Research Discovery Could Revolutionize Semiconductor Manufacturing 64
New submitter arobatino writes "A new method of manufacturing semiconductors which eliminates the substrate (in other words, no wafer) could be much faster and cheaper. From the article: 'Instead of starting from a silicon wafer or other substrate, as is usual today, researchers have made it possible for the structures to grow from freely suspended nanoparticles of gold in a flowing gas. "The basic idea was to let nanoparticles of gold serve as a substrate from which the semiconductors grow. This means that the accepted concepts really were turned upside down!" Since then, the technology has been refined, patents have been obtained and further studies have been conducted. In the article in Nature, the researchers show how the growth can be controlled using temperature, time and the size of the gold nanoparticles.'"
Re:Is gold is cheaper than silicon? (Score:3, Interesting)
Our foundry uses 200 mm wafers. I think the cost is around $20 per wafer. I don't know, because the substrates are so cheap, they don't even charge us. Epi is a little more expensive because of the extra processing -- maybe $50.
I imagine the cost scales with wafer diameter. 200 mm is relatively old technology.