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Some transistors are over 50 billion in size, and these transistors are 10,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair. They are made on the floor of a huge, ultra-clean factory building, up to seven stories high and the length of four football fields.
Chips are the lifeblood of the modern economy in many ways. They power computers, smartphones, cars, appliances and many other electronic products. But the world's demand for them has surged since the pandemic, which has also disrupted supply chains and led to global shortages.
That, in turn, has fueled inflation and raised alarms in the U.S. that the U.S. is becoming too dependent on chips made overseas. The U.S. accounts for only about 12 percent of global semiconductor manufacturing capacity; more than 90 percent of the most advanced chips come from Taiwan.
Silicon Valley giant Intel is trying to restore its long-standing leadership in chip-making technology, with a $20 billion bet it hopes will help ease a chip shortage. The company is building two factories at its chip manufacturing center in Chandler, Arizona, which will take three years to complete. More recently, the company announced plans for a potentially larger expansion, with new plants in New Albany, Ohio, and Magdeburg, Germany.
Why does making millions of these tiny parts mean so much to build and spend? Take a look at Intel's production facilities in Chandler and Hillsboro, Ore., for some answers.
What does the chip do?
Chips, or integrated circuits, began replacing bulky individual transistors in the late 1950s. Many of these tiny parts are produced on a single piece of silicon and connected to work together. The resulting chips store data, amplify radio signals, and perform other operations; Intel is best known for its various microprocessors, which perform most of a computer's computing functions.
Intel Corporation has succeeded in shrinking the transistors on its microprocessors to incredible sizes. But rival TSMC can make smaller components, a key reason why Apple chose TSMC to make chips for its latest iPhones.
how chips are made
Rows of specialized machines receive containers full of chips, which are moved in and out of these systems for processing.
One of the machines is used to etch material from silicon wafers when making chips.
Chipmakers are packing more and more transistors onto each piece of silicon, which is why the technology is increasing every year. It's also why new chip factories cost billions of dollars and few companies can afford them.
In addition to building factories and buying machinery, companies must spend huge sums developing complex processing steps to make chips from slab-sized wafers of silicon — which is why these factories are called "fabs."
Huge machines design chips on each wafer, then deposit and etch layers of material to make transistors and connect them together. In these systems, up to 25 wafers can be transported at a time in special pods on automated overhead rails.
Processing a single wafer takes thousands of steps and can take as long as two months. In recent years, TSMC has set the pace for production, operating "gigafabs" with four or more production lines. Dan Hutcheson, vice chairman of market research firm TechInsights, estimates that each fab can process more than 100,000 wafers per month. He estimates that Intel's two planned $10 billion plants in Arizona have a production capacity of about 40,000 wafers a month.
How the chip is packaged
The chips are stacked using the new technology and then packaged.
Individual chips are stored on tape and reel prior to packaging.
The chip will be attached to the package substrate.
During the packaging process, small "chiplets" are bonded directly to the wafer.
After processing, the wafers are cut into individual slices. These are tested and wrapped in plastic packaging to connect to a circuit board or part of the system.
This step has become a new battleground because it is more difficult to make transistors smaller. Now companies are stacking multiple chips, or placing them side-by-side in a package, connecting them like a single piece of silicon.
Packing small numbers of chips together is now the norm, and Intel has developed an advanced product that uses new technology to bundle together 47 individual chips, including some made by TSMC and TSMC. Chips made by other companies, as well as chips made at Intel factories.
What Makes a Chip Factory Different
Intel employees wait for moving tool parts in a cleanroom on the Intel campus in Hillsboro, Oregon.
Workers install an automated material handling system in a clean room.
Large pipes push gas out of processing machines at Intel's Hillsboro campus.
Intel chips typically sell for hundreds to thousands of dollars. Intel, for example, released its fastest desktop PC microprocessor in March, starting at $739. A piece of dust invisible to the naked eye can destroy a person. As a result, fabs must be cleaner than hospital operating rooms, requiring complex systems to filter air, regulate temperature and humidity.
The fab must also be immune to any vibrations that could cause expensive equipment to fail. Thus, the perfect clean room is built on huge concrete slabs, mounted on special shock absorbers.
Equally important is the ability to move large quantities of liquids and gases. Intel's top-of-the-line factory is about 70 feet (21 meters) tall and has giant fans that help circulate air to the clean room directly below. Beneath the cleanroom are thousands of pumps, transformers, power cabinets, utility piping and chillers connected to production equipment.
demand for water
Hillsboro water treatment plant. Chip manufacturing requires millions of gallons of water every day.
Intel hopes to work with environmental groups and others to increase Arizona's water supply by 2030.
A tower at Intel's Hillsboro plant removes gas from water.
A fab is a water-intensive business. This is because water is required to clean the wafers at many stages of the production process.
Intel's two Chandler sites together draw about 11 million gallons (42 million liters) of water daily from local utilities. Intel's future expansion will require more money, which appears to be a challenge for drought-stricken states like Arizona, which have cut water allocations to farmers. But agriculture actually consumes far more water than a chip factory.
Intel said its Chandler site relies on supplies from three rivers and a well to recover about 82 percent of its fresh water through filtration systems, sedimentation tanks and other equipment. The water is sent back to the city, which operates an Intel-funded treatment facility, and redistributed for irrigation and other non-potable water uses.
Intel hopes to boost water supplies in Arizona and other states by 2030 by partnering with environmental groups and other organizations on projects that conserve and restore water in local communities.
How to Build a Fab
Workers in Hillsboro carry construction materials.
One of Intel's future factories in Chandler. To build its facility, Intel will need about 5,000 skilled construction workers over a three-year period.
Digging the foundations of two new Chandler plants is expected to remove 890,000 cubic yards of dirt
The dirt Chandler excavates will be removed at the rate of one dump truck per minute.
Cranes carry construction materials at the Chandler site. Among other things, the cranes will lift a 55-ton chiller for the new fab.
To build the factory of the future, Intel will need about 5,000 skilled construction workers over three years.
They have a lot to do. Dan Doron, Intel's head of construction, said digging the foundations is expected to remove 890,000 cubic yards (680,000 cubic meters) of soil, which is being moved at the rate of one dump truck per minute.
The company expects to pour more than 445,000 cubic yards of concrete and use 100,000 tons of rebar for its foundation, more than was used to build the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.
Some construction cranes are so large that it takes more than 100 trucks to assemble the parts, Doron said. The cranes will lift 55 tons of coolers for the new fab.
Palau Kissinger, who became Intel's chief executive a year ago, is lobbying the U.S. Congress for funding for chip factory construction and tax credits for equipment investment. To manage Intel's spending risk, he plans to focus on building fab "enclosures" that can be equipped to respond to market changes.
To address the chip shortage, Kissinger will have to execute his plan to produce chips designed by other companies. But there's only so much a company can do; products like cell phones and cars require components from many suppliers, as well as old chips. In the field of semiconductors, no country can stand alone. While promoting domestic manufacturing can reduce supply risks to some extent, the chip industry will continue to rely on a complex global network of companies for raw materials, production equipment, design software, talent and specialized manufacturing.
From: Semiconductor Industry Observation Translated from The New York Times
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