TechSpot - PC Technology News and Analysis

Boy did I have fun tonight or what. I had the fortunate chance to mutilate my AMD XP1600+ cpu. You know the one that's supposed to be on my computer right now, but instead I had to replace it with an XP1700+. Yah baby! I wish you could all have been in that bathroom. I had a hammer and a wrech and gave that cpu the punishment it so deserved for comitting suicide on me.

One thing that puzzled me: the die is surprisingly like a metallic rock. That baby shattered like no other. Ha ha ha.. I didn't even see any interesting circuitry like you would assume. It's as if the die is just a piece of solid glass.

Next, I used pliers to rip the brown stuff. What a stress reliever. The thing buckled like a piece of wafer. It's like a piece of fabric that has been hardened with glue. Obviously, it wasn't hard enough. Sweeet!

I wish I had a microscope so I can take a closer look at the die.

Can anyone link me on how they make CPUs.

Lol, that poor poor cpu ...well i'm glad you enjoyed yourself and I dont blame you, were you unable to return it? ..Oh well I'll try to find a link on how cpu's are fabricated...I can tell you that the core is a peice of silicon with those little "roads" etched on it with ultra-violate rays...lol...

here's a cool site...doesnt fully explain though
http://www.a1-electronics.co.uk/Inte...ss_Aug02.shtml

Oh for crying out loud. Why in the hell did I lose sight of the warranty. I think you just spoiled my fun. Completely forgot about returning this to AMD.

I'm sorry erwin

Good idea, I have 2 currently dead Socket CPU's at my house...one's my old XP1900+

Something made from Silicon is rock like?
Wow... there's a shocker

Anyway here is Intel's little explanation of how chips are made.

You shouldn't be able to see anything on the core if you cracked it open - The "circuitry" is so incredibly small it is thousands of times smaller then you would be able to see with the naked eye.

They are also built in layers - I forget what the material is they use for the base layer, I believe it's Silicon Dioxide. Various materials are used during each layer process to properly protect the core from the environment - Including aluminum.


And despite technologies rapid growth rate, even at the very best of Intels labs, the failure rate of chips straight out of production is about 50%.

I've been looking for a site that explains how chips are made to...

I've seen the one on Intel but that's IMHO just crap

Has anyone made a movie about this or something? Would be fun to know more of these little critters ;-)

Intel's one is a bit rubbish but it seemed to have some pertainent information and I couldn't be bothered looking for another one

Although Tweak3d have a fairly informative article on "How CPUs are made".
The part about transistors is quite simplistic but some of the other information is quite interesting.