How Does Sand Become a Chip? · 沙子怎麼變成晶片？

Big idea · 一句話看懂

Chips are made from the silicon in sand. It is purified until almost every atom is silicon, grown into one giant crystal, and sliced into thin wafers, and each wafer carries hundreds of chips at once.
晶片的原料是沙子裡的矽：先提純到幾乎每一個原子都是矽，長成一整根大單晶，再切成薄薄的晶圓；一片晶圓上同時做出幾百顆晶片。

3D Model · 3D 模型

From Sand to Chip 從沙子到晶片

Drag to turn the model, and scroll or pinch to zoom. Press a step to fly to it and watch it happen, or press Play the whole journey to visit all six in order. The calculator below the reading changes the size of the chips on the last wafer.
拖曳可以旋轉模型，滾輪或雙指可以縮放。按一個步驟，飛過去看它怎麼做；或按「播放全程」，六站依序走一遍。課文下方的計算器可以改變最後那片晶圓上晶片的大小。

Drag to turn · 拖曳旋轉　Scroll or pinch to zoom · 滾輪／雙指縮放

This 3D model needs WebGL, which this browser does not support. The reading and the cards below still explain everything.
這個瀏覽器不支援 WebGL，無法顯示 3D 模型；下方的課文與卡片一樣能看懂。

Six steps · 六個步驟

This is the whole production line. Read it like two lines of text: the back row first, from left to right, then the front row. Choose a step to look closer.這是整條生產線。像讀兩行字一樣看：先看後排、由左到右，再看前排。選一個步驟靠近看。

Labels標示

Sand: mostly quartz, silicon joined with oxygen
沙子：大部分是石英，也就是矽和氧結合成的
Silver gray: silicon
銀灰色：矽
Orange glow: very hot, or melted
橘色的光：非常燙，或已經熔化
Blue squares: chips on the wafer
藍色方格：晶圓上的晶片

A teaching diagram, not to scale. The sand grains are enlarged, the ingot is drawn much shorter than a real one, and the wafers are drawn far thicker than 775 micrometers. Each step is sped up to a few seconds. The chips on the last wafer are laid out with the same calculator as the one below the reading.
這是示意圖，不是真實比例：砂粒放大了，晶棒畫得比真的短很多，晶圓也畫得比 775 微米厚得多；每一步都加快成幾秒鐘。最後那片晶圓上的晶片，用的是和課文下方計算器同一套算法。

Model drawn by My Culture Connect as a teaching diagram. The steps follow the process described by wafer maker SUMCO and Wikipedia's articles on silicon, polysilicon, the Czochralski method, and wafers. · 模型由人師教育協會自繪示意；步驟依晶圓廠 SUMCO 的製程說明與維基百科的矽、多晶矽、柴可拉斯基法、晶圓條目。

Reading · 英文閱讀

3

Unit 3: How Does Sand Become a Chip?

A chip begins as something you can find on almost any beach: sand. Most sand is mainly quartz, which is silicon joined with oxygen, and silicon is the second most common element in Earth's crust. But a chip needs silicon so pure and so perfectly arranged that turning sand into a chip is one of the most careful jobs people have ever learned to do.

晶片的起點，是幾乎每個海灘都找得到的東西：沙子。大部分的沙子主要是石英，也就是矽和氧結合成的；矽是地殼裡第二多的元素。可是晶片需要的矽必須非常純、排列得非常整齊，所以把沙子變成晶片，是人類學過最講究的工作之一。

First, the oxygen has to go. Factories usually start with high-purity quartz rock rather than beach sand. They heat it with carbon in an electric furnace hotter than 2,000 degrees Celsius. The carbon pulls the oxygen away, leaving silicon that is about 98 to 99 percent pure. That sounds pure, but for a chip it is still far too dirty.

第一步，要把氧拿掉。工廠通常用高純度的石英岩，而不是沙灘的沙，把它和碳一起放進超過攝氏 2,000 度的電爐加熱。碳把氧帶走，留下純度約 98% 到 99% 的矽。聽起來很純，但對晶片來說還是太髒了。

Next, the silicon is cleaned with chemistry. It is turned into a liquid called trichlorosilane, purified, and then turned back into silicon on thin rods heated to about 1,150 degrees. The rods slowly grow thick. The result is called polysilicon, and for chips it is at least 99.99999999 percent pure. That is ten nines in a row.

