3 ms·

Link? I've not heard of those before, and am interested to learn more!

• selectodude 9y ago
  They're just the things that the silicon crystals are grown in. The furnace cools off and the whole thing needs to be re-started/replaced.
  • baybal2 9y ago
    It does not work like that. The whole thing needs to be a single crystal. If a minute temperature change creates a second grain in the melt, it is all gone, along with the crucible.
    • CaliforniaKarl 9y ago
      Is there any place online, on a book, you suggest I go to in order to watch or read more about this? That all sounds remarkably interesting, especially for something which impacts all of our lives so much.
      • baybal2 9y ago
        https://youtu.be/8QKzS_w_Ko0 https://youtu.be/8QKzS_w_Ko0
• HankB99 9y ago
  When I worked at what was then Inland Steel (Indiana, US) they had a coal fired 60 Hz power station. It did not produce all of their power but it did produce a significant amount. The reason it was there was that they could use steam after it had passed through a portion of the turbine for other plant processes. Chip fabs are in a different situation. My understanding (and I am far from an expert) is that typical power interruptions such as the momentary loss when a breaker trips and recloses will interrupt production. A quarter second might as well be 30 minutes as it will cause all motor controllers to drop out. Chip fabs need something akin to a giant UPS (or alternative power feed that they can switch to in a few milliseconds. Such equipment exists and is costly. The business case is the cost of the power conditioning vs. the expected lost production due to potential outages. Perhaps Samsung did have something that could ride out a short outage but not the one they faced. In that case there is a vast difference between 1/4 second drop and a 30 minute outage.