Microchip Manufacturing
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Microchip manufacturing
JULIA HAN JANICKI, VALENTINA BRESCHI, SOPHIE RAMISRepeat, with new event link
*one billionth of a metre **light-sensitive materials composed of elements including a polymer that changes structure when exposed to radiation
Each chip mounted
on a frame with wires
that connect the chip
to external devices,
and enclosed in a
protective casing
Cut a finished wafer
into separate chips
lens
wafer, with
repeating patterns
photomask, transparent
plate with a circuit pattern
To make one layer
Completed layer
flattened to allow new
layer to be added as a chip
is made up of multiple
layers of different patterns
4 pattern etched
into permanent
layer, with unhardened
parts of photoresist
washed away
3 Using lithography
tools, light passes
through a photomask
to transfer the pattern
onto photoresist,
creating a circuit
pattern
2 photoresist**
coated
on the wafer
1 film of material
deposited onto wafer
WAFER
Cylinder
of silicon
cut into
disc-shaped
wafers
ASSEMBLY / TESTING / PACKAGING
FABRICATION
A microchip is a miniaturised circuit board in the nanometre* range, with billions of
electronic switches, and used in devices from smartphones to computers
END USER
DESIGN
R&D
Sources: The Semiconductor Supply Chain: Assessing National Competitiveness, ASML
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