How silicon microchips are made — an infographic
In the world of technology, microchips are the hidden power that run devices, drive technologies and build businesses.
Dreams of modern-day scientists, designs of corporations and ambitions of countries are fueled by microchips — those wafers no bigger than a human’s nail. From major action plans to dominate artificial intelligence to running world’s fastest supercomputers to powering IoT to improving healthcare… there’s no escaping microchips in the modern world.
Ever wonder how silicon microchips are made? What makes these wafers to powerful? Why is there so much power struggle built behind microchips?
Here’s an infographic that shows the process from mining sand to shipping finished silicon chips.
How silicon microchips are made
Mine it
Source and mine sand with high quality silicon dioxide deposits from natural sources.
Melt it
Melt and refine sand to produce 99.9999% pure single-crystal silicon.
Heat it
Heat the purified Silicon to take it to a molten state. Use a perfectly structured Silicon to seed it.
Bond it
Molten Silicon forms a bond with the seed and long ingots are drawn out of it.
Saw it
Saw the ingots into wafers of diameters 200mm or 300mm across.
Clean it
Clean and polish the wafers for desired quality for the next stage of processing.
Layer it
Now place a layer of non-conducting silicon dioxide on the silicon wafers.
Cover it
Next, cover that layer with Photoresist, a photosensitive chemical.
Expose it
Expose Photoresist to UV light through a mask, hardening the exposed area.
Dope it
Change the conductive properties by bombarding it with ions — a process called Doping.
Etch it
Etch away selected material using plasma, which reacts with the part not covered with Photoresist.
Plate it
Add a layer of insulation and with electroplating, add a layer of copper ions.
Connect it
Based on the architecture decided, connect them so that chips perform like transistors.
Ship it
Test the chips for various factors and then package and ship them.
