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Lots more detail for the uninitiated: The most complex parts of phones and computers (e.g., the CPU) are integrated circuits (ICs)[0], which are (nowadays) billions of nanometer-sized transistors on top of a piece of silicon. The way these are made is arguably the most complex, high precision manufacturing process in the world, and is usually done in multi-billion-dollar "fabs" (fabrication plant) by huge companies (e.g., Intel). Even the most basic IC fabrication, like in the article, absolutely requires maybe ~5-10 complex tools (furnace, sputterer, etc; $1000-$10k each at current eBay prices and very low quality, if you know how to rebuild/fix all of them) and a host of supporting equipment (fume hood for seriously dangerous[1] chemical work, etc). To get reasonable results, you also need to understand the device physics and then test multiple times to get the process right. I have some serious respect for Sam Zeloof of the article for getting this to work: it's at least an order of magnitude more difficult than other home manufacturing (3D printing, woodworking, welding, sewing...), even if you're already an industry expert. And his device used 6 transistors; you'd need to get the transistor manufacturing reliability up significantly to make a useful microprocessor (instead of small analog circuits), which probably starts at several thousand transistors [2]. If (GP post) you want an automated device that makes an IC for you given a digital design file, well, hm. The closest things we have today are companies that manage and run the equipment for you (fabless semiconductor companies (Qualcom, AMD...[3]) give their chip designs to, e.g., TSMC to manufacture). Academic researchers often send parts in together to reduce costs[4], in which case you could get tens of identical (reasonably simple) chips for several thousand dollars. Someone linked to [5], which looks like an attempt at a more open, hobbyist-friendly version of the same thing. I did run across [6] once, which _does_ seem to be attempting to make an easier to use, very small, automated system. I've no idea what their status is. A desktop device as simple to use as a 3D printer is barely even on the conceptual possibility level at the moment, and then only when people start talking sci-fi self-assembly and molecular nanomanufacturing and a century of R&D. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integrated_circuit
[1] http://lnf-wiki.eecs.umich.edu/wiki/Piranha_Etch
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transistor_count
[3] https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/manufacturin...
[4] https://www.mosis.com/what-is-mosis
[5] https://libresilicon.com/
[6] https://www.minimalfab.com/en/ |