接著用化學方法清潔矽。先把它變成一種叫「三氯矽烷」的液體，提純之後，再讓它在加熱到約 1,150 度的細矽棒上變回矽，矽棒慢慢長粗。這樣做出來的叫「多晶矽」，晶片用的純度至少是 99.99999999%，也就是一連十個 9。

Polysilicon is made of many tiny crystals, but a chip needs one single crystal. So the silicon is melted at 1,414 degrees. A small seed crystal is dipped into the liquid and slowly pulled up while it turns. The silicon freezes onto the seed with every atom lined up the same way, growing into a long, shiny ingot that can be about two meters long. This is called the Czochralski method, after the Polish scientist who invented it in 1916.

多晶矽是由許多很小的晶體組成的，但晶片需要「一整塊」單晶。所以把矽加熱到 1,414 度熔化，把一小塊晶種浸進液體，一邊旋轉一邊慢慢往上拉。矽凝固在晶種上，每個原子都排成同一個方向，長成一根又長又亮的晶棒，可以長達約 2 公尺。這叫做「柴可拉斯基法」，名字來自 1916 年發明它的波蘭科學家。

Next, a wire saw slices the ingot into thin disks called wafers. The wafers are ground, etched, and polished until they shine like mirrors. The main size used for advanced chips today is 300 millimeters across, usually called a 12-inch wafer, and it is only about 775 micrometers thick, less than one millimeter.

然後，鋼線鋸把晶棒切成薄薄的圓片，叫做「晶圓」。晶圓經過研磨、蝕刻、拋光，亮得像鏡子一樣。今天先進晶片主要用的晶圓直徑 300 公釐，通常叫做 12 吋晶圓，厚度只有約 775 微米，不到 1 公釐。

Finally, hundreds of chips are built side by side on each wafer, layer by layer, as you will see in the next lesson. Every chip is tested while it is still on the wafer. Then the wafer is cut apart, and the good chips are packaged. Because chips are square and wafers are round, some silicon at the edge is always wasted. Try the calculator below to see how much.

最後，每片晶圓上一層一層、並排做出幾百顆晶片，下一課就會看到怎麼做。每顆晶片在還沒切開前就先在晶圓上測試，然後把晶圓切開，好的晶片拿去封裝。因為晶片是方的、晶圓是圓的，邊緣一定會浪費一些矽。用下面的計算器算算看浪費多少。

Read aloud · 課文朗讀

Questions · 閱讀理解

Why can't silicon straight from the furnace be used for chips?

It is only about 98 to 99 percent pure, which is still far too dirty for a chip.

How is a single crystal of silicon grown?

A seed crystal is dipped into melted silicon and slowly pulled up while it turns, so the silicon freezes onto it with every atom lined up.

Why is some silicon always wasted at the edge of a wafer?

Chips are square and wafers are round, so the squares cannot fill the whole circle.

Words & Phrases · 生字及片語

sand(n.)沙子The children built a castle out of wet sand.孩子們用濕沙堆了一座城堡。melt(v.)融化；熔化Ice cream melts quickly on a hot day.大熱天裡，冰淇淋很快就融化了。pure(adj.)純的This bottle holds pure water with nothing added.這瓶是什麼都沒加的純水。furnace(n.)爐子；熔爐The glass maker heated the sand in a hot furnace.玻璃師傅把沙子放進很燙的爐子裡加熱。seed(n.)種子；晶種A tiny seed can grow into a tall tree.一顆小小的種子可以長成高大的樹。slice(v.)切成薄片Please slice the bread for breakfast.請把麵包切片當早餐。wafer(n.)威化餅；晶圓A chocolate wafer is thin and crispy.巧克力威化餅又薄又脆。waste(n.)浪費；廢料Throwing away good food is a waste.把好好的食物丟掉是一種浪費。

