BETA
Chapter 1
From beach sand to pure silicon
Chapter 2
Designing the microscopic city
Chapter 3
Printing with light in the cleanroom
Chapter 4
Slicing, packaging, and testing the final chip
YOUR GOAL
Master of How computer chips are made
Ch 2 · Designing the microscopic city
steve Build microscopic layers of silicon to discover how a computer chip is actually made.
steve Microchip Photolithography
Trace the light, trace the light, Draw a neon city in the silicon tonight!
steve Moore's Law accurately predicted that the number of transistors on a chip would double roughly every two years.
steve Engineers use highly specialized software to design the incredibly complex layouts of modern microprocessors.
Fun Fact
Transistor scale: A modern computer chip contains more transistors than there are people on the entire planet Earth.
Glossary
integrated circuit (noun)
A tiny electronic circuit on a semiconductor substrate, typically silicon, containing numerous interconnected components. Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments built the first working prototype of this microelectronic design in 1958.
A tiny electronic circuit on a semiconductor substrate, typically silicon, containing numerous interconnected components. Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments built the first working prototype of this microelectronic design in 1958.
Quiz
Who observed that the number of transistors on a microchip doubles roughly every two years?