AMAZING PICS: How a chip is made
Staff Writers10 July 2009, 2:36 PM
Ever wondered how a chip is made? These amazing high-res images from Intel show the process step-by-step.
Page 1 - Intro
It starts with sand.
With about 25% (mass) Silicon is – after Oxygen – the second most frequent chemical element in the earth’s crust. Sand – especially Quartz - has high percentages of Silicon in the form of Silicon dioxide (SiO2) and is the base ingredient for semiconductor manufacturing.
Melted Silicon
scale: wafer level (~300mm/ 12 inch)
Silicon is purified in multiple steps to finally reach semiconductor manufacturing quality which is called Electronic Grade Silicon. Electronic Grade Silicon may only have one alien atom every one billion Silicon atoms. In this picture you can see how one big crystal is grown from the purified silicon melt. The resulting mono crystal is called Ingot.
Mono-crystal Silicon Ingot
scale: wafer level (~300mm/ 12 inch)
An ingot has been produced from Electronic Grade Silicon. One ingot weights about 100 kilograms (=220 pounds) and has a Silicon purity of 99.9999%.
