Hackaday Supercon - Sam Zeloof Home Chip Fab: Silicon IC Fabrication in the Garage

IC and semiconductor fabrication techniques, tools, and processes that allow for mid 1970’s era device fabrication on a small budget in the home workshop.
Hackaday Superconference: The greatest gathering of hardware hackers, builders, engineers and enthusiasts on the planet returns. Streaming Live talks from our 'Main Stage' in Pasadena, CA.
Visit for full list of talks and workshops : hackaday.io/superconference/

[@UpcycleElectronics]

*Hackaday* Please add or pin a link to this guy's YT channel. I just heard him reference it at 3/4 of the way through (~27:00), then looked in the description and comments but didn't see anything. BTW this guy deserves the Hack-a-Decadal award. With a major honorary mention to Jeri Ellsworth and Ben Krasnow. This is the most inspiring and insightful story I've seen since taking up hobby electronics in '14. This is freaking amazing. Kudos to everyone that enabled and supported this guy's ambitious curiosity. ...and suddenly my DIY photoresist troubles with PCB's seem so much less significant... lol..thanks for the reality check ;) -Jake

[@UpcycleElectronics]

kzbin.info

[@DelandaBaudLacanian]

@@UpcycleElectronics thanks!

[@greenaum]

"Photolithography" is actually "writing on stone with light". But I've never fabbed a chip with my own hands, so I'll shut up.

[@stevenpelayo9418]

Impressive young man. Best of luck to you.

[@Roxor128]

If Sam ever goes into business, I hope it's in making equipment for DIY chip manufacture.

[@mummyjohn]

Well now he's partnered with Jim Keller

[@evensgrey]

I remember when ion-implantation was a strictly experimental process, used only in university-level material science research labs. I'm old enough to have had a grad student TA show off his experimental piece. What would be really cool would be this guy developing the setup and skills to build digital-analog hybrid chips, which are a lost art to the commercial fabs.

[@wormwoodbecomedelphinus4131]

Anything in particular you can do with those?

[@evensgrey]

@@wormwoodbecomedelphinus4131 The main thing these days would be sound synthesizer chips. You used to be able to do video controllers that way as well, but almost nothing uses analog video displays anymore, so...

[@wormwoodbecomedelphinus4131]

@@evensgrey would analog video (if the hardware existed to display it) be superior to digital video?

[@evensgrey]

@@wormwoodbecomedelphinus4131 Not really, that's why we switched to things like LCD panels. NTSC is an analog standard, and so are PAL, SECAM and VGA. HDMI, DVI, and DisplayPort are digital ones. The digital ones mostly give a more reliable picture quality without needing as many adjustments. (NTSC also was pretty bad at color, which was tacked on after the standard was in use for more than a decade, and had to be done in a way that an NTSC compliant set without color capability wouldn't notice the color information. This meant it never worked all that well and needed a lot of adjustments.)

[@Roxor128]

@@evensgrey PAL was made a decade after NTSC specifically to address NTSC's problems. You could think of it as NTSC: Second Edition. It has NTSC's advantage of being backwards-compatible with black-and-white sets while fixing the main bugs, even while using the same core concept (QAM for the colour). SECAM also took a whack at solving the problem, but instead of trying to refine NTSC's approach, its designers decided to throw it out and try something else (FM for the colour). SECAM doesn't get luma/chroma interference, while PAL and NTSC do. On the other hand, you can directly mix the composite signal for PAL and NTSC and get similar results to working in RGB, but you can't for SECAM.

[@georgistefanov9902]

So you are the real Ironman :) . Amazing work!

[@zaprodk]

Yay, what an awesome talk!

[@Paul_Bearden]

Wow, that is a very good way of etching chips without a mask. Very cool.

[@TheHaubke]

i have thought about buildi g chips at home. really nice job. keep up the good work, best of luck. hope to hear more from you!!!!

[@DaGhost141]

The amount of used gear in the US is crazy, in germany u pay 70k for the microscope

[@ChristopherCobra]

I know this is old, but that JEOL 6000 series electron scope he has goes (used) for 150K and requires a technician to operate and keep running. I suspect he is barely using it at a "survey level". There is a lot of money put in his lab/fab - don't be fooled.

[@guilldea]

@@ChristopherCobra really smart kid + hard worker + loaded parents that support his learning = bright future

[@ChristopherCobra]

@@guilldea Oh - he has a bright future most certainly. I hope he doesn't become an academic (coming from one) - it would be a waste of his talents and interest. But for @Ghostly141 who I was replying to, it is worth pointing out that his "garage" is better equipped than many Universities in the US. That said - some of his homemade equipment is pretty genius.

