----- Original Message -----
From: "Tothwolf" <tothwolf_at_concentric.net>
To: <cctalk_at_classiccmp.org>
Sent: Friday, August 29, 2003 2:23 PM
Subject: Re: 1 Lot of 25 3' inch polished Silicon Wafers
> On Thu, 28 Aug 2003, J.C. Wren wrote:
> > On Thursday 28 August 2003 23:48 pm, Tothwolf wrote:
> > > On Thu, 28 Aug 2003, John Foust wrote:
> > > > At 05:31 PM 8/24/2003 -0400, you wrote:
> > > > > 1 Lot of 25 3' inch polished Silicon Wafers
> > > > > http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2552753957
> > > >
> > > > Are these commonly available at Bay area surplus shops?
> > > > I've got some old 3 inch wafers, but I'd like some big ones, too.
> > >
> > > Those also appear to be 3" wafers. I was a little shocked to see how
> > > the seller handled them, as even a tiny scratch or fingerprint is
> > > going to cause problems if someone is going to etch one.
> >
> > With the Ronco Home Wafer Fab Line?
>
> Most of the equipment is readily available on the surplus market. I've
> come across many of the machines used for fab work at liquidation and
> foreclosure auctions of fab and prototype/design companies. Generally they
> seem to sell for under $100-150, though a couple went as high as $300-500.
> The hardest part of doing home-fab work would probably be building some
> type of clean room.
>
> Folks have been rebuilding tubes at home for quite some time now, and it
> seems like it won't be too long before you see the same thing with some of
> the more simple semiconductors.
>
> -Toth
Putting together a manual 3" wafer line probably would not be that expensive
IF you knew what you were doing, purchased everything at auction, bribed the
local authorities to let you keep the chemicals in your area, and had the
major power needed to run everything with. Clean rooms can be built cheaply
if it just a small area. Difusion ovens are kind of harder to do. Ultra pure
deionized water can be done but pricy for consumables. Laying down the mask
properly would be fun. This all assumes your just making 80's era chips.
The funny thing is its 1000% safer and probably cheaper to design a chip and
have somebody build them for you. This also assumes you have a design that
conforms with what the equipment cant do, and are knowledgable enough to
keep the equipment running and have the spare parts LOL.
Received on Fri Aug 29 2003 - 14:05:00 BST