azonenberg changed the topic of #homecmos to: Homebrew CMOS and MEMS foundry design | Wiki: http://homecmos.drawersteak.com/wiki/Main_Page | Repository: http://code.google.com/p/homecmos/ | Logs: http://en.qi-hardware.com/homecmos-logs/
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<diginet> SU8 is hard for amateurs to get a hold of
<diginet> and it's expensive
<Noxz> yeah ..
<Noxz> and it expires
<Noxz> which is the biggest drawback, I think
<Noxz> to amateurs, plus being expensive
<Noxz> I just watched too many things about.. watches.. that I sort of changed my idea some (alot) of the mems watch
<Noxz> well, not really.. but it certainly expanded my idea a bit
<diginet> do you own "Watchmaking" by George Daniels?
<diginet> you might be interested, it's a very fascinating book
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<Noxz> diginet# I do not, but I wear an Omega Speedmaster with the Daniel's Co-Axial escapement, with a silicon balance spring... so I know who he is ;)
<diginet> neat
<diginet> you should check out that book, it's really neat
<Noxz> yeah, I need to buy some things..
<Noxz> I actually bought another watch yesterday
<Noxz> a Girard-perragaux (I prob butchered the spelling)
<Noxz> an older, manual wind, watch.. on ebay
<Noxz> his protoge has a decent youtube channel on watchmaking
<Noxz> worth a look
<diginet> ahh thanks I'll check it out
<Noxz> just bought the book.. thanks for the kick-in-the-butt reminder
<diginet> I can't really afford expensive watches, lol
<diginet> hah, no problem, enjoy
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<diginet> Amazon is so dangerous
<Noxz> my speedmaster was basically new, so that was expensive
<diginet> they make it so easy to spend/waste my money
<Noxz> I used my signing bonus
<diginet> ahhh
<diginet> I didn't get a signing bonus :/
<Noxz> which happened to be right before xmas of last year, so I kind of treated myself
<Noxz> eh.. taxes took like half of it away
<Noxz> I was a contractor for 7 mo before turning full-time with them
<diginet> like, as in housing?
<Noxz> relatively simple sysadmin work
<diginet> oh
<Noxz> prob about 30k baremetal servers
<Noxz> no VMs ;)
<Noxz> each box is a dual cpu, 12+ cores each, with atleast 72gb of ram
<Noxz> but, it's basically alot of break/fix stuff, ticket queue..
<Noxz> I'm ready to find something else
<Noxz> I told my boss when I turned FTE (to turn full time?) that I would give him atleast one year, and it's right about that time
<diginet> ahh
<Noxz> I'm in sillicon valley (*moved out here for the job) so I should bee able to make a friend that deals with chip fab.. should be able to purchase a small amount of reisst from someone ;)
<diginet> yeah I'm just a programmer, but I'm fairly new, I've only been working in the field for about a year
<Noxz> are you a recent college grad?
<diginet> no, I don't have a degree
<Noxz> I'd prefer software dev
<diginet> technically, I don't even have a HS diploma
<Noxz> neither do I..
<Noxz> I have HS, and like half a year of college
<diginet> same re: college
<Noxz> but, it was hard enough to get my foot in the door
<diginet> I'd like to go back to school, ideally I'd like to eventually go to graduate school
<Noxz> trying to find something else may be hard without the required number of years exp in the field
<Noxz> so, I may be 'stuck' in this position for some time
<Noxz> I've thought about going bac to college
<diginet> yeah
<Noxz> honestly, I'd rather go to watchmaking school
<diginet> hah
<Noxz> in switzerland ;)
<diginet> I've thought about going to University in Switzerland (or applying anyway)
<diginet> originally I planned to go to Uni in Scotland, but I couldn't afford it, ended up going to a small Catholic college
<Noxz> I applied to two colleges, Ohio State, and RIT (Rochester Inst. of Tech) .. OSU was in state (I lived like 15 mins away) so that was basically the result
<diginet> I really don't care for programming, though I do like my coworkers and where I work, hopefully I won't be doing this the rest of my life
<diginet> yeah
<Noxz> are you in the US?
<diginet> yeah
<Noxz> okay, you just talked alot about overseas
<Noxz> so, wasn't sure
<diginet> well there's a reason
<diginet> see
<diginet> when I was in HS, I had awful grades
<diginet> for a variety of reasons
<Noxz> school sucks.. that's why
<diginet> UK schools, for Americans anyway, totally ignore your HS diploma
<diginet> or rather transcript I mean
<Noxz> interesting
<diginet> I had a good SAT score
<Noxz> I have dual citizenship with Australia.. my mother is from there, I've never been
<diginet> yeah, it's just the fact that the exchange rate and the fact that I'm not a UK citizen made everything expensive
<Noxz> I thought for a little bit about going there
<Noxz> yeah, citizenship is funky
<diginet> I jokingly asked a friend of mine from London if she would marry me for dat green card
<Noxz> heh
<diginet> apparently doesn't work that way :/
<Noxz> what was her answer?
<diginet> that their laws are different
<Noxz> heh, okay
<diginet> beyond the fact that it would be painfully obviously a marriage of convenience, you don't get citizenship until after like 5 years of marriage or something
<Noxz> ah
<Noxz> so, what is your interest in cmos/mems?
