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It would be cool to replicate a semiconductor microchip on a 3D printer, i.e. a C64, an intel processor, an AMD processor. Can you think of a kind of map file format which graphs many transistors and which can sent to a voxel engine or something?

Mike
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bandybabboon
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  • What do you mean by "replicate"? You mean just a physical mode-look alike right? 8051 is your best bet. – DKNguyen Nov 15 '20 at 19:30
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    I feel like 1:100000 is probably going to give you an enormous model. You underestimate the physical size of a CPU die! Also, a C64 is a computer, not a microchip. – Hearth Nov 15 '20 at 19:40
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    @Hearth I agree, assuming an "average" large chip of 10 x 10 mm, then it would become 1km x 1km, the size of a small village! More realistic would be 20 cm x 20 cm so an enlargement of 1 : 20. With a 3D printer that can print at a resolution of 20 um that would correspond to a 1 um smallest feature size. So a 6510 (the CPU used in the C64) might be doable. I do think however that you're over-estimating how great that's going to look in real life. I hope you realize that such a replica is just an ornament, I mean, it isn't going to **work** at all. – Bimpelrekkie Nov 15 '20 at 19:58
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    @Hearth Maybe OP doesn't have a peasant 3D printer? And owns lots of land. – DKNguyen Nov 15 '20 at 20:00
  • @DKNguyen I mean render it in 3D at about 0.4 mm for every transistor, so i can print 240x240 of them. it can still have the total of an 8086 processor. which has 29,000 transistors. – bandybabboon Nov 15 '20 at 21:05
  • @aliential what you're looking for is fabrication data for ICs. Don't think you'll be overly happy with the file formats, but it's out there! Your best bet would be getting to know a toolflow for ASIC design, like [OpenROAD](https://theopenroadproject.org/), and then looking through example projects. – Marcus Müller Nov 15 '20 at 21:28

2 Answers2

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You could probably make on from the Visual 6502.

(The original native format of chip data is called "GDSII", but you're unlikely to find anything useful in that format)

pjc50
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I suggest you consider some famous analog ICs. Contact the company Analog Devices. They used to provide top_level metal details (for bonding to bare die) in their datasheets.

Or Texas Instruments, who bought National Semiconductor.

Or Fairchild Corp, who produces the original UA 702 (asymmetric opamp), the UA709, the UA725 precision opamp. Or the UA723 voltage_regulator.

Some of these analog IC layouts are simple enough, and the schematics are simple enough, you can easily trace out the circuit against the 3_D printer results.

analogsystemsrf
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  • Ha, I know something that *you* will enjoy, analogsystemsrf! What do you recognize when looking at [this](https://siliconpr0n.org/map/lime/lms7002m/mz_mit20x/#x=5024&y=1932&z=2) photograph? If this happens to be fun to you, there's way more in the [directory](https://siliconpr0n.org/map) of that site :) – Marcus Müller Nov 15 '20 at 21:23
  • I agree that **an analog IC** or even an RF IC would be much more interesting to look at than some CPU. – Bimpelrekkie Nov 15 '20 at 21:25
  • Fairchild's owned by ON nowadays. – Hearth Nov 16 '20 at 02:33