How to make a chip?
Tags: chip
Published: 2022-10-17 08:56:33

The main raw material for making chips is silicon, which is usually extracted from sand and gravel. The silicon dioxide in the sand is melted and then reduced, and finally silicon is obtained. Then, doping is performed on the silicon element, the left side is doped with boron element, and the right side is doped with phosphorus element.

The main reason for doping is that silicon itself does not conduct electricity, and there are four electrons around the silicon element, which are equivalent to four holes. There are only three electrons around the boron element, which lacks one electron relative to silicon, so holes Conductive mainly, called P-type semiconductor. The phosphorus element has five electrons around it, one more than silicon, so it is called an N-type semiconductor. The combination of the two becomes the above-mentioned PN junction.

The main feature of the PN junction is that only the positive current on the left side and the negative electrode on the right side can pass through. If the current direction is reversed, the current will not flow, which is the diode. In this way, we can do many operations through these diodes that can only flow unidirectional current, such as NAND gates, etc. These knowledge are also covered in high school courses now, so I won't repeat them here.



Back to the specific production of the chip, after the silicon element is produced, it is sliced ​​and cut into discs one by one. Then apply photoresist on these discs, and then use ultraviolet rays to lithography these photoresist-coated silicon wafers through a lens. The glue will also change accordingly.



After lithography, there is corrosion. Due to different designs, the corroded areas are also different. Generally speaking, the area after lithography will be corroded, but the area without lithography will not. Of course, the situation may be the opposite. All are made according to actual needs.

Taking the etching of the lithography area as an example, the etching place is to form grooves, and then doping is performed in these grooves, that is, the boron element or phosphorus element mentioned above. Finally, by washing, the photoresist is washed away, leaving only the doped silicon wafer. At this time, the semiconductor PN junction can be fabricated.

Such steps may be performed more than once. If complex functions are required, the steps of gluing,[WIFI serial server](https://www.cdebyte.com/Modem-Serialserver-Singleserialserver) doping, etching, cleaning, etc. need to be repeated, and then metal is deposited on it for circuit connection. Finally, a complete wafer is produced. After the wafer is diced, the package becomes a chip. This is a complete chip manufacturing process.
Reasons for scarcity in the field of chip design

From the perspective of industrial structure, my country's chip industry is particularly scarce in the design field. There are three main reasons. The first is the problem of the educational environment. [Remote IO module](https://www.cdebyte.com/Modem-RemoteIOmodule) Due to the blockade of foreign technology and the scarcity of talents in the chip field in China, there has been a lack of education in the field of education and access to the most advanced chip design thinking in the world. Naturally, it is impossible to cultivate a good talent.