Ambitious semiconductor enthusiast builds DIY ‘class 100 cleanroom’ in his garden shed — contains a plasma etcher, vacuum furnace, and even custom software-driv

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Ambitious semiconductor enthusiast builds DIY 'class 100 cleanroom' in his garden shed — contains a plasma etcher, vacuum furnace, and even custom software-driv

Dr. Semiconductor teases that he will subsequently be showing off the 'crazy things that can be built' in the shed.

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Semiconductor facilities are the super-high-tech cradles of all the tech we cherish, and an essential component of one of these ‘fabs’ is the cleanroom environment. However, a TechTuber called Dr. Semiconductor has successfully created a ‘Class 100 cleanroom’ (ISO 5) in his garden shed. Actually, he’s done quite a bit more than just make an empty cleanroom, with a set of interesting but compact chip tools already installed.

Watch On As the good doctor says, all the RAM , CPUs , and GPUs that PC enthusiasts covet rely on clean room facilities. Tech giants like Intel, Samsung, and TSMC will spend billions of dollars constructing their cleanroom facilities. There, they will fabricate chips “inside cleanrooms thousands of times cleaner than a hospital operating room.”

This environment is essential, as a single speck of dust can ruin a whole chip or wafer. A speck of dust is like a boulder on a landscape built from the tiniest, intricate structures. Dust can also contaminate optics and other sensitive tools in the semiconductor process chain. Despite Elon Musk's claims, smoking cigars and eating burgers in a cleanroom would definitely be regarded as a lapse in decorum, if not worse.

You may like Elon Musk wants to build a dirty 2nm chipmaking fab that you can smoke and eat cheeseburgers in UK company shoots a 1000-degree furnace into space to study off-world chip manufacturing Australian modder solves PC in a freezer conundrum with sheer size, socks filled with silica gel powder Image 1 of 2 (Image credit: Dr. Semiconductor ) (Image credit: Dr. Semiconductor ) Dr. Semiconductor began his shed transformation by sealing the environment. We see various steps in reinforcing the internal shed structure. The enthusiast stresses that airflow and positive pressure are the true keys to an effective cleanroom. And the same positive-pressure methodology can help keep a PC's interior clean .

Once the TechTuber was satisfied with his sealing and filtration systems, he borrowed a particle counter. The instrument confirmed that he had achieved a Class 100 cleanroom standard in terms of particle count.

Entering the finished semiconductor shed, you first enter a gowning area, which will be familiar to anyone who has been to a commercial or academic facility. Dr. Semiconductor’s tour shows that as we step into this area, there is a power management area which leverages grid and solar power , shelving with clean room suits, gloves, and chemical supplies.

In the video, after suiting up and crossing into the cleanroom, we get a guided tour from its creator. “It’s compact, but every inch is intentional,” says the good doctor. “It has everything needed in order to make this a fully functioning semiconductor R&D space.”

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  1. Ambitious semiconductor enthusiast builds DIY ‘class 100 cleanroom’ in his garden shed — contains a plasma etcher, vacuum furnace, and even custom software-driv
  2. Ambitious semiconductor enthusiast builds DIY ‘class 100 cleanroom’ in his garden shed — contains a plasma etcher, vacuum furnace, and even custom software-driv
  3. Elon Musk wants to build a dirty 2nm chipmaking fab that you can smoke and eat cheeseburgers in — bets that Tesla will turn the concept of cleanrooms upside dow
  4. Elon Musk wants to build a dirty 2nm chipmaking fab that you can smoke and eat cheeseburgers in — bets that Tesla will turn the concept of cleanrooms upside dow

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