TRYEngineering 2024 - 11

STEP 11
Yield
Determine the yield. How many chips can you get out
of your wafer? Typically, a wafer with approximately a 12-inch
diameter can yield 300-400 chips, depending on the amount
of space between them.
The size of the semiconductor chip! These chips are on a
nanoscale. Nanoscale is incredibly small - a billion times
smaller than what we can see with our eyes! Your fingernails
grow about a nanometer every second, or 86,400 nanometres
in a day, yet that's way too small for you to notice the growth.
WATCH the Zoom into a Microchip video by NISENet
In addition to making the chips smaller, researchers are
constantly looking for new ways to increase the size of the
wafer in order to increase the number of chips that can be cut
from a wafer. Wafers can range widely in size, from 25 mm to
450 mm. Find out your chip's scale factor. What is the ratio of
your Play-Doh wafer to a real wafer (3 inches in diameter, or
76 mm in diameter)? What is the ratio of your Play-Doh
wafer to a 25 mm chip?
NANOSCALE MISSION:
Moore's Law
Take on the role of a mathematician.
GRAPH: Take the information from the
transistor graphic. Create a graph showing
how the transistor count has changed.
Discuss the exponential growth pattern
and its implications.
THINK: Predict what computers might
look like in the next decade based on
this trend and imagine the features of a
computer or smartphone in the year 2030.
There are millions of transistors
on this chip and billions of
transistors in your cell phone.
Moore's Law is like a growth spurt for computers!
Gordon Moore, the co-founder of Fairchild Semiconductor
and Intel, predicted in 1975 that the number of transistors
(tiny switches) on a microchip would double about every
two years. That means the chips get smaller and smaller.
Imagine it's like your room getting twice as big every two
years. This growth helps make computers faster and more
powerful. Amazingly, Moore's Law has proven to be true
for the last 50 years.
Image Source: https://www.computerhistory.org/siliconengine/
Think & Calculate: Count the number of LEDs you got to
light up; this is your yield. What could you do differently to
increase your yield? When quality control tests your chips,
they will close the circuit (using batteries and wires), and if
it lights up, it counts toward your yield. If you have 7 chips
and 6 light up during testing, your yield will be 6 out of 7,
or 86%. The goal is to have a yield of 100%. Calculate your
yield.
https://www.computerhistory.org/siliconengine/
TRYEngineering 2024

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