Using a diamond saw, operators slice ingots into thin silicon wafers. Operators clean and polish wafers. They etch electronic circuits onto wafers. To do this, they use special photographic equipment and chemicals. They may repeat the etching and stripping process many times to add more layers of circuits.
Operators make holes in each layer where they direct metal to connect circuits.
Once the circuits are added, operators cut wafers into small rectangles known as chips. They use probes to test the electronic pathways in each chip. Finally, operators attach chips to frames and seal them in plastic. Operators keep records and monitor equipment. Semiconductor technicians sometimes supervise semiconductor processing operators.