6 ms·

Second IC – Homemade 1000 transistor array chip (2021)

271 points by danboarder 4y ago

veltas 4y ago
This is really fantastic work and there definitely needs to be a hacker microchip community. I love the idea of one day having a simplistic processor chip someone made in their garage.
pixelpoet 4y ago
That Industry vs Sam's garage chart is hilarious :D Obligatory XKCD: https://xkcd.com/605/ https://xkcd.com/605/
- jacquesm 4y ago
  Yes, at this rate he'll outrun TSMC in a couple of years.
jacquesm 4y ago
Amazing work. Would be great to see more of the gear used and the processes themselves and how feasible it is to reproduce this. I'd absolutely love to be able to do for instance a homebrew 6502 or so. But I fear the gear costs will be astronomical. Check the 'general high vacuum' page linked on the left there as well.
badcc 4y ago
And now, a couple years later, he's partnered with microprocessor legend Jim Keller to start Atomic Semi.. https://twitter.com/szeloof/status/1636174775310745601 https://twitter.com/szeloof/status/1636174775310745601
- WestCoastJustin 4y ago
  I didn't make the connection until now, but Jim Keller was on the Lex Fridman podcast twice [1, 2] and it was awesome. In terms of founders this is pretty great team. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nb2tebYAaOA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nb2tebYAaOA [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4hL5Om4IJ4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4hL5Om4IJ4
marcodiego 4y ago
I don't know how much commercial value his projects may have, but I really think they could be used in education. It very is rare for students (even in developed countries I think) to be able to develop and test their own chips. Having a simple, practical, affordable "chip making" kit that any one could have access would be a boost for students all over the world.
- comboy 4y ago
  I don't think any of these adjectives applies.
jebarker 4y ago
I love the audacity of this as a hobby project. It makes me wonder what other audacious hobby ideas would be dismissed by almost everyone but are actually achievable by a suitably motivated individual.
- markus_zhang 4y ago
  Have been thinking about making an authentic copy of V2 rocket since like 20...
  - nickpinkston 4y ago
    Just don't launch it at authentic targets... :D
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - jebarker 4y ago
    There's a whole sub-genre here of projects that would be (wisely) dismissed because they would land you in jail rather than their technical difficulty I suppose. I recall recently seeing a rocketry hobbyist realize their landing guidance tech is essentially the same as precision missile guidance and best not to make open source. EDIT: I just remembered, it was Mark Rober's egg drop from space [1] [1] https://youtu.be/BYVZh5kqaFg https://youtu.be/BYVZh5kqaFg
    - Someone 4y ago
      Tangentially related, it appears the US weapons industry uses hobbyist parts to build drones. https://en.defence-ua.com/news/russian_soldiers_disassemble_american_made_suicide_drone_used_by_ukraine_featuring_german_made_components-6482.html https://en.defence-ua.com/news/russian_soldiers_disassemble_...: “A video appeared on the network shows russian soldiers disassembling the American-made Switchblade 600 suicide drone manufactured by AeroVironment. According to Bild, it is the first documented use of this drone by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Moreover, the drone is equipped with 3 “aero-naut CAM Carbon” folding propellers produced by German company Aero-naut Modellbau. It’s a German company that specializes in designing and manufacturing model airplane and boat kits, as well as model components such as electric motors, speed controllers, and propellers. But the company has stated that it never intended for its products to be used for military purposes, and has expressed concern over the use of its products in military applications without its knowledge or consent.”
simultsop 4y ago
Sam's garage looks like a billion dollar lab, pretty affordable for a DIY.
dang 4y ago
Related: A home-made lithographically-fabricated integrated circuit (2018) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28263714 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28263714 - Aug 2021 (13 comments) Second IC - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28176255 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28176255 - Aug 2021 (79 comments) Homemade IC (2018) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21239145 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21239145 - Oct 2019 (40 comments) Home Chip Fab - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20657398 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20657398 - Aug 2019 (131 comments) A home-made lithographically-fabricated integrated circuit - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16955549 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16955549 - April 2018 (116 comments)
xor99 4y ago
Loved reading his blog over the years. Another good resource in this area is the zero to asic course: https://zerotoasiccourse.com/ https://zerotoasiccourse.com/
- polalavik 4y ago
  Been following Matt Venn of zero to asic for a while. Hes got a great youtube channel as well. Looking forwards for when they can support designs a couple order of magnitudes larger. I really want to design an audio spectrum based OFDM modem 802.11a-ish. Might be too big of a design for the foreseeable future tho.
teabee89 4y ago
Archived version: https://archive.is/SuAf2 https://archive.is/SuAf2
junon 4y ago
This is so incredibly cool. I've always wondered if this were possible and it tickles me to see it done - starting in high school, no doubt.
azubinski 4y ago
This kind of real passion deserves much more representation in the news. May Atomic Semi be fine. May the God of Engineering bless them.

