'Just imagine what could get done' — How this US startup is building a 'cheap' fab-in-a-box to do for microchips what IBM did for PCs

• Small wafer fabs could dramatically reduce semiconductor manufacturing startup costs worldwide
• Compact chip factories may accelerate semiconductor workforce training across developing industries
• InchFab believes utilization matters more than wafer size in semiconductor economics

The semiconductor industry traditionally depends upon gigantic fabrication plants costing billions of dollars and requiring years before meaningful chip production even begins.

A United States startup called InchFab believes much smaller facilities could dramatically reduce those barriers by shrinking semiconductor manufacturing equipment itself.

Founded by MIT graduate Mitchell Hsing alongside several collaborators, the company builds compact clean-room fabrication systems designed around smaller silicon wafers.

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Smaller wafers reduce manufacturing costs

Instead of constructing sprawling industrial campuses processing massive wafer volumes, InchFab compresses fabrication capability into modular systems roughly matching shipping container dimensions.

The company claims those systems cost between $5 million and $15 million dollars, far below conventional semiconductor fabrication facilities requiring multibillion-dollar investments.

Hsing explained that the company initially experimented with one-inch wafers because standard photolithography fields naturally aligned with those physical dimensions.

That approach quickly encountered practical complications because one-inch wafers are difficult to source commercially and require manual cutting from larger substrates.

It later shifted toward two-inch wafers before ultimately settling around four-inch formats that balanced practicality with equipment miniaturisation advantages.

According to Hsing, shrinking fabrication systems change the physics surrounding plasma processing because chamber surface area becomes increasingly dominant relative to internal volume.

He noted that plasma-based systems contain protective sheath layers preventing chamber walls from degrading during operation.

Some engineering challenges reportedly become easier under reduced dimensions because pumps, valves, mass-flow controllers, and vacuum regulation systems require smaller operating volumes.

Hsing stated that controlling compact plasma chambers simplifies several backend processes compared with maintaining stability inside large industrial semiconductor equipment operating continuously at scale.

Compact FABs support several techniques

InchFab claims its systems still perform many standard semiconductor manufacturing processes used throughout established fabrication environments worldwide.

The company lists lithography, metrology, plasma-enhanced deposition, atomic-layer deposition, dry etching, and multiple wet processing techniques among supported fabrication capabilities.

Hsing acknowledged that lithography remains the company’s primary limitation because feature size and production speed still depend heavily upon exposure technology constraints.

He explained that electron-beam methods can theoretically achieve extremely small geometries, although slower write speeds reduce practicality for large manufacturing volumes.

Critics question whether smaller wafers can remain economically competitive against larger fabrication plants processing thousands of wafers monthly at an industrial scale.

Hsing rejected that criticism directly, arguing that fabrication economics depend more heavily upon utilization rates and capital efficiency than wafer dimensions alone.

“Oftentimes we can be price competitive with an 8-inch foundry today,” Hsing said while discussing specialized industrial and aerospace manufacturing requirements.

The company currently serves customers operating in biomedical, sensing, aerospace, defense, photonics, and compound semiconductor sectors.

All these fields require low production volumes and customized process flows, which are suitable for InchFab.

InchFab’s business also involves workforce training for countries attempting to establish domestic semiconductor manufacturing capability without waiting years for large facilities.

“There’s no better way, no cheaper way, to start it than with something like an InchFab,” Hsing stated during discussions surrounding workforce development programs.

Whether compact fabs genuinely democratize semiconductor manufacturing remains uncertain.

Advanced chip production still depends heavily upon lithography performance and manufacturing consistency.

Still, smaller fabrication systems could become increasingly attractive for specialized industries where flexibility, training, and lower capital matter more than scale

Via IEEE Spectrum

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