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How the Intel Processor is Made

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I am so disappointed, I thought I'd see CMOS manufacturing from the topic of this video, but this is nothing but assembly. The 'chip' itself is what they started with, the end product is nothing more than the carrier board and some ancillary components. Interesting, but has nothing to do with how the functional chip itself is made, just the things required to connect it to a motherboard.
 
I doubt a CMOS fabrication facility would allow you to take a camera into their operation. At least not without post editing. There are so many 'tricks of the trade' that are known only to the people that run the places and they're quiet tight lipped.
 
There really are few secrets or tricks in the industry with the current chip analytic tools, only who has the money to buy the equipment for the next gen products and the lawyers to protect the IP inside. Yes, cameras are not allowed but today it's mainly for the physical security of the plant.
 
The tools are useless without the data nsaspook, there's no place to get that.
 
The tools are useless without the data nsaspook, there's no place to get that.


A typical fab (with about 100 million dollars of equipment mainly for R&D and yield process inspections) can dissect a chip down and analyze each layer down to a few atoms of matter today. If there are tricks it's in how to keep the thousands of process steps from interacting with each other in strange and unanticipated ways but the basic structure of everyone's product is known as soon as you release an R&D sample..

All the fabs have this and a lot more.
http://www.keithley.com/
http://www.kla-tencor.com/
http://www.edax.com/
**broken link removed**

Just to name a few.
 
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You can reverse engineer physical construction, you can NOT reverse engineer the process that created it although many things nowdays are done on virtually the same equipment specific process methods can be closely guarded as trade secrets, as even if another company can create the same design they may have process methods that has superior throughput or is less expensive than a competitor that they keep under wraps internally. I've seen this at my last job which was a plating shop, they use the same chemistry as everyone else, but there are a few tricks here and a few tricks there that they learned that gave a few customers a specific finish that they couldn't get similar results to anywhere else.
 
All of this is interesting, but detracts from the original complaint that this Video is not what the "Subject" suggests . . . . . that is why it fails to be praised . . . and as I pointed out it's a made-for TV broadcast.

As to filming the actual process - IMHO no-one would allow cameras into their clean area - it would be far too risky from the point of contamination. Such detailed Vids would be far easier to explain by a computer-simulation since there would not be light inside the process - and precious room for a camera anyway.
 
There are lots of cameras (decon'd) inside a fab, mainly for remote observation of wafer handling. Almost all tools have view-ports for motion detection DVRs to look for mis-alignement errors. I've built several motion dection "snoopy" carts with many types of zoom or wide-angle lens to isolate random errors in wafer handling. But as soon as you put a camera on something it stops having the error until the camera is removed. :mad:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Q_n4vdyZzc&feature=related
 
IMHO no-one would allow cameras into their clean area - it would be far too risky from the point of contamination.
I can shoot that possibility down instantly. Put it inside the clean suit... You don't think a reporter or visitor didn't think of that? They all sign non-disclosure agreements or other similar gag limitations about specifics.


There is a simple proof of this, much like the plethora if idiots that post crotch hits on the Internet. If it's possible someone will try it! The only thing that could possibly prevent this type of detailed information from being in the public domain already is legal restrictions.

If anyone that works in a state of the art tech plant wants to post a 24 hours video detailing every microscopic process that goes into their commercially successful products, trust me that will shut me up because I'll have gotten what I wanted!

The video nsapook posted was nice, but contains absolutely nothing of interest as far as process details go everything is vague, though that one is is the best video I've seen so far. I especially like the video of the transport system.
 
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There really are few secrets or tricks in the industry with the current chip analytic tools, only who has the money to buy the equipment for the next gen products and the lawyers to protect the IP inside. Yes, cameras are not allowed but today it's mainly for the physical security of the plant.

spoken like an Intel employee at the Oregon location!
 
The costs of the next gen wafer fabs: **broken link removed**

Intel has said it plans to invest up to $8 billion to expand high-tech manufacturing facilities in Arizona and build a new site in Oregon, which would be able to produce 450mm wafers.
 
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Anyone see silent running?

Science fiction where some geyser rewires a chip die, was more interesting than this.

I know this is movie junk however I've never seen this kind of thing on a science fiction before, first couple of minutes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6vbnlI2ag0
 
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