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Is there anybody here who is familiar with the process of making computer chips?

Posted on 09/16/2022 12:43:00 AM PDT by Jonty30

I'm just curious about the process from the point of CAD to where they have computer chips ready to sell.

Thanks in advance if somebody can explain it for us non-techies.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Computers/Internet; Education; Society
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To: Jonty30

An eight inch platter is put into a chamber that deposits appropriate material layers onto it. Then UV light is directed at it in at various locations to create the proper connections by getting rid of some of the material. It is then tested for functionality. It is then sent to a diver to cut out individual chips. It is the individual chip which is then packaged and sold to you

All of this is done in a class 10 clean room


41 posted on 09/16/2022 5:43:27 AM PDT by Nifster (I see puppy dogs in the clouds )
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To: CA_soon_gone

“Have Verilog and Synopsys been outdated?”

Don’t know. Crazy, late 90’s for me. I worked on a Pentium II clone, FPU w/MMX team.

We had a Synopsis system. I remember the day we booted DOS.


42 posted on 09/16/2022 5:58:51 AM PDT by WeaslesRippedMyFlesh
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To: Jonty30

I’ve made plastic chips from computers. Especially my Windows Vista computer.


43 posted on 09/16/2022 6:14:41 AM PDT by IYAS9YAS (There are two kinds of people: Those who can extrapolate from incomplete data.)
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To: FreedomPoster
Intel and TSMC are both building huge fab facilities in the Phoenix area.

I live near the Intel plant in Rio Rancho, NM. They've been on a construction kick for a little under a year to expand the facility here. Huge cranes and construction crews running dawn to dusk.

44 posted on 09/16/2022 6:21:06 AM PDT by IYAS9YAS (There are two kinds of people: Those who can extrapolate from incomplete data.)
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To: Jonty30

From the design stage, you need more than a basic knowledge of electronics.
Then you need a PDK database for the process you are planning on using.
Cadence Virtuoso is what most companies use.

Older process are fairly reasonable and you can usually piggyback on a test chip to see if your design works.

Its very much like PCB layout however the design rules are much more complex.
Contact me if you need more information than this.


45 posted on 09/16/2022 6:31:30 AM PDT by Zathras
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To: Jonty30

The biggest advancement since semiconductors began.
We were nearly done with advancement until this came out.
Each costs 200M

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jv40Viz-KTc


46 posted on 09/16/2022 6:37:43 AM PDT by Zathras
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To: Jonty30

Considering nobody on earth can explain how a pencil is made, I would assume a chip is much less likely...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYO3tOqDISE


47 posted on 09/16/2022 6:39:01 AM PDT by nitzy
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To: zeestephen
It is incomprehensible to me that Europe and the USA have basically surrendered the mass production of microchips to Taiwan, South Korea, China, and Japan.

Seppuku trade policy by the Uniparty.

48 posted on 09/16/2022 6:44:26 AM PDT by logi_cal869 (-cynicus the "concern troll" a/o 10/03/2018 /!i!! &@$%&*(@ -)
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To: Jonty30

You go on the Internet and buy them from China - that’s why we no longer need to educate people in the US.


49 posted on 09/16/2022 6:45:55 AM PDT by BobL (By the way, low tonight in Estonia: 47 degrees)
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To: Nateman
450mm is the largest wafer diameter (~18 inches) out there, but most Fabs
are still doing 12 inch...most of the stuff I work on is still on 8 inch wafers.
50 posted on 09/16/2022 6:53:10 AM PDT by major_gaff (University of Parris Island, Class of '84)
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To: zeestephen
It is incomprehensible to me that Europe and the USA have basically surrendered the mass production of microchips

This is so important! Microchip still has foundries in the US, and plans to build a few more.

51 posted on 09/16/2022 7:05:52 AM PDT by GingisK
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To: Krosan

I gave high school students lessons on digital logic gates. Eventually they were exposed to the necessary logic to implement an AVR ATMEGA328 uP instruction set. A few of them were thrilled and went on to study CS or digital electronics in college. The majority just didn’t care.


52 posted on 09/16/2022 7:09:14 AM PDT by GingisK
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To: Gideon7

The Motorola 68000 was highly superior in every respect. Motorola management flubbed the meeting with IBM.


53 posted on 09/16/2022 7:11:17 AM PDT by GingisK
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To: FarCenter

It seem you have the gist of it.


54 posted on 09/16/2022 7:12:33 AM PDT by GingisK
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To: jarwulf

Wow I want that guy in my Tribe when society completes its breakdown.


55 posted on 09/16/2022 7:18:26 AM PDT by DouglasKC
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To: dennisw
...As much as Biden is useless, at least the DC parasites voted in subsidies to build more chip plants/fabs here.

Intel was already making tons of money. I've seen the building process for a Fab and it is organized chaos. You can only build a Fabrication Factory at a limited speed no matter how much money you throw at it. You get people bumping into each other and preventing others work from getting done.

Intel was already doing everything it could. It has chips months on backorder. The money tossed at them is basically pork made to look noble.

56 posted on 09/16/2022 7:22:52 AM PDT by Nateman (If Mohammad was not the Anti Christ he definitely comes in as a strong second..)
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To: Jonty30

You’ll want to read up on Photolithography which is basically the method used to draw/etch the circuits onto whatever substrate.


57 posted on 09/16/2022 7:24:22 AM PDT by AFreeBird
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To: glorgau

They already have that. It’s called Molecular Beam Epitaxy.


58 posted on 09/16/2022 8:35:46 AM PDT by who_would_fardels_bear (This is not a tagline.)
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To: who_would_fardels_bear

> It’s called Molecular Beam Epitaxy.

I was thinking macro not micro.


59 posted on 09/16/2022 8:44:39 AM PDT by glorgau
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To: Jonty30

Making computer chips since college....strike any key.


60 posted on 09/16/2022 9:33:04 AM PDT by If You Want It Fixed - Fix It ( )
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