unit can be resolved, and each unit can be highlighted or made transparent. See Structure Explorer for precise definitions and limits.

Steps, Time Dots, and saved views

Move through process steps and intermediate Time Dots to compare how the structure changes. Saved structural moments and viewer states provide useful points for returning to a view or organizing an explanation.

Projects, access, and sharing

Signed-in users can save or duplicate cloud projects. Cloud access supports Private, Public, and Public + Listed. A public project with Listed off can be opened through its link but does not appear in Explore or search. Owners can change access, add collaborators with assigned roles, and share links or QR codes. Local projects use separate file storage and access conditions.

Local project files

Cloud projects use access controls and open saved work across devices. Local projects keep your work in an encrypted .apl file that you manage. Further local edits and structure caches are not uploaded to a cloud project. Sign-in and encryption-key retrieval require an online connection; you manage the file and its backups.

1. Choose This computer in a new project's storage location, or use the storage icon beside the current project's title.
2. Open the folder beside New project on the dashboard to choose a file or drop it onto the wide file area. You can also drop one .apl directly onto the dashboard.
3. Supported browsers update the same file with Save and offer Save As. Download-only browsers retain the unsaved indicator because download completion cannot be verified.

The file contains processes and their current snapshot, masks, materials, canvas, view and exploration settings, presentation settings, splits and compressed structure caches. The same checkpoint-selection policy as cloud saving selects the current result, an already-computed final step and extra steps with useful recomputation savings within a 40 MiB total and 32 MiB per-cache budget. Saving does not calculate unfinished steps. Caches matching the recipe, domain and engine conditions are reused; others are recalculated.

Creating a file from a cloud project you own preserves its owner and named viewer/editor permissions at that moment. Give each recipient the .apl file; they sign in with their permitted account. Viewers can inspect the result but cannot edit or save it in Arpelier. Later cloud permission changes do not update existing files or revoke previously delivered copies. Pending email invitations require a verified matching email. Public visitors and link holders are not added automatically.

New local projects, personal copies of other owners' projects and legacy v1/v2 files remain creator-only. Saving a legacy file upgrades its format without inventing missing sharing permissions; recreate it from your owned cloud original to preserve that original's grants. Visibility and public listing remain cloud-only. The URL's #local_… identifies a local workspace; it is neither a file path nor a sharing link. Select the file again after reloading.

Switching an owned cloud project to local verifies the file save and read-back, then moves the original to existing Trash. Server data in Trash follows its existing 30-day retention and restore policy. Save local copy keeps the original. Unconfirmed downloads, references and other owners' originals never get moved to Trash. Local files and restored cloud originals do not synchronize automatically.

Capture, Gallery, and presentation output

Copy a displayed two-dimensional cross-section or 3D view for use in other material. Gallery is a secondary presentation workspace for arranging structural scenes and notes; a Gallery sequence can also be exported as a PowerPoint file. These functions support communication but are not the core process-calculation model.

Guest and mobile access

Visitors can explore official examples and projects that are accessible to them without signing in. On mobile, Arpelier primarily provides a preview-oriented project interface: users can inspect existing projects and make limited temporary adjustments, but changes are not saved and creating a new project is not currently available. Desktop provides the fuller editing workflow.

Calculation boundary

Arpelier calculates geometric structural changes for supported operations and derives material, creation-origin, step-difference, and geometric-connectivity views from those results. Calculation time and preparation time for some exploration modes can vary with structure complexity and grid resolution. The public capability does not imply quantitative electrical prediction, equipment-level recipe prediction, or guaranteed fabrication outcomes.