Integrated circuits fabricated on the surface of semiconductor chips are also known as thin-film integrated circuits. Another type, thick-film integrated circuits (hybrid integrated circuits), are miniaturized circuits composed of individual semiconductor devices and passive components integrated onto a substrate or circuit board.
Between 1949 and 1957, Werner Jacobi, Jeffrey Dummer, Sidney Darlington, and Yasuo Tarui all developed prototypes, but the modern integrated circuit was invented by Jack Kilby in 1958. He was awarded the 2000 Nobel Prize in Physics for this achievement. However, Robert Noyce, who also developed modern, practical integrated circuits around the same time, passed away before 1990.
The complete chip manufacturing process includes several stages: chip design, wafer fabrication, packaging, and cost testing. Wafer fabrication is particularly complex. The diagram below will help us understand the chip manufacturing process, especially the wafer fabrication part.
Chips are the foundation of all modern technological applications. As a rising superpower, mastering chip technology is essential.
However, in the international community, "two tigers cannot share one mountain." Another major power will not stand idly by and watch another major power rise. Therefore, it has become inevitable to restrict the development of the chip industry of another major power through various means.
A chip, though small, about the size of a fingernail, involves incredibly complex technology, no less so than building a plane or an aircraft carrier. Within this tiny space lie billions of transistors. Some say that observing the internal structure of a chip under a high-powered microscope reveals a structure more complex and massive than any other aircraft in the world. If there is anything in this world that truly embodies the Buddhist concept of "containing Mount Sumeru in a mustard seed," I believe it is the chip.
Some people say, "If we pooled the resources of the entire nation to make a chip, couldn't we make one?" Yes, we really couldn't. Because chips aren't something that can be made quickly from scratch simply by having money and manpower; another crucial factor is time. All advanced technologies have reached their current level through the accumulation of time.
After watching the video by Xigua Video creator "Shake Code," I'd like to expand on his points to help everyone learn more about the connections within the chip industry.
So how difficult is it to manufacture chips? To answer that, we need to first look at how chips are made.
I. Chip Architecture
Before manufacturing chips, they need to be designed. Chip design requires a corresponding chip architecture, which is like the structural framework of a house, such as a wooden structure, a civil engineering structure, a concrete structure, a steel structure, and so on. Currently, there are four main chip architectures worldwide: x86, ARM, RISC-V, and MIPS.
1. The x86 architecture was invented by Intel in 1978. Later, AMD and IBM also used this architecture to develop their own chips. Now, the CPUs running on PCs are basically based on the x86 architecture. The characteristics of the x86 architecture are high performance, fast speed and good compatibility.
2. ARM, invented in 1983 by the British company ARM, is a 32-bit reduced instruction set processor architecture widely used in many embedded system designs. Due to its low power consumption and low cost, ARM processors are well-suited for mobile communications, aligning with its primary design goal of low power consumption. Currently, major chip companies using ARM include Apple, Google, IBM, and Huawei. Because it was invented by ARM, chip companies wishing to develop ARM-based chips must first obtain a license from ARM; otherwise, they cannot update or iterate their technology.
3. The RiSC-V architecture is an open instruction set architecture (ISA) built upon the principles of Reduced Instruction Set Computing (RISC). RISC-V is a completely new instruction set built upon the continuous development and maturation of instruction sets. The RISC-V instruction set is completely open source, simple in design, easy to port to Unix systems, modular in design, and has a complete toolchain. It also has numerous open-source implementations and tape-out examples, gaining recognition from many chip companies. The RiSC-V architecture is operated by the RiSC-V Architecture Foundation, which currently has over 275 members, including 169 software and hardware companies and institutions. Alibaba, Google, Huawei Technologies, and Unisplendour Corporation are among its members. Alibaba's XuanTie series uses the RiSC-V architecture.
4. The MIPS architecture, invented by MIPS Technologies in 1981, is a Reduced Instruction Set Computing (RISC) processor architecture. It is based on a fixed-length, periodically encoded instruction set and employs an import/store data model. With improvements, this architecture supports optimized execution of high-level languages. Its arithmetic and logical operations use three operands, allowing compilers to optimize complex expressions.
This article will introduce the chip manufacturing process:
The first step is chip design, which generates "patterns" based on the design requirements.
Fabricating wafers. A wafer slicing machine is used to cut silicon ingots into wafers of the required thickness.
Wafer coating. A photoresist film is coated on the surface of the wafer, which can improve the wafer's oxidation resistance and temperature resistance.
Wafer photolithography, development, and etching. Ultraviolet light is used to irradiate the wafer coating through a photomask and a convex lens, softening it. Then, a solvent is used to dissolve and wash it away, exposing the silicon underneath the thin film.
Ion implantation. N-wells and P-wells are etched into the exposed silicon using an etching machine, and ions are implanted to form a PN junction (logic gate); then, the upper metal interconnect circuit is formed by chemical and physical vapor deposition.
Wafer testing. After the above processes, a lattice of grains will form on the wafer. The electrical characteristics of each grain are tested using a probe test method.
Packaging. The manufactured wafer is fixed in place, pins are attached, and then various different packaging forms are adopted according to external factors such as user application habits, application environment, and market conditions; the same chip core can have different packaging forms.
Chip manufacturing mainly involves continuously adding patterns onto a wafer, connecting the patterns vertically, creating many layers, sometimes over 100. It also takes a significant amount of time; from design to mass production, it can take up to four months.
In most cases, the chips we refer to in daily life are not much different from integrated circuits in concept.
Computers, mobile phones, calculators, and other electronic devices are all equipped with various chips. What role do these chips play in these devices? The role of different chips in these electronic devices is similar to the role of different organs in the human body. The overall management and computational logic processing of electronic devices require a CPU (the core component of which is the chipset), which is analogous to the human brain. Electronic devices recognize sound and process audio, requiring audio processing chips, which are analogous to the human ear. Electronic devices receive images and process pictures, requiring image processing chips, which are analogous to the human eyeglasses. In short, the various functions of these devices all require corresponding chips to implement, just as different organs in the human body perform different functions.
Chip manufacturing begins with design, which is the most crucial step in the entire manufacturing process. Designers use computer-aided design software to create the chip's circuit diagrams and layout. The circuit diagrams describe the chip's logic functions and electrical connections, while the layout determines the physical arrangement and dimensions of the circuitry.
In summary, chip manufacturing is a complex engineering process that requires numerous high-precision technologies and equipment. While the processes may vary slightly from manufacturer to manufacturer, these fundamental steps are essential. Advances in chip manufacturing have not only driven the development of electronic devices but also advanced modern science and engineering.
