Comment by phendrenad2

2 months ago

Does anyone else feel sad that you'll never get to design silicon at this kind of low level? I hope that someday nanotech reaches a point where I can design and print 1 u-meter process chips or something.

(I guess I could always buy hundreds of thousands of transistors and start soldering...)

At this level? You can use your favourite HDL and a FPGA, and then look into things like TinyTapeout and such. It's not as inaccessible as it seems!

While it's not "easy", I was surprised to learn recently that DIY microprocessors are far more accessible than I thought.

Here is BreakingTaps fabricating home made chips, he has a fair bit of equipment though

https://youtu.be/RuVS7MsQk4Y?si=c8PH-FMfcfWLJLiG

There a a few different techniques that can be used. Most of the lithography techniques use Hydrofluoric Acid, but if you are okay with slower build times you can etch the circuits directly with Ion beams or Electron Beams.

But the short story is you need an overhead projector, a microscope, and a few gnarly chemicals. Otherwise fairly straightforward.