Collaborate Disseminate
Here on Earth, being able to 3D print replacement parts is handy, but rarely necessary. If you’ve got a broken o-ring, printing one out is just saving you a trip …read more Continue reading Axial 3D Printer Aces Test Aboard Virgin Spaceplane
Manufacturing nano-sized features is rapidly becoming an essential part of new technologies and process, ranging from catalysts to photonics and nano-scale robotics. Creating these features at scale and in a …read more Continue reading Additive Manufacturing of Nickel Nanopillars Using Two-Photon Lithography
Over the past few years we’ve seen several impressive projects where people try to manufacture integrated circuits using hobbyist tools. One of the most complex parts of this process is …read more Continue reading Using Electron Beams to Draw Tiny Shapes onto Silicon
What does it take to make your own integrated circuits at home? It’s a question that relatively few intrepid hackers have tried to answer, and the answer is usually something …read more Continue reading Old Printer Becomes Direct Laser Lithography Machine
I’ve done a few experiments in adding color to printed circuit boards. These experiments used a process known as pad printing, and so far all indications are that pad printing is a viable process for truly multicolor artistic PCBs. For this year’s DEF CON, I’m stepping things up and taking them to their logical conclusion. I’m making true multicolor PCBs with orange and blue ink. This is, I believe, the first time this has ever been done with printed circuit board art, and it is certainly the first time it has ever been documented.
You may be wondering why I …read more
Continue reading Using Pad Printers To Add Color To Artistic PCBs
A few days ago we brought you news of [Sam Zeloof]’s amazing achievement, of creating the first home-made lithographically produced integrated circuit. It was a modest enough design in a simple pair of differential amplifiers and all we had to go on was a Twitter announcement, but it promised a more complete write-up to follow. We’re pleased to note that the write-up has arrived, and we can have a look at some of the details of just how he managed to produce an IC in his garage. He’s even given it a part number, the Zeloof Z1.
For ease of …read more
Continue reading More Details On That First Home-Made Lithographically Produced IC
It is now six decades since the first prototypes of practical integrated circuits were produced. We are used to other technological inventions from the 1950s having passed down the food chain to the point at which they no longer require the budget of a huge company or a national government to achieve, but somehow producing an integrated circuit has remained out of reach. It’s the preserve of the Big Boys, move on, there’s nothing to see here.
Happily for us there exists a dedicated band of experimenters keen to break that six-decade dearth of home-made ICs. And now one of …read more
Continue reading First Lithographically Produced Home Made IC Announced
There are many, many ways to get a PCB design onto a board for etching. Even with practice however, the quality of the result varies with the process and equipment used. With QFN parts becoming the norm, the days of etch-resist transfers and a permanent marker are all but gone. Luckily, new and improved methods of Gerber transfer have be devised in recent years thanks to hackers across the world.
One such hacker, [Henner] is working on a project called LDGraphy in an attempt to bring high-resolution etching to the masses. LDGraphy is a laser lithography device that makes use …read more