271 points by danboarder 4y ago

This is really fantastic work and there definitely needs to be a hacker microchip community. I love the idea of one day having a simplistic processor chip someone made in their garage.

pixelpoet 4y ago

That Industry vs Sam's garage chart is hilarious :D Obligatory XKCD: https://xkcd.com/605/ https://xkcd.com/605/

jacquesm 4y ago
Yes, at this rate he'll outrun TSMC in a couple of years.

jacquesm 4y ago

Amazing work. Would be great to see more of the gear used and the processes themselves and how feasible it is to reproduce this. I'd absolutely love to be able to do for instance a homebrew 6502 or so. But I fear the gear costs will be astronomical. Check the 'general high vacuum' page linked on the left there as well.

badcc 4y ago

And now, a couple years later, he's partnered with microprocessor legend Jim Keller to start Atomic Semi.. https://twitter.com/szeloof/status/1636174775310745601 https://twitter.com/szeloof/status/1636174775310745601

WestCoastJustin 4y ago
I didn't make the connection until now, but Jim Keller was on the Lex Fridman podcast twice [1, 2] and it was awesome. In terms of founders this is pretty great team. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nb2tebYAaOA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nb2tebYAaOA [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4hL5Om4IJ4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4hL5Om4IJ4

marcodiego 4y ago

I don't know how much commercial value his projects may have, but I really think they could be used in education. It very is rare for students (even in developed countries I think) to be able to develop and test their own chips. Having a simple, practical, affordable "chip making" kit that any one could have access would be a boost for students all over the world.

comboy 4y ago
I don't think any of these adjectives applies.

jebarker 4y ago

I love the audacity of this as a hobby project. It makes me wonder what other audacious hobby ideas would be dismissed by almost everyone but are actually achievable by a suitably motivated individual.

markus_zhang 4y ago
Have been thinking about making an authentic copy of V2 rocket since like 20...
- nickpinkston 4y ago
  Just don't launch it at authentic targets... :D
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- jebarker 4y ago
  There's a whole sub-genre here of projects that would be (wisely) dismissed because they would land you in jail rather than their technical difficulty I suppose. I recall recently seeing a rocketry hobbyist realize their landing guidance tech is essentially the same as precision missile guidance and best not to make open source. EDIT: I just remembered, it was Mark Rober's egg drop from space [1] [1] https://youtu.be/BYVZh5kqaFg https://youtu.be/BYVZh5kqaFg
  - Someone 4y ago
    Tangentially related, it appears the US weapons industry uses hobbyist parts to build drones. https://en.defence-ua.com/news/russian_soldiers_disassemble_american_made_suicide_drone_used_by_ukraine_featuring_german_made_components-6482.html https://en.defence-ua.com/news/russian_soldiers_disassemble_...: “A video appeared on the network shows russian soldiers disassembling the American-made Switchblade 600 suicide drone manufactured by AeroVironment. According to Bild, it is the first documented use of this drone by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Moreover, the drone is equipped with 3 “aero-naut CAM Carbon” folding propellers produced by German company Aero-naut Modellbau. It’s a German company that specializes in designing and manufacturing model airplane and boat kits, as well as model components such as electric motors, speed controllers, and propellers. But the company has stated that it never intended for its products to be used for military purposes, and has expressed concern over the use of its products in military applications without its knowledge or consent.”

simultsop 4y ago

Sam's garage looks like a billion dollar lab, pretty affordable for a DIY.

dang 4y ago

Related: A home-made lithographically-fabricated integrated circuit (2018) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28263714 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28263714 - Aug 2021 (13 comments) Second IC - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28176255 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28176255 - Aug 2021 (79 comments) Homemade IC (2018) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21239145 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21239145 - Oct 2019 (40 comments) Home Chip Fab - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20657398 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20657398 - Aug 2019 (131 comments) A home-made lithographically-fabricated integrated circuit - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16955549 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16955549 - April 2018 (116 comments)

xor99 4y ago

Loved reading his blog over the years. Another good resource in this area is the zero to asic course: https://zerotoasiccourse.com/ https://zerotoasiccourse.com/

polalavik 4y ago
Been following Matt Venn of zero to asic for a while. Hes got a great youtube channel as well. Looking forwards for when they can support designs a couple order of magnitudes larger. I really want to design an audio spectrum based OFDM modem 802.11a-ish. Might be too big of a design for the foreseeable future tho.

teabee89 4y ago

Archived version: https://archive.is/SuAf2 https://archive.is/SuAf2

junon 4y ago

This is so incredibly cool. I've always wondered if this were possible and it tickles me to see it done - starting in high school, no doubt.

azubinski 4y ago

This kind of real passion deserves much more representation in the news. May Atomic Semi be fine. May the God of Engineering bless them.