From Sand to Superintelligence · Drill cards · Chapter 05
Drills
From Log to Mirror
10 atomic recall cards. Export to Anki and let spaced repetition do its slow work.
In Anki: File → Import, choose this TSV, set field separator to Tab, deck = Sand to Silicon · Ch 05, note type = Basic.
| Front | Back |
|---|---|
| What is the standard diameter of a modern logic wafer? | 300 mm (12 inches). |
| What is the finished wafer thickness after all processing steps? | 775 micrometers. |
| How many wafers does one ingot typically yield? | Roughly 3,000. |
| What orientation marker is ground into a modern wafer before slicing? | A notch (older wafers used a flat) ground along the ingot’s length to mark crystal orientation. |
| How long does the wire-saw slicing of one ingot typically take? | About eight hours of patient sawing. |
| What is ‘kerf loss’ in wafer manufacturing? | Silicon turned to dust by the wire saw — material permanently lost during slicing, a persistent annoyance in the industry. |
| What chemical mixture is used in the etching bath after lapping? | A mixture of hydrofluoric, nitric, and acetic acids. |
| What two components make up CMP slurry, and what does each contribute? | Colloidal silica (mechanical abrasion) suspended in alkaline solution (chemical attack) — the combination wears high spots preferentially. |
| What surface flatness does CMP achieve across the full 300 mm face? | Less than 1 nanometer of variation. |
| What is the smallest particle size that optical inspection scanners check for on a finished wafer? | Particles down to about 30 nm. |