All Programmable Technologies from Xilinx Inc.

Turn Your $60 Router into a User-Friendly Super-Router with Tomato FPGA CPLD and ASIC from Altera FPGA Manufacturers The Elements of Computing Systems / Nisan & Schocken FPGA Tools From Sand to Processor or How a CPU is made - Intel It is hard to believe that a modern processor (CPU) is the most complex product in the world. What is so complex in this piece of metal? In this article I will try to explain how a modern processer (CPU) is made from the sand. Processor Manufacturing It takes about $ 5 billion dollars to build a processor manufacturing factory. The process of processor manufacturing looks like this: the special equipment is used to grow a mono-crystal of cylindrical shape from the molten silicon. Some Chemistry Lessons Let us take a closer look at the whole process of manufacturing. Originally, it is taken in the form of SiO2 sand, which is in arc furnaces (at the temperature about 1800 ° C) reduced by coke: SiO2 + 2C = Si + 2CO This silicon is called a "technical" and has a purity of 98-99.9%. 3SiCl4 + 2H2 + Si ↔ 4SiHCl3 These recycling reactions that are generated by side silicon-contained materials reduce the cost and eliminate the environmental problems: Photolithography Photo Resist Application Etching