Global plunder TSMC... Why are wafers and chips so strategic?

70 percent of Taiwan's trading volume comes from electronics stocks, mainly semiconductor stocks. anti vibration table However, do you really know anything about wafers and chips? Let Taiwan be seen by the world of chips, used to make, and what companies must know the IC leader?

TSMC is the world's first wafer foundry and a mountain to protect the country. But do you know what wafers and chips are?

Before you can learn about wafers and wafers, semiconductor test you must learn about semiconductors

Materials on earth have different electrical conductivity, good conductivity is called "conductor", no conductivity is called "insulator", and between the conductor and the insulator is called "semiconductor".

By introducing impurities into semiconductors, their electrical conductivity can be altered and managed, resulting in the creation of electronic components. For instance, the addition of arsenic, phosphorus or boron to silicon can produce transistors - a vital element of a chip. Silicon is widely used as a semiconductor due to its stable physical characteristics. In recent times, second-generation materials like gallium arsenide and indium phosphide, and third-generation materials such as gallium nitride, silicon carbide, and zinc selenide have been invented.

Good electrical conductivity, voltage probe such as gold, silver, copper, iron, aluminum, chromium...

A semiconductor is a material that exhibits conductive effects between conductors and insulators, such as silicon, germanium, and arsenic.

A completely non-conductive material, such as rubber, glass, ceramic, plastic, etc.

Time for science popularization:

Can you believe that wafers are made of sand?

In sand, soil, and rocks, silicon occurs naturally, usually as silicate or silicon dioxide. As the second most abundant element in the Earth's crust after oxygen, silicon dioxide is a valuable raw material for wafers. However, pure silicon must be extracted from silicon dioxide at high temperatures in order to produce usable silicon.

Its physical properties are similar to carbon's, its appearance is dark gray crystal, and when it reflects light, it appears blue, so it looks like metal.

How does a wafer and chip process work?

A wafer is a wafer made of semiconductors. In the past, silicon was the main raw material, so silicon wafers were commonly referred to as silicon wafers. Following a series of processes, circuits can be cut into fingernail-sized chips, like a large cake or pizza, and then sold and sliced.

An integrated circuit is a miniaturized circuit containing transistors, diodes, resistors, capacitors, and other components. It is known as an integrated circuit, or IC for short. It is mainly used for processing digital signals, performing logical operations and storing data. It is the brain of electronics. A chip can contain hundreds of millions of transistors, which is why chip manufacturing is so sophisticated.

The world will end without the chip!

Computers and peripherals, communications equipment, consumer electronics, the automotive industry, and more, all use chips. Since humans are increasingly dependent on electronic products, and chip production cannot keep up with the increase in demand, chip production has been viewed as a "strategic material" by countries in recent years.

Time for science popularization:

Silicon Valley got its name that way!

A group led by William Shockley, John Bardeen, and Walter Bratton of Bell LABS won the Nobel Prize for physics for developing the transistor. In Mountain View, California, Shockley established the first semiconductor company. Eventually, his employees spread the branches and established well-known technology companies like Fairchild Semiconductor, Intel, and AMD. Silicon is the primary raw material in semiconductors, hence the local name Silicon Valley.