7 ms·

Tiny Chiplets: A New Level of Micro Manufacturing

36 points by rmah 14y ago

rmah 14y ago
This technology looks very intriguing to me but I'm confused about potential applications for it. That is, what's it good for?
- randomdata 14y ago
  If I read it correctly, essentially, tiny circuit boards full of components that can be printed. It seems like it would make the manufacture of electrical devices easier, and perhaps even more accessible to hobbyists, if the production machines and "chiplets" are affordable.
mhb 14y ago
I was going to submit this. Then I read it and realized it said nothing. And in a confusing way.
disbelief 14y ago
Lots of NYTimes articles on HN lately. While I think most of the topics are worthy of the front page, it really sucks when you hit their "10 articles a month" pay wall. Wish posters would look for alternative, free versions of some of these stories (I'm aware that might not always be possible).
- pash 14y ago
  The Times's paywall is so porous that this really isn't much of a problem. The content still loads behind the JavaScript overlay, so you can use Safari's Reader or a similar browser plugin to read the articles. You can also get around the paywall by reloading the page in a private/incognito window, etc. I subscribe to the Times but have never bothered even to log in to the website on my iPhone, since I can always just click the Reader button—which I would do anyway—to read the article when I get paywalled.
- pi18n 14y ago
  If you are hitting their pay wall every month, may I suggest you subscribe to the Times? You obviously want to read their content at least that much. To get that kind of quality writing isn't free, the writers really have spent years on their craft (a close family member of mine is a journalist). I don't subscribe, but I typically am not interested in their articles more than a couple times each month.
learc83 14y ago
>The emerging printing technology poses a heretical idea: Rather than squeezing more transistors into the same small space, why not smear the transistors across a much larger surface? Did they forget about the speed of light?
- zdw 14y ago
  This isn't for performance, it's for the capability at all. Would you rather have: 1. No ability to create your own silicon logic outside of FPGA/CPLD chips or having an ASIC fabbed, all of which tend to be very high cost per unit and have large board outlines, and are limited in i/o by the predefined capabilities of the chip? 2. The ability to whip out cheap prototypes whose performance is nowhere near state of the art in a few hours with a laser printer style device onto substrates on an arbitrary surface. New tech is frequently disruptive in ways different from how things were envisioned - for example, I doubt people reading Stephenson's "Diamond Age" would have envisioned the plastic PLA/ABS fiber printers as the first major incarnation of the 3D printing revolution.
  - jes5199 14y ago
    I don't have a good mental model for this. What sorts of problems are more suited to a network of tiny ICs rather than a FPGA or a microprocessor?
ippisl 14y ago
This is brilliant. One problem with today's chip manufacturing tech is if you want to build system with multiple manufacturing technologies(digital/RAM/Flash/Analog) it increases your price by much because you have to package each part(which also limits your designs), test it and assemble it on a relatively large pcb. So in order to save money, you manufacture everything using the same un-optimal process. So this is why microcontrollers like the arduino have relatively low memory. Now if you could easily and cheaply assemble miniature electronic components - suddenly you get the optimal composition of your circuit, by picking an matching low cost components. So you want to make an arduino cpu with megabytes of ram and flash ? now that's possible and very cheap(probably in the cents). Even something like microcontroller that could run linux and python would seem possible. Can't wait to see it deployed.
- interconnector 14y ago
  One solution to this using conventional CMOS technology is to use 3D stacking, where each layer uses a different technology.
  - ippisl 14y ago
    You're right , but that's a pretty difficult and expensive solution. The more practical solution for now is 2.5D stacking - stacking all the un-packaged chips on silicon/glass die instead of a pcb. That's already being used in some fpga and communications equipment. But 2.5d is still pretty expensive and complex. Not yet ready for low cost stuff.

36 points by rmah 14y ago

rmah 14y ago

This technology looks very intriguing to me but I'm confused about potential applications for it. That is, what's it good for?

randomdata 14y ago
If I read it correctly, essentially, tiny circuit boards full of components that can be printed. It seems like it would make the manufacture of electrical devices easier, and perhaps even more accessible to hobbyists, if the production machines and "chiplets" are affordable.

mhb 14y ago

I was going to submit this. Then I read it and realized it said nothing. And in a confusing way.

disbelief 14y ago

Lots of NYTimes articles on HN lately. While I think most of the topics are worthy of the front page, it really sucks when you hit their "10 articles a month" pay wall. Wish posters would look for alternative, free versions of some of these stories (I'm aware that might not always be possible).

pash 14y ago
The Times's paywall is so porous that this really isn't much of a problem. The content still loads behind the JavaScript overlay, so you can use Safari's Reader or a similar browser plugin to read the articles. You can also get around the paywall by reloading the page in a private/incognito window, etc. I subscribe to the Times but have never bothered even to log in to the website on my iPhone, since I can always just click the Reader button—which I would do anyway—to read the article when I get paywalled.
pi18n 14y ago
If you are hitting their pay wall every month, may I suggest you subscribe to the Times? You obviously want to read their content at least that much. To get that kind of quality writing isn't free, the writers really have spent years on their craft (a close family member of mine is a journalist). I don't subscribe, but I typically am not interested in their articles more than a couple times each month.

learc83 14y ago

>The emerging printing technology poses a heretical idea: Rather than squeezing more transistors into the same small space, why not smear the transistors across a much larger surface? Did they forget about the speed of light?

zdw 14y ago
This isn't for performance, it's for the capability at all. Would you rather have: 1. No ability to create your own silicon logic outside of FPGA/CPLD chips or having an ASIC fabbed, all of which tend to be very high cost per unit and have large board outlines, and are limited in i/o by the predefined capabilities of the chip? 2. The ability to whip out cheap prototypes whose performance is nowhere near state of the art in a few hours with a laser printer style device onto substrates on an arbitrary surface. New tech is frequently disruptive in ways different from how things were envisioned - for example, I doubt people reading Stephenson's "Diamond Age" would have envisioned the plastic PLA/ABS fiber printers as the first major incarnation of the 3D printing revolution.
- jes5199 14y ago
  I don't have a good mental model for this. What sorts of problems are more suited to a network of tiny ICs rather than a FPGA or a microprocessor?

ippisl 14y ago

This is brilliant. One problem with today's chip manufacturing tech is if you want to build system with multiple manufacturing technologies(digital/RAM/Flash/Analog) it increases your price by much because you have to package each part(which also limits your designs), test it and assemble it on a relatively large pcb. So in order to save money, you manufacture everything using the same un-optimal process. So this is why microcontrollers like the arduino have relatively low memory. Now if you could easily and cheaply assemble miniature electronic components - suddenly you get the optimal composition of your circuit, by picking an matching low cost components. So you want to make an arduino cpu with megabytes of ram and flash ? now that's possible and very cheap(probably in the cents). Even something like microcontroller that could run linux and python would seem possible. Can't wait to see it deployed.

interconnector 14y ago
One solution to this using conventional CMOS technology is to use 3D stacking, where each layer uses a different technology.
- ippisl 14y ago
  You're right , but that's a pretty difficult and expensive solution. The more practical solution for now is 2.5D stacking - stacking all the un-packaged chips on silicon/glass die instead of a pcb. That's already being used in some fpga and communications equipment. But 2.5d is still pretty expensive and complex. Not yet ready for low cost stuff.