[mikewarot]

I wonder what other processes could be used instead of photolithography to etch the silicon, deposit metal, etc? If you had a machine that started with a doped wafer, and worked one gate at a time, instead of a whole layer at a time, it would be way slower, but could, in theory be testable as it goes, and produce arbitrarily complex chips.

Also, I wonder what other materials might work, even if they are much slower, lower power, etc. Copper Oxide, for example?

[youssefabdelm]

I have similar questions. I wonder what wild alternatives can be substituted. Meaning, instead of thinking of making transistors on a silicon chip, can we make transistors on any other material or in any other fashion (say tapping into existing structures in nature) in a much easier way? Can we somehow exploit synthetic biology? Etc. etc. To replace the many assumed and developed processes and steps of the supply chain with much more feasible and easier approaches might result in a more efficient process in general.

Basically, we need functional understanding of all components, and hierarchical functional equivalents/isomorphisms. Aka "What is the end function of logic gates?" "To do X" "Are there simpler, easier, faster, more feasible structures that do X? Any way whatsoever? Does not need to relate to the current discipline or our established approahces" and iterate that question over all components and steps of the chip making process.