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Internal Worksession 2: Unpacking computer chips

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Internal work session 2: Unpacking the world of computer chips

Talk by Martijn van Boven

NXP: manufacturer for semi conductors / computer chips / appraoched marttijn because they have an archive and didnt know what to do with it.

massive manufacturing in nijmegen,

first you had philips and then they sold the company and it became nxp

previous employers started collecting and preserving things

interesting that an abstract technology like computer chip, is made by peo0le, social aspects of that

we were going to visit the archive, unfortunately had to move

the previous building is now used for dutch army to do exercises for urban warfare

martijn brought some artefacts

technical drawings, books, machines, applications, (telefones, radios…) diverse archive

wafer: through litography, how computer chips are being edged

rudamentary process: you make a drawing, you make a mask (glass?) from the drawing

optical chemical process

its like a photogram

silicium bar

computer chips are made from sand, ‘purity’ of sand is important

refining high purity quartz / semi conductor chips, fiber optics / north carolina

mine is still active

martijn went to several mines in the world / norway, chile (lithium)

high precision always starts with very dirty process (environmentally, corruption)

water is needed to separate different materials from each other

the hyper hyigenic of our devices starts always with a dirty process

initially quite crude production circumstances, not refined, more like a factory

factory was not safe, air was not purified, people didnt clean themselves,

through the decades the processes became more and more precise

film in the archive “behaviour in the clean room”

silicion melts, then you put a cristal into amoulded silicion.. the silicium sticks to the crystal

it becomes round because of the atomic structure

surface of the waver needs to be as flat as possible, the silicium has the right atomic structure for that

sand needs to be as pure as possible, no metal

the crystal is also made from sand

silicium sausage cut with a diamond cutter

hand drawn technical drawings of computer chips / starting large (2 x 6meters)

today the drawings are computerized

now they are restoring and preserving the technical drawings

how come, how computers are made, is not taught in school? demysitfication is important

kilo girls / article ?

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/10/computing-power-used-to-be-measured-in-kilo-girls/280633/

230.000 employers in NL around the time

huge influence on NL

“nette meisjes” very catholic region, (precision, and properness)

if you were from a lpower class, philips was paying for your education

if you didnt want to go to the army, you could go to work for philips

all manual labor was done by women

engineering vs manual labor distrimination

[ watching film: “how to behave in the clean room ]

Real Girls’ Work - August 7, 2024

By Lua Vollaard

https://superkilogirls.com/post/real-girls-work

https://superkilogirls.com/

https://stichtinglink.nl/the-archive

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpORXX8fzi0

Ismael had a question on the use of ceramics in computers

Ceramics used in computation for electronics, as isolation materials

Karl Marx asked money from senior Philips to write Das Kapital and fund his writing time/travels

The letter in which he did this is documented as well as a subsequent mail to Engels in which he informs him that he received the money

Initially the silicium might have been sourced from the river Maas but it’s doubted by many because of the impurities