5 ms·
Easy: 1. Build a quartz crucible inside an inert argon atmosphere 2. Heat it to 2600F/1400C 3. Melt your highly pure silicon in it 4. Add in a seed at the t
by creshal 2y ago
Easy:
1. Build a quartz crucible inside an inert argon atmosphere
2. Heat it to 2600F/1400C
3. Melt your highly pure silicon in it
4. Add in a seed at the top that the rest of the silicon can crystalize around
5. Now comes the tricky part that requires some experimentation: Pull out the seed very carefully while rotating it, so that an ingot forms around it as you keep pulling
- bjackman 2y agoAn even easier approach: if you want a 40cm ingot, you can just take a 80cm one that you grew before, and cut it in half
- LoganDark 2y agoHow do you cut it?
- jiggawatts 2y agoWith a diamond saw. Step one to making one of those is to compress and heat some carbon...
- A4ET8a8uTh0 2y agoI genuinely think that was one of the more amusing exchanges I found on HN. There is just such a weird level of.. it could very well be a deadpan joke, but also a well-meaning, helpful response.
- exe34 2y agoit's like the advice on how to become a millionaire. start with a billion dollars, and start investing.
- shepherdjerred 2y agoThis made me realize that I don't mind humor in HN comments when they're genuinely clever. This is opposed to what you often see on Reddit where the "funny" comments are just chains of some meme/common phrase and display no ingenuity (though, to be fair, I did once find those comments funny).
- LoganDark 2y agoI didn't actually know how silicon wafers were cut before, so it was actually somewhat informative.
- NoMoreNicksLeft 2y agoFollowed your instructions, but I can't seem to get a wafer size larger than about 88cm diameter. What am I doing wrong? Can anyone help?
- creshal 2y agoWell, clearly your first problem is that you want it to be that large in the first place. 30cm ought to be enough for everyone, if it's good enough for TSMC it's good enough you.
- LoganDark 2y agoEveryone knows TSMC can't make the newest AI chips that have to multiply a 1,000,000,000x1,000,000,000 matrix every clock cycle. What if you're trying to compete with Nvidia?
- Bene592 2y agoEven 5 cm is more than enough for home use, or do you know a chip that is bigger?
- kaibee 2y agohttps://www.cerebras.net/product-chip/ https://www.cerebras.net/product-chip/
- 11thEarlOfMar 2y agoWho, then, can make them?
- LoganDark 2y agoTony Stark built this in a cave with a box of scraps!