Indistinguishable From Magic
Curated by Claude · 11 videos · 6 hr 43 min
A guided trip down the chip stack. It starts with what a transistor is and with hobbyists who make them at home, goes through the modern fab and EUV lithography, and ends with the industry and the argument over whether Moore's Law is finished. The centerpiece is the HOPE talk HN has called the best introduction to chipmaking for more than ten years.
Play all on YouTube- 111:23
How a transistor works
847K views • 11 years agoBen EaterBen Eater gives a detailed look at how an NPN bipolar junction transistor works and what it does. It is an eleven-minute explanation aimed at building real understanding of the device.Ben Eater's eleven-minute NPN explainer comes first because HN treats it as the starting point that leads on to logic gates and CPUs.
- 28:05
Homebrew NMOS Transistor Step by Step - So Easy Even Jeri Can Do It
184K views • 16 years agoJeri EllsworthJeri Ellsworth shows step by step how to make an NMOS transistor at home using a kiln, rust remover, spin-on dopant, eBay wafers and vinyl stickers.Jeri Ellsworth makes an NMOS transistor with a kiln, rust remover and eBay wafers, which shows each fab step at kitchen scale before the industrial version.
- 35:46
"Z2" - Upgraded Homemade Silicon Chips
2.5M views • 5 years agoSam ZeloofSam Zeloof shows the upgraded second iteration of his homemade silicon integrated circuit fabrication process, producing chips with around a thousand transistors in his garage. It is a short overview of what the home fab can now do.Five minutes on Sam Zeloof's garage fab making chips with around a thousand transistors; HN cites it as the proof that hobby chipmaking is real.
- 427:48
How are Microchips Made? 🖥️🛠️ CPU Manufacturing Process Steps
11.9M views • 2 years agoBranch EducationBranch Education walks through a semiconductor fab and the dozens of steps used to turn silicon wafers into microchips, with 3D animation. It covers lithography, deposition and etching at a high level.Branch Education's animated tour of deposition, lithography and etching gives you a map of the real fab before the long talk.
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1:01:20Indistinguishable From Magic: Manufacturing Modern Computer Chips
209K views • 14 years agoAndor GafotasA HOPE09 talk on how modern computer chips are manufactured, from 22nm transistors to ultra-clean fabs and the tricks used to pattern tiny features with light. It frames chipmaking as hacking electrical engineering and physics.The centerpiece, with 19 HN recommenders: a HOPE talk that treats 22nm chipmaking as physics hacking, and the one HN keeps wishing someone would update.
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17:20The Extreme Engineering of ASML’s EUV Light Source
698K views • 4 years agoAsianometryAsianometry explains the EUV light source inside ASML's lithography machines, where lasers hit falling tin droplets twice to produce 13.5 nm light. It walks through the engineering of the droplet generator, the pre-pulse and main laser, and the plasma that results.Asianometry zooms in on the hardest part, where lasers hit falling tin droplets twice to make 13.5nm light, and it is the link HN reaches for whenever ASML comes up.
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55:00The Closest Thing We Have to Alien Technology
64.9M views • 10 months agoVeritasiumVeritasium explains how ASML's EUV lithography machines make the most advanced computer chips, covering the engineering of the light source, mirrors and the supply chain around them. It is a long-form explainer on the world's most complex commercial machine.Veritasium's 55-minute look at the whole EUV machine, from mirrors to supply chain, which one HN commenter said turned deep magic into something understandable.
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20:0814nm and 7nm are NOT what you think it is - Visiting Tescan Part 3/3
296K views • 6 years agoder8auerDer8auer visits Tescan and uses an electron microscope to compare real transistor sizes on Intel 14nm and AMD 7nm chips. It shows that process node names do not match physical measurements.A short reality check: der8auer puts Intel 14nm and AMD 7nm under an electron microscope and shows that node names are marketing labels.
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1:31:41Morris Chang, in conversation with Jen-Hsun Huang
159K views • 18 years agoComputer History MuseumA 2007 Computer History Museum conversation in which Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang interviews TSMC founder Morris Chang. Chang recounts his career and the creation of the dedicated silicon foundry model.After the machines come the people: TSMC's founder explains how he invented the pure-play foundry model, interviewed in 2007 by the Nvidia CEO who became his biggest customer.
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40:0238C3 - From Silicon to Sovereignty: How Advanced Chips are Redefining Global Dominance
11K views • 1 year agomedia.ccc.deA 38C3 talk on how advanced chips are made, centered on EUV lithography and the global supply chain behind it. It covers technical challenges from raw materials to finished chips and the geopolitical weight of semiconductors.A 38C3 talk that pulls the technical story into geopolitics, about why EUV and its supply chain now matter to governments.
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1:04:53Jim Keller: Moore’s Law is Not Dead
77K views • 7 years agoUC Berkeley EECSJim Keller gives a UC Berkeley EECS colloquium arguing that Moore's Law is not dead. He surveys upcoming technologies and the multiple innovation curves that can keep transistor density and performance scaling.The closer is the talk HN cites in every Moore's Law argument, where Keller lays out the overlapping curves he thinks keep scaling going.