2 ms·
Almost 40 years old technology and we are still unable to "print" these dies at home. Can you imagine how much fun that would bring if you could design your ow
by varispeed 4y ago
Almost 40 years old technology and we are still unable to "print" these dies at home.
Can you imagine how much fun that would bring if you could design your own IC and just hit print, then load the die into the carrier and solder the pins?
There isn't even a service like JLCPCB where you could get your custom ICs made and shipped to you.
- anotherhue 4y agoTo be fair, it's not like the semiconductor industry has been standing still. Lithography requires a lot of space and clean rooms.
- mhh__ 4y agoI think there might be in a few years but it's super hard. The technology is insane, the design skills are non-trivial, and the software is terrible
- HPsquared 4y agoThere are a few channels on YouTube about DIY lithography, it's not as far away as you might think.
- stephen_g 4y agoYes there are services where you can get custom ICs made - they’re called ‘multi project wafer’ services. They start around $10K (e.g. efabless does one about that much with the SkyWater 130 nm proces) which is pretty good given how much it costs to do the lithography, not to mention actually making the ICs! But in general it’s a very difficult process. The cleanliness required, the scale at which all this happens, etc. are just orders of magnitude harder than a regular PCB. That’s not even considering the nasty chemicals needed to etch silicon which are way worse than PCB etching chemicals!
- jecel 4y agoThere are cheaper options than $10K (see Mosis or Europractice price tables) but they have smaller areas (to be cheaper, you can have larger chips if you pay more) and might require commercial tools and NDAs. The process options range from much older than the Skywater one to reasonably recent technologies (with proportionally higher prices).