5 ms·

Good for tessellation only if chips are also hexagons. Arguably chips themselves could be hexagons for better pin density and potentially thermal properties. Su

by BluSyn 2y ago

Good for tessellation only if chips are also hexagons. Arguably chips themselves could be hexagons for better pin density and potentially thermal properties. Surprised nobody has tried this before.

Out_of_Characte 2y ago
You cannot cut straight lines trough hexagons. Triangles would work but would be even more inconvenient to design cut and process into normal chips. So squares it is.
- londons_explore 2y ago
  Water jet cutters or EDM cutters could both be used on silicon and there is no need for either to cut straight lines. When silicon area is expensive and performance can be maximised by reducing average on-die wire length, hexagons sound like they might make sense. Obviously current layout tools prefer X-Y area splits, so a lot of tooling would have to be redesigned to make use of a probably rather small performance gain.
  - krisoft 2y ago
    > Water jet cutters or EDM cutters could both be used on silicon Wouldn’t they contaminate the just fabbed silicon surfaces? (That being said i have no idea how swarf is typically managed in die cutting.)
  - eightysixfour 2y ago
    It isn’t a question of cutting at an angle, it is a question of cutting in a specific direction all the way across the water. Hexagons demand that you change directions multiple times while cutting at chip level precision across a wafer you are trying to hold in place with the same amount of accuracy.
    - londons_explore 2y ago
      The cutting accuracy can be really low compared to everything else - 100um accuracy is fine, and even a hobby level CNC machine can do that.
  - Out_of_Characte 2y ago
    No you can't. Anyone whose spent any time breaking glass into specific shapes knows how difficult it is. Glass can't handle the force required to break it in one go. Multiple perfect passes have to be made in order to do it with reasonable yield. Having corners inside your fault lines is asking for trouble. Chips arent that much different.
    - londons_explore 2y ago
      This is silicon we're talking about... It can easily be cut with a wire saw, and while that is usually in a straight line, it doesn't need to be.
- deepnotderp 2y ago
  You could with plasma/chemical dicing, and people have But it breaks too much of the existing flow to be worthwhile

by BluSyn 2y ago

Good for tessellation only if chips are also hexagons. Arguably chips themselves could be hexagons for better pin density and potentially thermal properties. Surprised nobody has tried this before.

Out_of_Characte 2y ago

You cannot cut straight lines trough hexagons. Triangles would work but would be even more inconvenient to design cut and process into normal chips. So squares it is.

londons_explore 2y ago
Water jet cutters or EDM cutters could both be used on silicon and there is no need for either to cut straight lines. When silicon area is expensive and performance can be maximised by reducing average on-die wire length, hexagons sound like they might make sense. Obviously current layout tools prefer X-Y area splits, so a lot of tooling would have to be redesigned to make use of a probably rather small performance gain.
- krisoft 2y ago
  > Water jet cutters or EDM cutters could both be used on silicon Wouldn’t they contaminate the just fabbed silicon surfaces? (That being said i have no idea how swarf is typically managed in die cutting.)
- eightysixfour 2y ago
  It isn’t a question of cutting at an angle, it is a question of cutting in a specific direction all the way across the water. Hexagons demand that you change directions multiple times while cutting at chip level precision across a wafer you are trying to hold in place with the same amount of accuracy.
  - londons_explore 2y ago
    The cutting accuracy can be really low compared to everything else - 100um accuracy is fine, and even a hobby level CNC machine can do that.
- Out_of_Characte 2y ago
  No you can't. Anyone whose spent any time breaking glass into specific shapes knows how difficult it is. Glass can't handle the force required to break it in one go. Multiple perfect passes have to be made in order to do it with reasonable yield. Having corners inside your fault lines is asking for trouble. Chips arent that much different.
  - londons_explore 2y ago
    This is silicon we're talking about... It can easily be cut with a wire saw, and while that is usually in a straight line, it doesn't need to be.
deepnotderp 2y ago
You could with plasma/chemical dicing, and people have But it breaks too much of the existing flow to be worthwhile