On 1/1/20 12:58 AM, Marcin Jakubowski wrote:
For some of the machines - Ion implanter • Plasma etcher • Sputter engine (Metal deposition) • Diffusion furnace • CVD/LPCVD machine • Exposure unit - are these the high cost items that constitute the majority of the $1B cost of a fab? Or are there other major costs? My starting assumption is that we can reduce the cost of a $1B fab 100x with open source design and collaboration.
Are you aware of any viable open source versions of the above equipment?
Someone on the 36c3 pointed me to this sides
https://www.fabsurplus.com https://www.used-line.com/list-semiconductor-and-pcb https://surplus.infineon.com/
We do not have the Clean Room to host this nice used equipment. Even if there are price tags often with $100 only - you have to disassemble the stuff in the clean room there, ship to your location across a couple of borders and their regulations and assemble them on your own site again. Sometimes also this machines need some repair; and ofcourse cleaning, cleaning, and cleaning before you'll get the classification again.
I guess, this equipment does not fit into your basement.
Another guess is, a location like a very, very ambitious Maker Space or another University lab (like NFF at HKUST) to manufacture chips should be possible - or a partnership of a University and a Maker Space 'cause the task is to big for a single entity, so they have to cooperate on this.
We have to find the right people to argue or to infect with the D.I.Y. virus.