A desktop semiconductor foundry is a hypothetical custom manufacturing device small enough to fit on a desk, and would make semiconductor parts (power transistors and/or integrated circuits).
People need power transistors and integrated circuits to build other custom manufacturing devices. As of 2007, such semiconductor parts are fabricated in semiconductor fabrication plants, which are large buildings filled with large, expensive machines.
From a website about a new semiconductor fabrication plant:
- "With equipment, the plant will cost a total of $3 billion." [[1]]
So what are the prospects for home based integrated circuit design and manufacture?
- Already semi-custom designs can be fabricated at home, using FPGAs and OTP devices. FPGAs are 'Field Programmable Gate Arrays'. Like downloading data to USB flash ROM, data can be used to program the circuits, setting up the logic connections between different elements. Such devices cost a few dollars. 'One Time Programmable' devices are even cheaper.
- Some calculation also shows that the density of data spots on a typical CD ROM is approaching the density of earlier generations of IC [Philips]. A laser based scanning device based on CD ROM technology would be slower and lower resolution than modern silicon fabrication plants, however it would also be able to use mature optical and resist technology.
Analysis
The expensive clean rooms that keep dust out are not needed for burning a CD-ROM, because the data surface is sealed by a transparent plastic layer. The same principle could be used for desktop IC manufacture.
So early incarnations of a desktop Semiconductor Foundry are likely to use pre-formed components and customise them, rather than perform the full manufacturing process. Within those limitations, a 'Desktop Semiconductor Foundry' costing under $10,000 is likely by 2010. The large and expensive silicon fabrication plants will increasingly turn to producing more sophisticated customisable blanks for these machines. The printed circuit manufacturing industry will suffer. With this flexibility, complete system on one chip will become the norm.
Spray on Silicon
- Another approach to a desktop semiconductor foundry is 'Spray on Silicon' which could be printed using technology similar to that of an inkjet printer. [2] However this is considerably lower resolution than would be required for the density of circuitry we are accustomed to.
further reading
- Wikipedia:field-programmable gate array manufacturers: