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How Microprocessors Are Manufactured PDF

The manufacturing process of microprocessors takes approximately 90 days and over 250 steps. Companies start with pure silicon wafers that are 1mm thick and 8 inches in diameter. Through precision equipment and chemicals, layers of materials like silicon dioxide, polysilicon, and aluminum are added and etched away to form the transistors and circuitry of hundreds of microprocessor chips on each wafer. Eventually, the wafers are cut into individual chips that contain millions of transistors only 1/100,000th of an inch wide connected by tiny wires.

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409 views

How Microprocessors Are Manufactured PDF

The manufacturing process of microprocessors takes approximately 90 days and over 250 steps. Companies start with pure silicon wafers that are 1mm thick and 8 inches in diameter. Through precision equipment and chemicals, layers of materials like silicon dioxide, polysilicon, and aluminum are added and etched away to form the transistors and circuitry of hundreds of microprocessor chips on each wafer. Eventually, the wafers are cut into individual chips that contain millions of transistors only 1/100,000th of an inch wide connected by tiny wires.

Uploaded by

danielconstantin4
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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How Microprocessors

Are Manufactured
he process of creating tiny electronic brains from pure silicon and
aluminum or copper involves more than 250 different steps and a
host of chemicals, gases, and high-tech precision equipment.
Companies such as Intel, AMD, and IBM start with circular
silicon wafers just a millimeter thick and 8 inches in
diameter. Over the course of about 90 days, the
manufacturing process transforms these wafers
Individual
into several hundred microprocessor chips
Chip
that contain millions of microscopic
transistors connected by tiny wires
only 1/100,000th of an inch
wide or less.

Specific Area
Of One Chip

Exposure to intense
heat and gases causes
a thin layer of silicon dioxide
to grow on the surface of the
wafer like rust.

Silicon Wafer

Ingot is cut
into wafers
approximately
1mm thick.

2
Silicon is
grown in
cylindrical ingots.

A second layer of silicon


dioxide is grown on the
wafer to act as insulation
between layers of circuitry
pathways.

Ingot

Chips On The Side


This cross-section represents a simplified view of the layers used to create a processors
intricate circuitry. Actual processors contain about 20 interconnected layers.
Silicon dioxide

Aluminum

Electrical current

Silicon dioxide

Polysilicon
Silicon wafer

A process called
doping bombards
the chip with chemical
ions, altering the electrical properties of junctions
in the circuitry pathways
to create transistors.

13

A stencil-like mask that contains the desired circuitry


pattern is applied, and UV light
turns unmasked areas of the
photoresist into a jelly-like substance.

A thin layer of lightsensitive photoresist


is applied.

A layer of polysilicon, the


base for the next level, is
applied.

10

Aluminum (or copper) fills the pathways etched into silicon


creating wires that connect the transistors.

14

The jellied photoresist is


washed away leaving
the silicon dioxide exposed.

The process is
repeated as
before; as the exposed,
chemically soluble photoresist is washed away,
the appropriate silicon dioxide is cleared away.

12

Next, another layer of


photoresist is applied
and masked like before.

11

A precision diamond saw


cuts the wafer into separate sections.

16

15

The exposed silicon


dioxide is etched away
using special chemicals,
laying bare the silicon wafer.
Then the remaining photoresist is washed away.

As more and more


layers are added,
vertical pathways, or windows, are created to connect each layer to the next.

Finally, the manufacturer encases the chips in the


familiar processor packages and ships them to
customers.

Compiled by Chris Trumble


Graphics & Design by Lori Garris

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