Quick Check · 小測驗

1. What does the furnace take away from quartz?

2. What is the seed crystal for?

3. About how thick is a 300 mm wafer?

4. Why are chips tested before the wafer is cut?

5. If each chip is made bigger, what happens to the number of chips on a wafer?

Chips per Wafer · 一片晶圓幾顆晶片

How many chips fit on one wafer? 一片晶圓切得出幾顆晶片？

Drag the slider to change the size of each square chip, or try an example. Watch how many whole chips fit and how much of the round edge is wasted. The 3D wafer above changes too.
拉動滑桿改變方形晶片的大小，或按一個例子。看看能放幾顆完整的晶片、圓形的邊緣浪費多少。上面 3D 模型的晶圓也會跟著變。

Whole chips · 完整晶片　Wasted at the edge · 邊緣浪費

Chip size · 晶片大小

Our count keeps a 3 mm edge unused and leaves a 0.1 mm saw lane between chips (example values), then slides the grid to fit as many whole chips as possible. The shortcut formula ignores both, so its number is a little higher. 26 × 33 mm is the largest area today's common EUV machines can print in one shot, so the biggest single chips are about that size.我們的算法留了 3 公釐不能用的邊緣、晶片之間留 0.1 公釐的切割道（示例數值），再移動方格找出最多的排法。近似公式沒有扣這兩樣，所以數字稍微多一點。26 × 33 公釐是今天常見的 EUV 曝光機一次能印的最大範圍，所以最大的單顆晶片差不多就這麼大。

One 300 mm wafer · 一片 12 吋晶圓

0 whole chips

0 顆完整的晶片

0 pieces wasted at the edge · 邊緣浪費 0 塊

Wafer area used by whole chips · 完整晶片占晶圓面積 0%

The common shortcut formula says about 0.常用的近似公式算出約 0 顆。

Try It in the Model · 在模型裡試試

Four steps to watch 看這四個步驟

Press Play the whole journey to watch all six steps in order, from a pile of sand to a packaged chip.
按「播放全程」，依序看完六個步驟：從一堆沙子到一顆封裝好的晶片。

The furnace電爐

Above 2,000 °C · 超過 2,000 °C

Carbon pulls the oxygen out of quartz, leaving gray lumps of silicon.
碳把石英裡的氧帶走，留下一塊塊灰色的矽。

Pull a crystal拉出單晶

Melted at 1,414 °C · 1,414 °C 熔化

Watch the ingot grow as the turning seed is pulled out of the melted silicon.
晶種一邊轉一邊從熔化的矽裡往上拉，看晶棒越長越長。

Slice the ingot切開晶棒

775 µm thin · 775 微米薄

A wire saw cuts the ingot into wafers, which stack up like coins.
鋼線鋸把晶棒切成晶圓，一片片像硬幣一樣疊起來。

Cut out the chips切出晶片

Hundreds per wafer · 一片幾百顆

The chips are separated, and one is packaged. Change the chip size with the calculator below.
晶片被切開，其中一顆封裝起來。用下面的計算器改變晶片大小。

Go Further · 延伸閱讀

Before and after this lesson 這一課的前後

Chips and Semiconductors · Lesson 1 · 晶片與半導體第一課What Is a Semiconductor?什麼是半導體？Why silicon must be so pure: one wrong atom in a million already changes how well it conducts.矽為什麼要這麼純：每 100 萬個原子換掉 1 個，導電能力就大大改變。Go to the lesson · 前往這一課 →Chips and Semiconductors · Lesson 2 · 晶片與半導體第二課What Does a Transistor Do?電晶體在做什麼？What each chip on the wafer is full of: billions of tiny switches.晶圓上每顆晶片裡裝滿的東西：幾十億個小開關。Go to the lesson · 前往這一課 →

