• Question: How long does it take to make a chip?

    Asked by Jake Butler to Padraic on 11 Feb 2015.
    • Photo: Padraic Morrissey

      Padraic Morrissey answered on 11 Feb 2015:

      Hey Jake!
      That’s a great question. It usually takes about 2 weeks to make a laser. Different production steps are required, some of which can take days to complete. Then you have to put metal over very specific parts of them so that you can make electrical connections, otherwise you can’t power them!

      The one good thing about making lasers is that they are really small, so instead of just making one laser, you usually make a couple of thousand at a time! On the last project I was working we really decided to squeeze as many lasers as we could onto a single chip. We ended up with over 19000 lasers! It was actually very hard to cut them out into smaller lasers but we managed it eventually 😀

      Hope that answers your question and don’t forget to vote in the next round!
      Thanks for your votes so far!

Comments