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AT 22 SAM ZELOOF HAS HAND BUILT A 1200 TRANSISTOR CHIP IN HIS GARAGE
PC PERSPECTIVE ^ | 24 Jan 2022 | Jeremy Hellstrom

Posted on 01/25/2022 8:12:39 AM PST by DUMBGRUNT

The biggest hurdle is an electron microscope for examining the features of his transistors. A good friend found a broken one and with $1000, a fair amount of know how and a lot of time they were able to repair it to working condition. As for the photolithography device? The light from a conference room projector is beamed through a microscope to trigger the light sensitive coating on his wafers

Zeloof’s chip was his second. He made the first, much smaller one as a high school senior in 2018; he started making individual transistors a year before that. His chips lag Intel’s by technological eons, but Zeloof argues only half-jokingly that he’s making faster progress than the semiconductor industry did in its early days. -------------------- Zeloof started at Carnegie Mellon University, hacking on pieces of garage fab equipment in his dorm room while studying electrical engineering. Although he says he followed safety protocols, the university took exception to the x-ray machine in his dorm room

While Intel has a lot more money, it also has a long history of difficulties living up to the promises they make to the American government, meanwhile Sam Zeloof has already built his fab and his process technology is shrinking at a much higher pace than Intel’s.

(Excerpt) Read more at pcper.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Chit/Chat; Computers/Internet; Science
KEYWORDS: chip; semiconductor; zeloof
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To: fuzzylogic

Well tell me if it actually works

Just because you can do photolithography doesn’t mean you’ve made a workable IC


41 posted on 01/25/2022 9:34:14 AM PST by Nifster (I see puppy dogs in the clouds)
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To: TexasGator

“But it will be of no use to anyone.”

Incorrect. A completely secure processor, even one that’s not so sophisticated, would be immensely valuable to a lot of people and for a lot of applications.


42 posted on 01/25/2022 9:34:32 AM PST by MercyFlush (DANGER: You are being conditioned to view your freedom as selfish)
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To: MercyFlush

“Incorrect. A completely secure processor, even one that’s not so sophisticated, would be immensely valuable to a lot of people and for a lot of applications.”

Name one. Note that a processor is only as secure as the software it is running.


43 posted on 01/25/2022 9:43:05 AM PST by TexasGator (UF)
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To: TexasGator

Yes. If you want innovation, do the innovative design work for a new chip and have a foundry make it. There are plenty of for-hire foundries that will do that work at any scale you want.

The big plus is that he is obviously a very smart, hands-on, well educated and ambitious kid. He is going to have a great career ahead of him. Companies will hire him quickly — unless they have gone so woke that he doesn’t meet their Diversity-Inclusion-Equity (DIE) criteria and he’s the wrong skin color.


44 posted on 01/25/2022 9:53:16 AM PST by ProtectOurFreedom (81 million votes...and NOT ONE "Build Back Better" hat)
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To: MercyFlush

He can design his own chip and have a foundry use a 4 nm process to make it. He leverages the foundry expertise to make 4 nm chips and he innovates on the secure design.

Running his own lab is fun, gives him great hands-on experience, and will land him a great job.

But the notion that such a small fab would be a commercial success is silly. It reminds me of Mao’s effort to make iron in backyard furnaces. All the Chinese sheeple fell for it because of the cult of Mao (and to avoid a bullet in the back of the head), but all it produced was very low quality and largely useless pig iron.


45 posted on 01/25/2022 9:57:21 AM PST by ProtectOurFreedom (81 million votes...and NOT ONE "Build Back Better" hat)
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To: TexasGator

—”Name one. “

Tell us about the EPROM that controls the fuel system in your handsome ride?

Factory and EPA approved?

And should you prefer a few more ponies?


46 posted on 01/25/2022 9:57:34 AM PST by DUMBGRUNT ("The enemy has overrun us. We are blowing up everything. Vive la France!"Dien Bien Phu last message)
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To: DUMBGRUNT

“And should you prefer a few more ponies?”

Been there, done that. Upgraded from 720 to 750 hp with a ten minute flash.

Factory now has a 780 hp tune available.


