Silicon

The main board · backwards, toward the rock

1. The chip on the boardUnder a stamp-sized shield, the most complex object ever mass-produced.
2. PackagingThe chip you can see is only a package; the real one is a flake of silicon.
3. The fabA chip is not carved: it is printed, layer upon layer, for months.
4. The waferBefore it becomes hundreds of chips, silicon is a disc polished like a mirror.
5. The ingotAll the world's electronic silicon is pulled from a molten bath, crystal by crystal.
6. PolysiliconTo make silicon pure enough, you turn it into a gas and let it grow back.
7. The arc furnaceSilicon starts its life in a furnace hotter than lava.
8. QuartzThe silicon in chips comes from ordinary sand; what is rare is the crucible.

Start →