Good morning. It's Tuesday, Sept. 9, and today we're covering microchips. With AI dominating much of the technology news of today, we wanted to take a look at the critical hardware powering it and all other electronics in the modern world.
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—Marco Machado, 1440 Science and Technology Editor |
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Background
Microchips are examples of integrated circuits—flat pieces of semiconducting material whose surfaces contain billions of circuit components wired together.
ICs can be smaller than the width of a pencil point, allowing the components to quickly transmit electrical signals between one another with minimal energy loss and delay (watch microscopic tour).
Their ability to be reliably mass-produced has made ICs the backbone of all modern electronics, responsible for data processing, memory storage, signal transmission, and power management (types of ICs).
Over 427 billion ICs were shipped worldwide in 2022, with revenue expected to reach $583B in 2025.
History
The invention of ICs was driven by computer engineers seeking solutions to the “tyranny of numbers,” where computers built to solve numerical problems had become so large and complex that their maintenance and operation offset computational gains.
In 1945, the first electronic computer, the ENIAC, performed calculations related to the hydrogen bomb using 18,000 vacuum tubes—on-off switches representing the binary code of ones and zeros. However, a tube would fail every other day, slowing down monthslong computations.
The breakthrough came two years later with the invention of transistors. These devices are made of layers of semiconducting material (e.g., silicon), which can be controlled to switch between conducting and insulating against the flow of electricity (watch explainer).
For over a decade, researchers investigated integration—how to place all circuit components and their interconnections on a single piece of semiconductor to simplify assembly.
Texas Instruments unveiled a germanium-based IC at the Institute of Radio Engineers’ 1959 trade show, but it was largely overshadowed by a radar-based, hands-free driving system (1440 Topics: Self-Driving Cars).
Later that year, Fairchild Semiconductor developed the first silicon-based IC, which could be mass-produced. Spurred on by the Space Race, NASA purchased an estimated 60% of all manufactured ICs through 1965 for the Apollo Guidance Computer (1440 Topics: Apollo Program).
Manufacturing
Today’s ICs are created from a complex series of chemical and physical processes that use light to construct circuit components from purified sand (watch visualization).
First, quartz rocks of high-silicon purity are mined and ground into sand. The sand is melted and processed to remove impurities before the remaining molten silicon is exposed to a seed crystal. Molten silicon slowly solidifies onto the seed, forming a cylindrical crystal that is removed and polished.
Crystals are cut into wafers and then exposed to oxygen to form a silicon dioxide layer, followed by a polysilicon layer and a light-sensitive chemical coating called a photoresist. Through photolithography, ultraviolet light is shined through a mask above the layers, creating a pattern of exposed and unexposed regions on the photoresist that serve as the blueprint for that layer’s circuitry (watch explainer).
Exposed or unexposed regions are chemically washed away, creating valleys within the layers. In a process known as doping, phosphorus or boron is added to the valleys, producing the conducting and insulating regions of transistors.
Everything is covered in silicon dioxide before ceramic particles smooth the excess and flatten the top layer. After another photoresist layer, the steps repeat multiple times using different masks and chemicals (e.g., aluminum for connections between components).
Wafers can take up to four months to manufacture before being cut into ICs with dozens of layers.
Future
ICs are expected to become more prevalent with the growth of data centers, AI, and the Internet of Things.
Because ICs can house dozens of kilometers of wiring between circuit components, substantial heat is generated from electrical flow—enough to boil water—which can degrade and damage components. To improve performance, new cooling techniques and alternative materials, including flexible semiconducting carbon nanotubes, are being researched.
Quantum ICs will likely become more common and involve more particles as quantum computing progresses (1440 Topics: Quantum Computing). |
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Watch a tour of an integrated circuit fabrication plant |
Explore the protocols in place to ensure clean rooms have no dust to jeopardize the integrity of silicon wafers as they are transformed into working microchips. Layering, photolithography, etching, and chemical vapor deposition are shown alongside digital visualizations here. |
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Moore’s Law came from observing computing growth in the 1960s |
In 1965, Gordon Moore, cofounder of Intel Corporation, observed a four-year trend of constant growth rate in computing power. Hypothesizing the trend would continue, his observation became the benchmark that the computing industry has worked to maintain for 60 years. See the data behind this trend here. |
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Binary mathematics, represented as switches, allows rocks to do math |
Each switch is assigned a zero or a one based on whether it is open or closed, and logic gates are built from these switches that let the system perform mathematical operations. Modern software builds upon these operations to perform increasingly complex tasks. Watch a breakdown of how math can be done with switches here. |
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Indigenous women crafted the ICs for the Apollo Guidance Computer |
Applying their weaving skills, over 1,000 Navajo women in New Mexico were hired to connect circuit components in intricate patterns using a microscope. Outside Boston, “rope mothers” at the Raytheon facility wove the AGC’s core memory using threaded metal wires. Read about the contributions of these women here. |
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Quantum tunneling sets a limit to how small circuit components can become |
Once the insulating layer in a transistor is small enough, quantum effects allow electrons to leak through the barrier, resulting in lost power. Tunnel-based transistors can use this phenomenon to enable switches powered by smaller voltages and reduced electricity use. Learn more about the quantum world here. |
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Photonic integrated circuits use light instead of electrons within components |
Instead of processing electric signals, photons in the visible and near-infrared serve as optical signals between chips made of electro-optical crystals. PICs use less power and generate less heat by eliminating the friction from electrons moving along wires. Read about what might be the future of ICs here. |
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Like all great scientists, we love spending time researching the latest scientific breakthroughs, tech releases, engaging explainers, and the connections between science and society that are making headlines. Here's what we found this week.
> Improving the power grid with 'ice batteries'
Texas A&M | Lesley Henton. Researchers are searching for optimal compounds for these systems, which create ice at night—when electricity is cheaper—and use it for cooling during the day—when demand is high—to lower grid congestion. (Read)
> AI stethoscope improves detection of cardiovascular ailments
BBC | George Wright. The device records electrical signals from the heart, compares them to data from thousands of patients within seconds, and enables the early diagnosis of abnormal heartbeat, heart valve disease, and heart failure. (Read)
> Why the US government now has a 10% equity stake in Intel
TechCrunch | Rebecca Szkutak. The deal supports the nation's AI goals by ensuring stateside manufacturing from the struggling chip manufacturer in exchange for the $7.86B in federal grants awarded to it from the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act. (Read)
> Breaking down what 3I/ATLAS is ... and isn't
Big Think | Ethan Siegel. The interstellar comet is the third such object seen in the solar system and was accompanied by claims of advanced alien technology, though analysis from multiple telescopes provides more mundane explanations. (Read)
> Creating a 'Keep Out' sign that lasts thousands of years
SciShow | Savannah Geary. To protect the people of today and the archaeologists of the future, scientists and engineers are developing ways of marking where the waste created at nuclear plants is stored that will not degrade over time. (Watch)
> Microchips: The biological chip combining silicon with brain cells. (Read) |
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New in 1440 Science & Technology |
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With curiosity leading the way, our team went out looking for wonders, oddities, and insights in the natural and tech worlds. Here's what we discovered.
—Marco Machado, 1440 Science and Technology Editor
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Thank you to Torben R. for inspiring us with their question! If you have any involving science and technology and would like them answered, tell us here. |
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Through 2018, there have been more transistors manufactured—13 sextillion—than there are galaxies in the observable universe. |
Learn the history of the most common IC component here. |
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