Hardware How to Make a CPU: From Sand to Shelf

nice one

I've always wondered how they were made!

 

can Bit - Tech do the same for a GPU pls

would make 2 Thread of the Years

;D

actually, do it for all the components of a computer please

 

Good article, except it's pretty much all from Intel's site.

Kinda bothers me that bit-tech has claimed these images as their own when they're clearly taken from Intel's site with no attribution. http://www.intel.com/pressroom/kits/chipmaking/index.htm

 

That's very true, they've plastered the Bit-Tech logo on each image :-\

Edit: Oh and Bit-tech have stripped out the Intel logos!
Shame on you, Bit-tech.

 

I would say your argument is invalid - re-branding it is something Intel expected.

Lets not lose perspective of what the article is about and stop splitting hairs about something as trivial as images.

 

While the Lithography process is slightly different (one cell at a time instead of all cells) this video from the Intel Youtube channel also shows the process.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCOyq4YzBtY

 

"Intel helped us put this guide together"

Am I the only one who read that bit?

 

i used to read plenty of such articles about microprocessor manufacturing pipelines......
But this one is the best.........
i will rate it 10\10..........

thanx BT

 

I'm not sure we ever claimed them as our own. I did state in the article and in this thread that Intel had helped us with the article and that the images came from them.

Images that go on the site get our watermark as standard, we watermark screen shots of games but aren't claiming that we created the game.

The images are also from the press section of the Intel site - its almost like you spent time searching for them just so you could post a sensationalist reply to this thread or something...

 

It's pretty much the same without the High-K I guess, transistors and connections. Just a different layout.
There's ony so many ways to build a CMOS.

 

A nice introduction but not to the level of detail I'd expect of bit-tech and there are definitly a few gaps that for me is where the real incite is. Eg. How do they purify the silicon, what are the challenges of growing a single crystal of sillicon, how do they create all those interconnects, how do they create the holes in the insulator, how do they desposit single atom layers of high-k, etc.

Then again, as someone else said, I'm surprised most readers of the site don't know the basics of lithography and yet that seems to be the case. Hey ho.

 

How do they purify the silicon
1) reduce it to it's chemical elements and purify those, not interesting here
what are the challenges of growing a single crystal of sillicon
2) Biggest challenge is the start and the endcone, these are actually controlled manually, the rest of the crystal is computercontrolled. Takes a few day to grow one, you see
how do they create all those interconnects
3) 's explained both in the article, and here in the forum (look for "damascene")
how do they create the holes in the insulator
4) they're etched...photo resist, step/scan with deep UV, etch off photo resist, etch hole (simplified)
how do they desposit single atom layers of high-k
5) Ah...that's one for Intel to answer, I'd be interested

 

I like this amd video.. but they don't show how they make the interconnects- guess that part is magic