💻 How Are Microchips Made?

🤖 Want to know more about the latest tech and innovations? Don’t Miss Out!

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💻 How Are Microchips Made?

Ever wondered how those tiny marvels powering our electronic world are made? From silicon-rich sand to intricate layers crammed with billions of transistors, the journey of a microchip is a fascinating tale of innovation and precision. Join us as we dive into the high-tech world of microchip manufacturing, where every step counts in creating the brains behind our devices. Stay tuned for a glimpse into one of our most complex feats of technology, where advancements are happening every day.

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🎬 Main topics of the video:

📌 Microchip Production Process: Overview of how microchips are made, starting from the extraction of silicon from sand to the final testing and separation of individual chips.

📌 Silicon's Role: Silicon is highlighted as a crucial semiconductor material due to its ability to have its properties altered by adding impurities, making it suitable for various electronic devices.

📌 Manufacturing Steps: The process involves several critical steps such as deposition, lithography, exposure, doping, and etching, all performed in sterile conditions to avoid contamination.

📌 Component Composition: Microchips consist of capacitors, resistors, and transistors, with more advanced chips containing billions of transistors to enhance computational power.

📌 Moore's Law: The concept of Moore's Law, which predicts the doubling of transistor counts every two years, is mentioned as a driving force behind the continuous advancement in chip manufacturing technology.

📌 Technological Advancements: Despite the complexity of microchip manufacturing, continuous innovations have led to the production of more powerful chips with smaller transistor sizes, enabling enhanced performance in various electronic devices.

📌 Impact: Microchip manufacturing is portrayed as one of the most complex technological feats, with its advancements contributing significantly to the improvement of everyday devices like phones, computers, and gaming consoles.

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🎥 Key Video Chapters:

0:00 - How long it takes to make a microchip
0:11 - How many transistors can be packed into a fingernail-sized area
0:26 - Why silicon is used to make microchips
1:15 - How ultrapure silicon is produced
1:39 - Typical diameter of silicon wafers
1:59 - Importance of sterile conditions in microchip production
2:18 - First step of the microchip production process (deposition)
2:43 - How the chip's blueprint is transferred to the wafer (lithography)
3:00 - How the electrical conductivity of chip parts is altered (doping)
3:35 - How individual chips are separated from the wafer (sawing)
3:47 - Basic components of a microchip
4:05 - Number of transistors on high-end graphics cards
4:54 - Size of the smallest transistors today
5:04 - SUBSCRIBE TODAY!

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⚙️ About the Channel

At Interesting Engineering, our mission is to use storytelling to uncover the inner workings of the latest scientific breakthroughs, technological innovations, cultural phenomena, and more. We don’t just bring you breaking news. We uncover the mechanisms that make these developments possible, transforming how you see the world of today to ensure you’re prepared for the world of tomorrow.

#InterestingEgineering #Technology #Electronics #FutureTech #Gadgets #Innovation #Engineering #Artificialintelligence #IoT #AI #TechLife #CyberSecurity #Sustainability #ChipDesign

[Interestingengineeringofficial]

⚙ Want to know more about the latest tech and innovations? Don’t Miss Out!

[charlesajones]

I majored in Computer Science, and I always tell people "However complicated you imagine computers to be, the reality is much MUCH worse." I am continually astounded that anything this complicated ever works correctly.

[PickleBart]

Sometimes I'm really terrified how human can progress so vigorously from 1900 to 2000s, any of our modern technology is easily seen as black magic back in the days.

[JackT]

This is surely the greatest or at least most intricate feat of engineering that humanity has produced

[olliehopnoodle]

My IT career was working for chip manufacturers. I've been in several front end (chips) and backend (test and assembly) factories. It is amazing. As the video explains, the scales are incredible but unlike a car or toaster assembly line, the wafer can go through the line dozens of times and there are hundreds of different types of chips on their own wafers going through the factory at any time. Each wafer requiring its own 'recipe'. Some of the processes can handle many wafers at the same time, like diffusion, other processes are done one wafer at a time. It's crazy. And as they alluded to in the video, if something is wrong, you might not know for 12 or more weeks. The quality control is amazing. I feel very lucky to have been a small part of it.