[@dmacpher]

@@ChristopherCobra if you check his channel you can see how often he now uses it

[@ChristopherCobra]

@@dmacpher I apologize for not being clear. I didn't mean to imply he doesn't use it. I mean how he uses it. That is a pretty powerful machine capable of techniques he will probably never need or use. My point was never to insult him - the guy is obviously intelligent and very dedicated. And, in fact, did build a fab. My point was, that is not a "garage lab" in the typical sense of the word. If there is a $million+ in equipment in that lab I would not be surprised. He's better equipped than some of the smaller research colleges I have seen. So, Hackaday saying it is a "small budget" in a "home workshop" is a bit misleading. I hope that is clearer.

[@symik3]

Wow boi. Nice work.

[@omarcusihuaman4261]

How Can anyone dislikes this??? Crazy people

[@AjinkyaMahajan]

it seems amusing on youtube only I knew how many times I have etched wafers in uni fab.

[@Karlemilstorm]

absolute genius!

[@ioanstef1983]

OpenSource Chips in The 1990's, Early 2000's Would've Made This World A Good One! Instead, Influence Through Information Technology Was Left In Some Very Few Hands! Congratulations For Your Achievements, I Am Convinved I Too Could've Achieved Your Results Had My Life Not Been So Complicated By Bad People, Nevertheless I Am Joyous I Discovered Through My Own Work Entire Existential Truth!

[@StrahinjaVD]

I can only say WOW

[@sabercruiser.7053]

Brilliant

[@balloney2175]

Genius!

[@examplerkey]

You can easily decap ICs by simply burning it in a candle flame! Blow torch works, too. Epoxy flash point is around 170-200°C, a lot lower than the melting temp of the layers on the chip. Mind you the fume is very toxic, so better do it outside. Then break the burned packaging easily, carefully take the chip out and clean (brush) it with IPA, thinner, etc.

[@nihil_0x]

Iq level 999+ for sure

[@p0k7lm]

excellent thank you 📚✏📐👍☺⚡

[@dronniOfficial]

Esse tem futuroo.

[@aorusaki]

siiick

[@leonniceday6807]

genius

[@electron-1979]

Wow

[@pegmangasem1104]

How much was this project budget?

[@miketoreno4969]

Good luck

[@marshalcraft]

this important stuff right here, end the conglomerate rain of complete authority on semiconductor.

[@caleb2242]

What is an estimate of the cost of the equipment in the two car garage.

[@shakingwater]

How rich is this guy? This is crazy, would never even think having access to all of these equipment in high school was even possible. Interesting though.

[@JeremyHongelectronics]

If you are enthusiastic, patient, persistent, and resourceful, it is inevitable that you will find the equipment that you always wanted. He mentioned all the low cost methods used to make these chips (Hacking a DLP project with custom optics, The low cost microgram scale, using off-the-shelf chemical solutions, etc) and how he just basically went dumpster diving and waited to acquire higher end equipment. Apparently he doesn't live too far from Princeton, so sounds like there are quite a bit of opportunities to get equipment for free and super-cheap.

[@imajeenyus42]

Like he says, it is possible to "accumulate" this stuff over time, if you're careful. My old university was terrible (well, great, from my point of view!) at throwing stuff out - years ago, I managed to scrounge/salvage/beg enough stuff for a diffusion-pumped vacuum system that could coat mirrors, and a few years later I got hold of a turbopump, and parts from an insanely heavy electron-beam welder.

[@shifter65]

Interest plays a big part. One man's trash is another's treasure.

[@coenraadloubser5768]

If you count "rich" with money you're an idiot.

[@SerBallister]

@@coenraadloubser5768 These kind of engineers/scientists rarely get rich (as in millionaire). Can anyone name a rich Noble prize winner or a rich mathematician ?

[@doncorn8835]

Highschool????!!!!! Whaaaatttt???!!!!! Whaaattttttt????!!!!!

[@stefano.a]

Watch at his “garage”… it is not a “poor” student

[@dabay200]

The dude is a genius, he should go straight to doing a PhD rather than 1st year undergrad Physics

[@sickleandsuckle]

Is this guy the next Jack Kilby/Robert Noyce?

[@thomasciarlariello3228]

Where is your cleanroom?

[@thekaiser4333]

No live demo? A simple flip-flop at least?

[@othoapproto9603]

As a long time DIYer I'm having growing concerns about working with materials in a residential setting. If you aren't zoned and playing by the OSHA rules then this is no different than industrial eco damage, maybe worse, at least corporation are zoned for it.

[@ahsajibmatubber2179]

Sam Please loud high. Your voice is very low.

[@coredeveloper]

Чувак делает чипы в гараже, получает 30к просмотров, а сиськи голые под лям. Я вот в 14 лет помню из диодов и простых транзисторов собирал простые схемы для умножения. Но там все это запитывалось кроной (12в батарейка).

[@Saber643]

Вот этот мужик рассказывает про чип, который сам придумал - 1.1 миллион просмотров kzbin.info/www/bejne/f4SYqpajbLuZjsk

[@coredeveloper]

@@Saber643 да, я видел