News Transparent processor found in vintage HP computer – silicon-on-sapphire chip discovered on a humble floppy drive PCB

[Admin]

Investigations into a 1977-era transparent chip from HP have concluded it was fabricated on a sapphire substrate. HP used these for various purposes in the 70s but they suffered from low yield and high cost.

Transparent processor found in vintage HP computer – silicon-on-sapphire chip discovered on a humble floppy drive PCB : Read more

 

[gg83]

9% is probably where Huawei is at with their "5nm" chip.

 

[Co BIY]

9% is probably where Huawei is at with their "5nm" chip.

Whether 9% is bad or good would depend entirely on costs and sales price. If your process and testing is cheap enough then it could be totally viable.

 

[brandonjclark]

Cool article... This is why I visit Toms. They just do a great job of centralizing a lot of the tech info I care about.

 

[LunarTheSpaceCat]

probably industrial sapphire which is cheap as balls and even real gemstone would be cheap as balls because its so thin so small etc

 

[kjfatl]

The most expensive part in a high quality grocery score barcode scanner is the sapphire window on the weigh plate. The 'cheaper' windows use diamond impregnated glass.
Like silicon, sapphire crystals are grown for use in industrial production. In the case of sapphire used in widows, a ribbon of material a few inches wide is pulled in a single step.

 

[gg83]

Whether 9% is bad or good would depend entirely on costs and sales price. If your process and testing is cheap enough then it could be totally viable.

Excellent point that I forget about percentages and stats. It all depends on other variables too.

 

[Co BIY]

The most expensive part in a high quality grocery score barcode scanner is the sapphire window on the weigh plate. The 'cheaper' windows use diamond impregnated glass.
Like silicon, sapphire crystals are grown for use in industrial production. In the case of sapphire used in widows, a ribbon of material a few inches wide is pulled in a single step.

Super interesting. Why do scanner windows need such exotic materials? I would have assumed quality glass would be sufficient.

 

[George³]

Sapphire is something ordinary just Aluminium oxide. And not need so extreme environment to grow like artificial diamonds.