47 posted on 01/25/2022 10:02:04 AM PST by TexasGator (UF)
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To: Nifster

—”Well tell me if it actually works”

Video shows it used in a guitar pedal as explained in the article.

https://youtu.be/IS5ycm7VfXg


48 posted on 01/25/2022 10:04:49 AM PST by DUMBGRUNT ("The enemy has overrun us. We are blowing up everything. Vive la France!"Dien Bien Phu last message)
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To: AF_Blue

bfl


49 posted on 01/25/2022 10:08:17 AM PST by AF_Blue (My decision-making skills closely resemble those of a squirrel when crossing a road)
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To: DUMBGRUNT

His assistant is a Boson`s Mate.


50 posted on 01/25/2022 10:09:35 AM PST by bunkerhill7 (That`s 464 people per square foot! Is this corrrect..it was NYC.)
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To: TexasGator

—”Factory now has a 780 hp tune available.”

The EPA shut down with prejudice most of the 3rd part chips...
And perhaps you prefer to modify the torque band to keep the front down??? Or anything else.


51 posted on 01/25/2022 10:10:25 AM PST by DUMBGRUNT ("The enemy has overrun us. We are blowing up everything. Vive la France!"Dien Bien Phu last message)
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To: MercyFlush

Bingo!

And, 4. You can simply test and interconnect multiples of your 1000 transistor circuits rather than build 1M+ plus substrates at incredibly small lines, multi-layers, vias, interconnects, etc. Plus, a failure of a 1K piece can easily be replaced, whereas a failure of the 1M+ piece can be catastrophic.


52 posted on 01/25/2022 10:15:46 AM PST by SgtHooper (If you remember the 60's, YOU WEREN'T THERE!)
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To: DUMBGRUNT

“Video shows it used in a guitar pedal “

I missed that part ...


53 posted on 01/25/2022 10:15:58 AM PST by TexasGator (UF)
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To: DUMBGRUNT

“The EPA shut down with prejudice most of the 3rd part chips...”

No 3rd party chip. Replace original tune via software download.


54 posted on 01/25/2022 10:19:32 AM PST by TexasGator (UF)
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To: DUMBGRUNT

Fascinating. And here I thought I was hot stuff writing 6502 assembly routines in high school.


55 posted on 01/25/2022 10:21:55 AM PST by Kommodor (Solzhenitsyn was an optimist...)
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To: SgtHooper

“You can simply test and interconnect multiples of your 1000 transistor circuits rather than build 1M+ plus “

Great if you want a device that runs slow as heck and barely fits in a 2-car garage.


56 posted on 01/25/2022 10:24:46 AM PST by TexasGator (UF)
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To: DUMBGRUNT

Bttt.

5.56mm


57 posted on 01/25/2022 10:35:27 AM PST by M Kehoe (Quid Pro Joe and the Ho need to go.)
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To: TexasGator
Gator is right. That is they way they used to build big computers. They were physically big. Those machines were slow largely from the propagation delay of signals due to wire length and capacitance.

In a large computer circuit it is not that easy to figure out which component has failed. IBM had full time engineers on site with every mainframe they deployed.

58 posted on 01/25/2022 10:47:43 AM PST by GingisK
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To: TexasGator

—””No 3rd party chip. Replace original tune via software download.”

Yes, I understand the process.

But not everyone finds the factory/epa settings optimal for their needs?

You can sometimes find them offshore...

And some believe bitcoin does not leave a trail?

I’m from the EPA and just here to help...Mind if I look around?

Please sign the consent form so we can review your OBD output...


59 posted on 01/25/2022 11:03:57 AM PST by DUMBGRUNT ("The enemy has overrun us. We are blowing up everything. Vive la France!"Dien Bien Phu last message)
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To: Kommodor

—” I thought I was hot stuff writing 6502 assembly routines in high school.”

I’m impressed!

I have a brother in law that thinks in machine language and is very well remunerated.


60 posted on 01/25/2022 11:12:12 AM PST by DUMBGRUNT ("The enemy has overrun us. We are blowing up everything. Vive la France!"Dien Bien Phu last message)
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