[atomicorang]

My brain cannot wrap itself around this at all.

[chrishernandez]

I work in one of these facilities and I have to say it's by far the coolest place I've ever worked and ever will. Photolithography is by far the quickest process in making wafers, which means I handle hundreds of lots (typically and up to 25 wafers per lot) every night I go into work.

[Fipsh]

I praise those who figured out each step of this process.

[Dogsnark]

If this technology hadn’t already been developed, I’d have said it’s not possible! I just am totally amazed that it is possible, and it even continues to advance. Mind boggling.

[Cloud-pcid]

basically they make microchips for machines that make even smaller microchips

[junaidy]

Seeing how a factory manufacture their product is always interesting but seeing chips manufacture is fascinating it's truly wonderful how such human can develop something like this in just years

[JM-pqrs]

I love how complicated it sounds while simultaneously simplifying or skipping several steps lol.

[electromgnetik]

Having done many chip tape-outs, it makes me more at ease seeing how fab labs take care of making things perfect.

[joeylawn]

1:35 One step is skipped - after removal from the melt, the boule then goes through what is known as zone melting to further purify the silicon. It's not ready after coming out of the melt, as it's 99.9% pure silicon - it needs to be more like 99.999% pure (note - not sure on actual percentages, but before any silicon is made into a microchip, it has to be hyperpure.)

[WildBillHabiki]

I worked at a semiconductor plant in both wafer fab and final testing. This video doesn't even begin to explain the unreal complexity of a modern semiconductor but I guess that's the point it, would take 2-3 days to explain it all. It's actually some of the most insane tech we have. Imagine dozens of layers with all the transistors, etc. laid out one on top of the other interconnected on a microscopic level. We are talking billions of elements and connections. It's absolutely mind boggling. I don't even know of anything equivalent to compare it to and to think some engineers designed every layer, every connection millions of times and they get it right 99% of the time. It's some of the most mind boggling tech that most people take for granted because they don't understand by no fault of their own how insanely complicated it truly is.

[efarahmed]

Microchips, also known as integrated circuits, are made using a complex process called semiconductor fabrication or "wafer fabrication". Here are the general steps involved in making microchips:

Design: The first step is to design the microchip using computer-aided design (CAD) software.

Wafer preparation: A silicon wafer is prepared by cleaning and polishing it to a mirror finish. The wafer is then coated with a layer of photoresist.

Photolithography: Photolithography is a process used to transfer the design onto the wafer. The wafer is exposed to ultraviolet light through a mask, which creates a pattern on the photoresist layer.

Etching: The wafer is then etched with chemicals to remove the portions of the photoresist layer that were not exposed to light. This leaves a patterned layer of photoresist on the surface of the wafer.

Doping: Doping is the process of adding impurities to the wafer to create regions with different electrical properties. This is done by introducing a gas containing the desired impurities into a high-temperature furnace where the wafer is heated.

Deposition: Thin layers of metal, oxide, or other materials are deposited on the wafer using techniques such as chemical vapor deposition (CVD) or physical vapor deposition (PVD).

Planarization: Planarization is a process used to create a flat surface on the wafer by removing excess material. This is done using chemical mechanical polishing (CMP).

Metallization: Metal contacts are deposited on the wafer to provide electrical connections to the circuit.

Testing: Finally, the wafer is tested to ensure that the circuits are functioning correctly.

Once the wafer has been tested, it is cut into individual chips, which are then packaged for use in electronic devices.

[Motocicleiros]

I had no idea that it was so complex to *produce* chips. I knew that designing it and creating a matrix was way complicated and a long process but assumed that once the matrix was done the production was just a matter of "stamp" it like they make plastic injection molding. I am surprised that having so many steps, sophisticated equipment and a lot of time involved those microchips reach the market in such low price! 😮

[sudheerk]

Looking at innovations happening at such a small scale reminds me that humans are extraordinary...

[tsueiam]

I’m amazed at how these chips are made, but how amazing are the machines that are making the chips!

[tttqcii]

I'll never get over the intricacy and extreme level of technical applications needed to make this a possibility. Humanity truly is incredible!