How is a modern processor made?

Http://cn.engadget.com/2009/07/30/how-modern-processors-are-made/
Addiction Science: How is a modern processor made?

ByAndy YangPublished before 22 hours

Although this group of pictures clearly shows intel ads for its core i7 ("Here we take Intel core i7 as an example 」), but it is still a good way to understand the Modern processor production process. Is the first group of images, from sand to single crystal silicon.

There are about 25% of silicon in the ordinary sand, which is the most common element in the earth's crust after oxygen, mainly in the form of silica. After several purification steps, the silicon is sufficient to make it into a chip-only one single atom can appear in each billions of silicon atoms. Finally, these high-purity silicon atoms are crystalline into a large single crystal silicon (8-in-diameter ~ 12 ), up to 100 kg!

Next, the single crystal silicon block is cut horizontally into one thin slice, and each slice is a wafer 」. After the wafers are polished, they form raw materials for making chips. The earliest wafers were about two inches in diameter due to the technical relationship, while today's most advanced foundry was able to process 12-inch wafers. The larger the wafer diameter, the less waste the cutting part, and the lower the unit price of each chip.

Then we can start producing chips! The entire wafer is covered by a thin layer of special material. This material is used to dissolve a solution when it is shot by ultraviolet light. Therefore, as long as the ultraviolet light is shielded by a circuit pattern on the wafer, the same pattern can be printed and shielded on the wafer. There is a magnifier between the mask and the wafer, which can narrow down the larger mask and then shine on the wafer.

As we said in the previous step, the ultraviolet rays may dissolve, so as long as the wafer is soaked in the solution, the exposed part will be dissolved, only the portion that is not exposed. The remaining special material is the silicon-protected "protective film". During the next etching, the part of the protective film will not be etching. Finally, the special material will be washed out, and it will become a silicon crystal engraved with grain.

In addition to the etching pattern, it is also a common step to "add" the wafer. Protect the parts that do not need to be fed with the same special material. The remaining parts can be bombarded with high-speed ions to change the electrical properties of silicon and form different transistor components. In the example, green is the feeding part, peach is the insulator, and light blue is the part added with another material.

After the completion of the mini transistor, The last step is to insulation the entire transistor, leaving only the future to connect to other transistor contacts. The method of making the contact is to plating the copper into the pre-reserved hole, and then polishing the excess copper.

The next step is to pull thin copper lines between transistors. Which line should be connected to which is determined by the design of the chip, but in short it is very complicated. Although the chip looks flat on the surface, as a matter of fact, up to 20 layers of lines can be worn between transistors.

After the wire is pulled, the chip itself is created. Next we will perform a simple test to send a specific set of signals to the chip and compare the output results to see if there are any major errors. Then the wafer is cut into a chip, and the defective products that have not been tested before are discarded.

The next step for a chip to pass through is to "encapsulate" the vulnerable chip into a protective sleeve. In addition to protection, the package has two features-the green substrate below provides an interface between the chip and the computer ("pin"), and the metal cap above is connected to the heat sink and fan, for chip cooling. The encapsulated chip is what we call the processor.

The processor is then sent to the machine for further detection and classification-the same series of chips with different frequencies may come from the same wafer, the frequency of this step is different from that of data quality classification. Sometimes, due to different market demands, manufacturers can mark chips with better quality as low frequencies, so there is room for overclock.

Bidding is the final product!