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Patents in chip processes are often electo-chemical in nature, which are "obvious" in the sense people know what they want to do, but the exact process for doin

by nl 6y ago

Patents in chip processes are often electo-chemical in nature, which are "obvious" in the sense people know what they want to do, but the exact process for doing it takes years to develop and refine. This is why chip "yields" change over time - the process is slowly tweaked (maybe the temperature get changed 0.001 degree or something) to improve yield. Chip manufactures use a mix of patents and trade secrets to protect their advantages.

varispeed 6y ago
> in the sense people know what they want to do, but the exact process for doing it takes years to develop and refine. That is what makes me dislike the idea of patents - if two or more teams working in silos on developing and refining the process would have gotten similar results, then the process should not be patentable.