How much manual labor is involved in making a processor?

[Szech]

I was in Anthropology class today (my only non-CS course), and my professor was talking about how companies, including processor manufacturors, have moved production over to Malaysia. This is namely because Malaysia has created Free Trade Zones. In any case, he said that they only hire women to do the microscopic saudering and such that is required for the processors. But is there that much to do? I know that processors are stamped out in wafers, which don't at all resemble the finalized socket/slot package, but I imagined that the process of putting them into the final package would be done by machine. Anyway, this was all besides the 12 hour days he was talking about staring into a microscope.

[desmocat]

I would think that all the soldering is probably done by machine. The interconnects are made with VERY tiny wires and I don't see how any human could have that steady of a hand to do it. Also the time it would take to do it by hand would be cost prohibitive.
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[This message has been edited by desmocat (edited 03-07-2001).]

[alondra]

I have a son in charge of a company that does surface mount. ( close look at a mobo) this is all done by robotics, only the first unit is programed with a scope. Doubt any of the CPU fab is done by hand.

[RobRich]

Absolutely no fabrication of modern processors are performed by hand. The main fabircation process is actually a lithograhy technique which etches the trace routes into thin wafers.

BTW, I have a rather cool hand-manfactured SIS SocketA reference motherboard setting on my work desk. However, Alondra is correct as most computer devices are built robotically.

Robert Richmond

[This message has been edited by RobRich (edited 03-07-2001).]

[justy]

I'm not blowing my own trumpet, but I'm fairly handy with a soldering iron.

In saying that, I doubt I or anyone could make the physical connections inside a VLSI chip using a soldering iron. With hot air its possible, but I still doubt it would be profitable for a company ( time vrs produce ). You would require a process to frame the connections together before using the hot air nozzle.

What I think is more likely, is that they are responsible for ensuring that the machines that do the soldering side of things work.

Surface mount gear can be replaced by a soldering iron, but its labour intensive, and the removed component is usually scrap. Much easier using hot air, and much more likely to save the removed component.

Chip manufacture is a completly different animal to chip replacement.

All the best, Justy.

p.s. Hehe, don't tell your professor he is talking cr~p, they don't like to hear that.

[thekingofpain]

I bet even I could get a job---job requirements---push a button...

[spuck]

have u seen the inside of a chip? i have some from old puters.there not processors.there long and skinny. they have a round piece of glass u can see through on top.

[Roy]

spuck is describing EPROM chips. They're erasable by exposure to ultraviolet light.

The only manual labor in processor manufacture probably is in handling things at the end of the packaging line. Someone has to clear the chute so the machine doesn't choke. That's why they keep dropping the prices ... so the output will continue to have some place to go. http://www.sysopt.com/forum/wink.gif

[spuck]

would the inside of a cpu be simmilar to an eprom?

[Szech]

Wonder where my professor read that from...

An eeprom has a lot less gates than a processor, so construction of it will cost a lot less, and is less complicated.

Oh yeah, and BTW, some plants in Malaysia have hired full-time priests to perform excorcisms after a number of workers were possessed by Hantu (evil spirits). One person would become possessed, then the rest of the workers would flee, and the production line would stop entirely. Interesting class http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif.

[DanU]

The professor just got confused in his old age. lol. Actually, many manufacturers in the US still do hand-soldering. In fact, I read an article in the San Jose Mercury where they exposed several companies using immigrants as cheap labor to assemble electronics. Check out http://www0.mercurycenter.com/svtech/news/special/piecework/ . Of course, once you get beyond the limitations of the human hand and eye, you must use robots to do the assembly work.

Believe it or not, the US also suffers from numerous workplace possessions, just like Malaysia. When a disgruntled employee comes to work in possession of a fully automatic rifle, the rest of the workers flee and all work stops! LOL

[Roy]

spuck ~ The insides of a CPU indeed are similar to what you see inside those EPROMS. Through time, though, the traces have become much smaller.

Szech ~ EEPROMS may contain fewer transistors and be less costly, but the same automated machine technology is employed.

[This message has been edited by Roy (edited 03-09-2001).]