Child of the Sino-US Trade Era On September 14, 2020, late at night, Hsinchu, Taiwan. TSMC’s factory was brightly lit, and the machines on the production line were still running at high speed, but there was an unusual tension in the air. Just a few hours earlier, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced: After September … Read more
China and the U.S. Trade: The Darling of the Era On September 14, 2020, late at night, Hsinchu, Taiwan. TSMC’s factory was brightly lit, and the machines on the production line were still running at high speed, but there was an unusual tension in the air. Just a few hours earlier, the U.S. Department of … Read more
(Friends who are not interested in the technical background can skip directly to the practical content below) 1. Definition and Significance of Wafer Fabrication Wafer fabrication is the core process of semiconductor manufacturing, referring to the submission of chip design layout data to a wafer foundry for trial production. Through processes such as photolithography, etching, … Read more
#04Equipment and Materials4.1 Key Equipment Photolithography Machine: As the core equipment in the fabrication process, its precision and stability have a decisive impact on the quality of chip pattern transfer. Modern photolithography machines utilize advanced optical systems and precise mechanical structures to project layout patterns onto silicon wafers with extremely high resolution, enabling the accurate … Read more
Multiple failed tape-outs may lead to the collapse of a company. The chip industry is no stranger to tape-out. The so-called tape-out refers to the process of manufacturing chips through a series of steps, akin to an assembly line. This stage is crucial as it lies between chip design and mass production. In simple terms, … Read more
In the previous issue, we introduced the wafer preparation process (link). Silicon ingots and wafers Today, we will continue to discuss the manufacturing process of chips (die). This stage is the most challenging part of the chip manufacturing process. I will try to explain it in a simple and understandable way, and I hope everyone … Read more
Source: Fresh Date Classroom Original Author: Little Date Jun This article mainly introduces the process of chip manufacturing. Oxidation First, on the wafers that have been cut and polished, we need to perform an oxidation step. The purpose of oxidation is to form a protective film (oxide layer) on the fragile surface of the wafer. … Read more
In the previous issue, we introduced the wafer preparation process (link). Silicon ingots and wafers Today, we will continue discussing the manufacturing process of chips (die). This stage is the most challenging part of the chip manufacturing process. I will try to explain it in a simple and understandable way, and I hope everyone can … Read more
The recent incident where Huawei’s Kirin chips were blocked by the United States has barely passed, and now Xiaomi has encountered issues. On August 9, Lei Jun suddenly posted on Weibo, responding to several questions that netizens were most concerned about, including the development progress of the Surge S2 chip. Lei Jun stated: The Surge … Read more
1. What is Tape-Out Tape-out, in English, refers to the process of converting the layout of a designed integrated circuit (IC) into an actual chip, similar to a production line, through a series of manufacturing steps. Tape-out, which means sending for manufacturing, is the final stage of integrated circuit design, where the chip design company … Read more