contribute.

Required Reading (todo)

The goal function of the Hacker Fab is to never debug the same thing twice.

We operate under different constraints from the semiconductor fab industry. This allows us to curb a lot of complexity.

Goals:

  1. Low cost

  2. Create the simplest designs possible

    1. Increase reliability

    2. Reduce manufacturing complexity

  3. Minimal danger

  4. Small size

  5. No cleanroom

  6. Highly sourcable materials

  7. High literacy in understanding working principles of tools and processes

  8. End-to-end custom - from sand to NAND

    1. Make the wafers

    2. Design the tools

    3. Design the processes

    4. Design the IC

    5. Package the chip

Non-Goals:

  1. Reuse of existing fab equipment

The 1970s vs. Now

On Open-Source Hardware

Who we are looking for, how we grow, how to get support

Design Constraints

On Improvement

Central to the Hacker Fab is fast turnaround hardware development - it’s in the name. This means extremely fast hardware prototyping, and with that comes the need for iteration. The careful design constraints placed on all projects and focus on documentation enables someone else to iterate on anything developed in the Hacker Fab. Improvement to a V1, V2, Vn of a design means

  1. Directly improving upon a tool’s functionality

    1. Precision

    2. Reliability

    3. Throughput

    4. New features

    5. Safety

But there are other equally important ways to improve a design. Every tool version should try to be:

  1. Easier to manufacture than the last

    1. Reduce number of tools required to manufacture

    2. Reduce # of vendors, lead time, BOM length

  2. Better documented than the last

    1. Tool specs as close to first principles as possible

    2. Every tool spec should have a standardized test for others to verify performance

    3. Explain working principles to the detail of variables we can control (no more, no less). Referenced sources.

  3. More “closed-loop” than the last

    1. In-situ sensors

    2. Calibration software should be more generalizable (“now you can use any camera…any piezo with draw distance in range X to Y…”)

On Cleanliness

On Process Node

On Education

Where to Start

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