<diginet> I think open source hardware is important, and the ability to make your own chips is the only way it can meaningfully be brought to fruition
<diginet> the problems with ICs are that they are non-interchangeable
<diginet> consider like, for example, a car. All cars effectively do the exact same thing: drive.
<Noxz> a friend of mine helped fund the Noveno laptop, he's all about open-everythign nowadays
<diginet> yes, Novena is interesting
<diginet> although the name is odd
<Noxz> I have an electric car I am fixing up, from 1980
<diginet> maybe it's unintentional, but it's weird that it's seemingly named after a Catholic religious practice lol
<Noxz> and fixing up is a loose term.. I have been designing an electric motor for the past 100 years.. this is a shell to stick the new motor (working on making it) into
<diginet> hmm neat
<Noxz> 10 years *
<diginet> I don't drive, so car projects aren't too useful for me
<Noxz> I dont have my license
<Noxz> never had it
<Noxz> I used to be a mechanic at a bicycle shop
<diginet> neat
<Noxz> hence, being a gear head, liking watches/horology
<diginet> yeah
<Noxz> and MEMS
<diginet> I got in a bike accident a month ago, broke my jaw, chipped a ton of my teeth
<Noxz> oh damn
<diginet> weird, freak crash
<diginet> yeah, not fun
<diginet> but it's mostly healed now
<Noxz> I have been hit by a few cars, but nothing major
<diginet> just need to go to a dentist to get some caps
* Noxz knocks on wood
<diginet> well I live in small town, and we have bike lanes, the problem was some big rock in the road
<Noxz> oh, the bike lanes around here are shit
<Noxz> that's where all the debris is
<diginet> I got distracted for a split second and went straight over the handlebars
<diginet> yeah, they're normally clean here
<Noxz> i've done that a few times
<Noxz> but, since I somewhat recently moved.. I dont know the streets too well, so I'm usually glued to the road
<Noxz> my eyes are normally glued*
<diginet> my phobias are somewhat inconsistent. I'm literally terrified of being behind the wheel of a car, and yet the only time I've ever been injured on a vehicle is on a bike
<diginet> more importantly, I don't really want to pay for insurance, gas, maintenance, and the cost of the car itself
<Noxz> there are certain people I don't trust to drive me anywhere
<Noxz> and not sure why they even have their license
<Noxz> gas/oil is my thing I'm against
<Noxz> it's not that I liked bikes, but I hated gas
<diginet> While electric cars an improvement, I'm somewhat skeptical that they're a good solution long term. Strip mining for lithium isn't exactly environmentally friendly
<diginet> and IMO there's nowhere near enough to replace every gas car with an electric one
<Noxz> yeah, we'll see what the effeciency of my motor is
<diginet> too bad fuel cells have fallen by the wayside, I guess people don't understand the hydrogen economy
<diginet> also IMO the use of platinoids is a non-problem, fuel cells need no more than catalytic converters
<Noxz> some people still beleive in fuel cells
<diginet> yeah
<diginet> unfortunately Elon Musk has this weird cult who hang on every word of his as if it were gospel and he decided they're "stupid"
<Noxz> I never really paid too much attention to him/tesla
<Noxz> people at work kept telling me to just buy one.. I keep telling them I've been designing my own motor for 10 years
<diginet> how do these people afford Teslas?
<diginet> they're super expensive
<diginet> do people realize not everyone is super rich?
<diginet> (I don't know about you obviously)
<Noxz> california has a bunch of tax stuff
<Noxz> for EV
<diginet> oh
<Noxz> sort of thing
<Noxz> fed govt too
<diginet> ahh
<Noxz> but yeah, I was not excited about a 6-figure car
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<diginet> but yeah, getting back to home CMOS, I just think it's more important as a proof of concept
<Noxz> so what is your opinion on spending a bit of money to do it at home?
<diginet> well I just want to get the concept out there
<Noxz> like, nano-step linear movers
<diginet> realistically, what i'd more like to see is "boutique" fabs for individuals
<diginet> to decentralize the production chain
<Noxz> that would be cool to go to a convenient store and they make the chip you want right then and there
<diginet> yeah, something like that
<Noxz> 3d print it ;)
<diginet> at least, similar to the way you can get PCBs
<diginet> I'm personally skeptical of 3D printers
<diginet> I feel like people who think they're going to replaces factories don't understand materials science
<Noxz> same.. I'm actually working on a CNC to make aluminum molds for thermoplastic extrusion
<Noxz> unless there is a good post-bake, most 3d printed objects are fairly brittle
<Noxz> from what I've seen and read
<diginet> yeah, I mean they for sure have their uses
<diginet> but people forget, 3D printing means rapid *prototyping*
<diginet> here's what I say to people
<diginet> 3D printing will no more put large factories out of business than 2D printers put book publishers out of business
<diginet> just because I *can* print a whole book with my printer doesn't mean it's practical or economical to do so
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<SpeedEvil> It depends.
<SpeedEvil> Once you have a printer - if your printer can print something - the cost is very low
<SpeedEvil> Of course - to get that to aply - you have to amortise it over lots of stuff
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