Silicon's Journey by the Numbers · 旅程裡的數字

Hot, pure, and thin 很燙、很純、很薄

The numbers behind each step.
每一步背後的數字。

2,000 °C+in the arc furnace · 電弧爐的溫度

Hot enough to pull the oxygen out of quartz.熱到能把石英裡的氧拿掉。

1,414 °Csilicon melts · 矽的熔點

The temperature of the pot the crystal is pulled from.拉晶時坩堝裡熔化的矽就是這個溫度。

10–11 nineschip-grade polysilicon · 晶片用多晶矽的純度

99.99999999% pure or better.純度 99.99999999% 以上。

2 mlong ingots · 晶棒的長度

A single crystal can be this long and weigh several hundred kilograms.一整根單晶可以長達約 2 公尺、重數百公斤。

300 mmmain wafer size today · 今天的主要晶圓尺寸

Called 12-inch, though it is really 11.8 inches.俗稱 12 吋，其實是 11.8 吋。

775 µmthickness of a 300 mm wafer · 12 吋晶圓的厚度

Less than one millimeter.不到 1 公釐。

Wafer Stories · 晶圓的故事

A pen, a reactor, a nickname, and Hsinchu 一支筆、一座反應爐、一個暱稱和新竹

Four stories from the road between sand and chips.
從沙子到晶片的路上，四個小故事。

1916 · Czochralski · 柴可拉斯基

A pen in the wrong pot沾錯了墨水

The story goes that in 1916, the Polish scientist Jan Czochralski dipped his pen into a pot of melted tin instead of his inkwell. When he pulled it out, a thin thread of tin came with it, and it was a single crystal. He reported his method in 1918, and today it is used to grow the silicon crystals for chips.
相傳 1916 年，波蘭科學家柴可拉斯基把筆伸進一鍋熔化的錫，而不是墨水瓶。拿出來時，筆尖帶出一條細細的錫絲，竟然是一整塊單晶。他在 1918 年發表這個方法，今天晶片用的矽單晶就是這樣長出來的。

1950s · Siemens · 西門子

Ten nines of purity十個 9 的純度

In the 1950s, the German companies Siemens and Wacker developed a way to make ultra-pure silicon by growing it on hot, thin rods inside a bell-shaped reactor. It is still called the Siemens process, and for chips it reaches ten to eleven nines, from 99.99999999 to 99.999999999 percent pure.
1950 年代，德國的西門子和瓦克公司發展出一種方法：在鐘形反應爐裡，讓矽長在發熱的細矽棒上，做出超高純度的矽。這方法至今仍叫「西門子法」，晶片用的純度達到十到十一個 9，也就是 99.99999999% 到 99.999999999%。

12-inch · 12 吋

Why 300 mm is called 12-inch300 mm 為什麼叫 12 吋

A 300 mm wafer is really 11.8 inches across, but almost everyone calls it a 12-inch wafer, and a factory that uses it is a 12-inch fab, 12 吋晶圓廠 in Chinese. 300 mm wafers were introduced in 1999. A research group working on even bigger 450 mm wafers began shutting down in 2017.
300 公釐的晶圓其實是 11.8 吋，但大家都叫它 12 吋晶圓，用它的工廠就叫「12 吋晶圓廠」。300 mm 晶圓在 1999 年推出；研究更大 450 mm 晶圓的聯盟，在 2017 年開始解散。

Made in Taiwan · 台灣製造

Blank wafers from Taiwan台灣做的空白晶圓

Taiwan also makes the blank silicon wafers that chips are built on. GlobalWafers, headquartered in Hsinchu Science Park, makes 300 mm and 200 mm wafers, and companies such as Wafer Works and Formosa SUMCO Technology also make silicon wafers in Taiwan.
台灣也生產做晶片用的空白矽晶圓。總部在新竹科學園區的環球晶圓生產 12 吋和 8 吋晶圓；合晶科技、台塑勝高科技等公司也在台灣生產矽晶圓。

Myth vs. Fact · 常見迷思

Four things people get wrong 四個常見的誤會

✗ Myth · 迷思A silicon wafer is a kind of glass.矽晶圓是一種玻璃。

✓ Fact · 事實Glass is amorphous: its atoms have no regular pattern. A wafer is a single crystal, with every atom lined up in the same pattern from edge to edge.玻璃是非晶質，原子沒有規則的排列；晶圓是單晶，從這一邊到那一邊，每個原子都排成同一個圖樣。

