What Are Processors Made Out If?

[CoolMaster]

Basically this is just a curious question?

 

what all makes up processors?

 

thx

anyone that actually know how much of each material would be good too

just kinda curious

[Nemo]

Processors start out as pure silcon - 99.9999999% pure. After the purification process the silicon ingots are cut into wafers and layered with different materials -silicon or metals such as tungsten, aluminum or copper. Modern CPUs require more than 20 layers. Silicon layers are coated with precise amounts of impurities such as boron or arsenic to change the electrical properties. I doubt anyone publishes exact quantities for these processes.

[CoolMaster]

OH so it's pretty much 99 percent silicon though?

[bigred]

dare I ask WHY you have an itanium 2 as your avitar?

 

but anyhow Nemo is right. on the core end of things. you also have to look at other things that go into them like ceramics (AMD athlon), carbon (Athlon XP), lead, silver, and things of that nature.

[CoolMaster]

But how much of it is silicon

like 99% or what?

 

like the actual processor, is it 99% silicon or are the wafers like 99% silicon

where did the 99% come from of silicon

AHHHH

 

EDIT:"Processors start out as pure silcon - 99.9999999% pure"-What do you mean, like their made up of 99% silicon, or, what?

and Is that actually true, or are u pulling numbers outta nowhere LOL j/k

but how do you know this?

Edited May 18, 2005 by CoolMaster

[bigred]

the core it self is mostly silicon. infact you can probably find this same info by using the same source most of us use to answer silly questions like this... it's called google.

[alown]

You stole my answer.

[Nemo]

But how much of it is silicon

like 99% or what?

 

like the actual processor, is it 99% silicon or are the wafers like 99% silicon

where did the 99% come from of silicon

AHHHH

 

EDIT:"Processors start out as pure silcon - 99.9999999% pure"-What do you mean, like their made up of 99% silicon, or, what?

and Is that actually true, or are u pulling numbers outta nowhere LOL j/k

but how do you know this?

479091[/snapback]

No, what I mean is that the processor begins life as an ingot of pure silcon several feet long and 300-mm in diameter. I didn't make up the 99.9999999% number. If it were simply 99% pure it would have too many impurities in it to work. There are several articles you could probably read on this subject if you wanted. Try finding a copy of the latest copy of ExtremeTech magazine for a overview of how processsors are made.

[CoolMaster]

Im guessing an INGOT is some kind of Circlular thing or something?

 

So it begins as a BIG INGOT, that is 99.9999999999999% silicon, then they put the other stuff on it

 

So basically most of the processor is silicon then well the core at least, obviously some of it is metal etc

im talking about the core

 

EDIT: I just read up about it, The core itself if made up of Purely Silicon it says, then the out packaging is metal and stuff

the core itself can be any semi-conductor. BUT, silicon works best, since it's like OH Everywhere

25.7% of the earths crust is silicon so I guess we wont really be running out of things to make processors?

 

and BIGRED i have an Itanium 2 Icon because UK campus Uses them on their servers for their Comp Science department, And I got to touch one lol

I fix their computers and do random stuff around the campus.

Edited May 18, 2005 by CoolMaster

[suchuwato]

Think of your processor as a shrunken version of the mainboard. The processor is a collection of transistors and stuff, just minaturised. The packing is made from silicone, like a pcb, with metal layers etched onto the top. The processor made up of a few layers of this... The 'core' refers to one processor, for example dual core processors contain two complete sets of components.

[CoolMaster]

Ahh thats cool, Ok so the core is like Silicon, but the actual processor is made up of metal and stuff, i get it

YAY

good thing silicon is like freakin everywhere, so we'll never run out

YAY!

Edited May 18, 2005 by CoolMaster

[Shadowfactor]

Cool stop being a thread whore and Just post One Thread in the general Hardware section instead of like 60 everywhere