4 ms·

we are incredibly overdue for the 3D-printer-ification of silicon chips

snek_case 1y ago
Don't hold your breath. Chip fabrication is extremely sophisticated. It's basically nanotechnology. Not something that could practically be done at home anytime soon.
- __MatrixMan__ 1y ago
  I agree, photolithography at home is a long way out. I think if we want to distribute the means of computational production, a better approach would be to print oligonucleotide instructions (requires a custom inkjet printer), and use a cell free extract (e. coli would work) to synthesize proteins which are programmed to assemble the computational substrate from nanoparticles. Something along these lines: https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1422649112 https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1422649112
  - mptest 1y ago
    That being the better approach says volumes about the complexity of lithography. For anyone reading this, read Chip Wars by Chris Miller. The Lithography sub-story that threads through is amazing and fascinating and the whole book is incredible besides. For those who think Ai Is a bubble and longshot, look up how crazy of a bet EUV (extreme ultraviolet) lithography was.
queuebert 1y ago
There is a company called Nano Dimension working on something like that. Last I heard their 3d printer wasn't at the consumer level yet, but neither were computers in the early days.
jononor 1y ago
I think that before that will be the PCB-ification, where you can order online and be batched in with others on a standardized process, for a reasonable price. This is actually starting to become possible, for example via TinyTapeout you can get tiny chips taped out for a few hundred USD.
LargoLasskhyfv 1y ago
That exists, sort of. Just not at an affordable level for home use. But still worlds apart from current semiconductor fabrication with billions of necessary investments. https://www.yokogawa.com/industries/semiconductor/minimal-fab/ https://www.yokogawa.com/industries/semiconductor/minimal-fa...

Don't hold your breath. Chip fabrication is extremely sophisticated. It's basically nanotechnology. Not something that could practically be done at home anytime soon.

__MatrixMan__ 1y ago
I agree, photolithography at home is a long way out. I think if we want to distribute the means of computational production, a better approach would be to print oligonucleotide instructions (requires a custom inkjet printer), and use a cell free extract (e. coli would work) to synthesize proteins which are programmed to assemble the computational substrate from nanoparticles. Something along these lines: https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1422649112 https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1422649112
- mptest 1y ago
  That being the better approach says volumes about the complexity of lithography. For anyone reading this, read Chip Wars by Chris Miller. The Lithography sub-story that threads through is amazing and fascinating and the whole book is incredible besides. For those who think Ai Is a bubble and longshot, look up how crazy of a bet EUV (extreme ultraviolet) lithography was.

queuebert 1y ago

There is a company called Nano Dimension working on something like that. Last I heard their 3d printer wasn't at the consumer level yet, but neither were computers in the early days.

jononor 1y ago

I think that before that will be the PCB-ification, where you can order online and be batched in with others on a standardized process, for a reasonable price. This is actually starting to become possible, for example via TinyTapeout you can get tiny chips taped out for a few hundred USD.

LargoLasskhyfv 1y ago

That exists, sort of. Just not at an affordable level for home use. But still worlds apart from current semiconductor fabrication with billions of necessary investments. https://www.yokogawa.com/industries/semiconductor/minimal-fab/ https://www.yokogawa.com/industries/semiconductor/minimal-fa...