✗ Myth · 迷思Each chip is carved from its own little block of silicon.每顆晶片都是從自己的一小塊矽雕出來的。

✓ Fact · 事實Hundreds of chips are made side by side on one wafer at the same time, then cut apart.幾百顆晶片在同一片晶圓上同時並排做好，再切開。

✗ Myth · 迷思Bigger wafers make bigger chips.晶圓越大，晶片就越大。

✓ Fact · 事實A chip's size is set by its design. A bigger wafer simply fits more chips.晶片的大小由設計決定；晶圓大，只是放得下更多晶片。

✗ Myth · 迷思Every chip on a wafer works.晶圓上每顆晶片都是好的。

✓ Fact · 事實Some don't. Every chip is tested while still on the wafer, and the bad ones are left out before packaging, which saves money.有些是壞的。每顆晶片在晶圓上就先測試，壞的不拿去封裝，省下成本。

Remember It · 記憶口訣

From sand to chip in a sentence 一句話記住沙子變晶片

Sand, silicon, pure, crystal, slice砂、矽、純、晶、切

Five steps: quartz to silicon, purify it, grow one crystal, slice it into wafers.
石英變矽、提純、長成單晶、切成晶圓。

One seed, one crystal一顆晶種，一整根單晶

Every atom in the ingot lines up with the tiny seed it grew from.
晶棒裡每個原子，都跟著最上面那顆小晶種排隊。

A wafer holds hundreds一片晶圓，幾百顆晶片

Chips are made side by side on one wafer, then cut apart.
晶片在同一片晶圓上並排做好，再切開。

Smaller chips, less waste晶片越小，浪費越少

Squares never fill a circle; big chips leave more of the edge unused.
方格永遠填不滿圓，晶片越大，邊緣浪費越多。

Safety First · 安全提醒

Before you try anything 動手之前先讀

An adult must make and pour the hot sugar syrup. Boiling water and hot syrup can cause serious burns.熱糖漿一定要由大人煮、大人倒。滾水和熱糖漿會造成嚴重燙傷。
Never try to melt sand, glass, or metal at home. The furnaces in this lesson are thousands of degrees and belong in factories.絕不要在家裡熔化沙子、玻璃或金屬。這一課的爐子有好幾千度，只能在工廠裡用。
Be careful with the sharp point of a compass and with scissors.小心圓規的尖端和剪刀。
Cover the crystal jar to keep out dust and insects, and throw it away if mold grows.養晶體的罐子要蓋好，防灰塵和昆蟲；如果發霉就丟掉。

Classroom Activity 1 · 課堂活動一

Make a Real-Size Paper Wafer 做一片真實大小的紙晶圓

You need · 準備材料

A large sheet of paper or cardboard, at least 32 cm wide一張至少 32 公分寬的大紙或紙板
A compass, or a pin, string, and pencil圓規，或圖釘、細繩和鉛筆
A ruler and colored pencils直尺和色鉛筆

Steps · 步驟

Draw a circle with a radius of 15 cm. It is exactly the size of a real 300 mm wafer.畫一個半徑 15 公分的圓，大小和真的 12 吋晶圓一模一樣。
Draw a grid of 2 cm squares across the circle. Each square is a 20 mm chip.在圓上畫 2 公分的方格，每格是一顆 20 公釐的晶片。
Color the squares that fit completely inside the circle, and count them. Shade the broken squares at the edge in gray.把完全在圓裡的方格塗色、數一數；邊緣不完整的方格塗灰色。
Compare your count with the calculator for 20 mm chips. Then try 5 cm squares. Which size wastes more of the edge?和計算器 20 公釐的結果比一比；再試試 5 公分的方格。哪一種邊緣浪費比較多？

Your count may be a little higher than the calculator's, because the calculator keeps a 3 mm edge unused.
你數到的可能比計算器多一點，因為計算器留了 3 公釐的邊緣不用。

Classroom Activity 2 · 課堂活動二

Grow a Sugar Crystal from a Seed 用晶種養一塊糖晶體