intro.
Our Goals:
Make integrated circuit prototyping as fast as 3D printing
Make DIY version of every nanofabrication tool
Get there with collaborative open source hardware
Right now we use factories and tools that are optimized to manufacture at scale to do our integrated circuit prototyping. There does not exist a set of machines that enable rapid tape-out of semiconductor devices on a budget, nor are there sufficient resources to make/modify fab tools from the ground up.
Nanofabrication is often communicated as complex magic, where every machine is immutable. We believe that innovation in the industry requires a thorough understanding of these machines from first principles, which will lead us to simpler solutions. Even on machines and processes of magnitudes less complexity than modern industry, there are designs worth sharing.
The use of low-cost, abundant, and fast-turn-around hardware serves a larger purpose than making the fab cheaper. These design constraints are what enable others to recreate, modify, and contribute to our work. The simpler the better.
working on the hacker fab.
You don't need prior nanofabrication experience to create meaningful contributions.
You do need to read the Required Reading.
You don't need to recreate the entire fab to contribute, although you can.
We communicate entirely over Discord.
this website.
This page is a home for all shared documentation. There are enough resources here to turn an empty room into one that fabricates simple IC's in a matter of months.
Many pages are works-in-progress. It is natural for individual contributors' work-in-progress notes to exist on google drive, notion, etc. Links to these exist at the top of each page, however these notes move to Gitbook as soon as possible.
Any contributor can submit change requests with a free Gitbook account. All of this is on Github, but formatted nicely here on Gitbook. You can contribute directly through Github as well.
For the most up-to-date status on everything, join the Discord.
fab toolkit.
Here is a list of all the tools built or bought necessary to make our devices.
Every build contains:
BOM
Links to Design Files
Links to Code
First Principles Understanding of Machine Design (WIP)
fabrication tools.
verification / metrology tools.
chemicals.
Photoresists + Developers
Dielectrics
Conductors
Etchants
Dopant Sources
background and licensing.
The Hacker Fab was inspired by Sam Zeloof.
The Hacker Fab was started by Elio Bourcart, Alexander Hakim, and Sam Zeloof.
The first Hacker Fab was opened at Carnegie Mellon University.
The Hacker Fab is run entirely by independent contributors.
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