Cost of Semiconductor Manufacturing: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 16:25, 17 May 2022

$30M to develop 65nm devices, $500M to develop 3 nm [1]
$170M to produce 90 nm in Indiana. [2]
Arduino is 350 nm [3] - 'wouldn't be asking on Reddit if it mattered'
Original Nintendo was 8 bit. 32 bit microprocessors such as 8 Core 80Mhz are 350 nm [4] - 2006
$4M design and $200k tooling for 130 nm [5]
$87M for 200 nm fab [6]
65 nm fab - $40M [7]
Around $1M per machine - with hundreds of such machines. Most expensive machine is $120M. [8]
$1M for a plant in 1969 [9]
See process description at 2-8 - each layer requires a tool, each tool is on the order of $1M each. [10]
8080 chip made in 1974, first computer - Altair [11]. Note that Intel capital expenses were millions to tens of millions - indicating that fabrication of the earliest chips was only these millions, unless they outsourced. But there were probably no companies to outsource to at that time. [12]. Note that Arduino is more powerful than this. 8080 was a 6000 nm process.

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 *$4M design and $200k tooling for 130 nm [https://www.eetimes.com/shift-from-8-wafer-fabs-to-12-could-ease-ic-shortages/]
 *$87M for 200 nm fab [https://swarajyamag.com/tech/many-upcoming-ic-fabs-do-not-need-euv-or-3-billion-investment-contrary-to-what-some-may-think]
+*65 nm fab - $40M [https://www.eetimes.com/shift-to-65-nm-has-its-costs/]
+*Around $1M per machine - with hundreds of such machines. Most expensive machine is $120M. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semiconductor_fabrication_plant#:~:text=Estimates%20put%20the%20cost%20of,4%20billion%20not%20being%20uncommon.]
+*$1M for a plant in 1969 [https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-cost-of-setting-up-a-semiconductor-fabrication-plant]
+*See process description at 2-8 - each layer requires a tool, each tool is on the order of $1M each. [http://smithsonianchips.si.edu/ice/cd/CEICM/SECTION2.pdf]
+*8080 chip made in 1974, first computer - Altair [https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co8384574/closed-intel-8080-microprocessor-chip-1974-1977-microprocessor]. Note that Intel capital expenses were millions to tens of millions - indicating that fabrication of the earliest chips was only these millions, unless they outsourced. But there were probably no companies to outsource to at that time. [https://www.fabricatedknowledge.com/p/history-lesson-the-1980s-semiconductor?s=r]. Note that Arduino is more powerful than this. 8080 was a 6000 nm process.