As I watched this video, I had many thoughts. Here are some of them:
1) The complexity of the ASML machine is a reminder of how far IC technology has moved from the world of homebrew ham radio. I know others will take different views, but for me, it is a reminder that these chips -- which are now commonly used in cell phones, for example -- have no real place in rigs that we would call homebrew.
2) The technology they use is really amazing. Laser lights hitting tin droplets three times as the tin falls. Explosions inside the machine that are like miniature super novae.
3) Older guys play a big role in all of this.
4) All the attention today is focused on AI and data centers. But the tech there seems simplistic when compared to the ASML machines that make the chips.
Please watch the Veritasium video that appears above. Then please put you comments in the space below.
Yes, it's a very complex machine, but you can use simpler ones to create discrete transistors. Aside from that, the only real home brewers were the people living in the stone age, but they weren't building any radioes.
ReplyDeleteYes you can wind your own inductors, but do you mine and refine your own copper?
What is homebrew and what isn't? Where to draw the technological line? In 1947?
Sure, we do not mine our own copper. But I continue to think there is a big difference between using a chip from one of these amazing machines, and homebrewing a rig from discrete parts. This is a matter of personal preference. I prefer to stick to the old ham radio definition of homebrew. That would -- in my view -- not include using chips from this machine. I think the amazing complexity of this machine is in fact a reminder if that incompatibility. But again, this is a matter of personal preference.
ReplyDeleteBill, would this guy count as homebrew: Sam Zeloof. Homebrew transistors and IC's in his home.
ReplyDeleteAnd the connection to ham radio? Well maybe not Sam, but how about KD2MRG, Adam, his brother. Maybe they will make custom IC for amateur radio someday?