Silicon is purified to around 99.9999999%! Then it is sliced into very thin round sheets called wafers.

The type used in the Skywater 130nm process is doped to become p-type.

Here’s a great video about how silicon wafers are made.

And these great videos are about the birth of the Japanese semiconductor industry. Jump to about 12 minutes in to see how they pull the silicon ingot out of the molten material.

After the wafers are ready, they can be patterned using the photolithographic process, using a series of masks.

Course feedback

Matt Venn's Zero To ASIC course is a real eye-opener to the possibilities of open source hardware. The course itself is a tour-de-force overview of almost all aspects of ASIC development from concept to GDSII. It's also great fun and regardless of your background or previous experience, you'll learn a lot and have a great deal of fun doing it. This course has inspired me to take the next step and submit my own design to efabless.

Mike Thompson (digital course)