Ask HN: What books are recommended to learn the semiconductor industry?
I want to understand the ins and outs of the semiconductor industry. What resources would you recommend for beginner, intermediary and technical person?
I mean, you might say "I want to learn medicine" and people would take that many ways.
I studied EECE (electrical and computer engineering) in my BS, then Physics, and my Ph.D. is in Computer Engineering, minor in CS, but very specifically on VLSI and chip-making in the graduate school. I am saying this just to note: When you say "semiconductors industry" my immediate thought is you want to learn VLSI.
So, do you want to learn VLSI? Half the VLSI population will direct you to Westes book: https://www.pearson.com/us/higher-education/program/Weste-CM... and the other half will direct you to Jan Rabaeys book: http://bwrcs.eecs.berkeley.edu/Classes/IcBook/ I read both. Rabaey is a great writer and I prefer his book quite a bit.
Do you want to learn the Architecture of CPUs? The bible is Hennessey and Patterson: https://www.elsevier.com/books/computer-architecture/henness... However, there are several versions (not editions) so be aware of RISC vs ARM and also one is HUGE and one is a subset of the main one (for example, this book: Computer Organization and Design, David A. Patterson, and John L. Hennessy is a subset of the "A quantitative approach" I linked to at elsiver).
I would first figure out or define if you want to learn semiconductors by themselves (the first two books I referenced, which will also teach you CMOS design and high speed digital circuits) or end to end architecture of CPUs (Hennessy and Patterson), or something else (e.g. there is also the manufacturing of chips, which Weste and Rabaey cover to some degree, but there are even more serious books on, for example Rabeays book on 3D ICs).
Planning on spending the next two years getting up to speed so I can navigate the field from an investment standpoint
Do not forget that although H&P will cover architecture, today architecture is done from the behavioral level down, e.g. they design what they want the chip to do, synthesize that in some Hardware Description Language (HDL, like Verilog or VHDL) and then they have a huge team of engineers who will optimize parts of that, as the synthesis is not totally optimized. Then on top of that, another team of engineers will optimize each component or module for speed by sizing the transistors appropriately.
I am going to admit, I know from a hand-waving level end to end manufacturing, so I could not point you at a very good resource for understanding the actual "boots on the ground" process of today's lithography. Again, in Rabaeys 3D IC book there are great sections on the processing of 3D ICs which would give you some insight into the process today.
Hope that helps some.
What does the semiconductor landscape look like right now? Who is TSMC, who is ARM? Learning VLSI isn't going to teach you the ins and outs of the industry either.
I can recommend some resources in that vein (maybe they'll be useful if you/the reader have a software background):
The most frequently recommended book from a software perspective is "Computer Systems: A Programmer's Perspective" (http://csapp.cs.cmu.edu/3e/home.html).
For a nice gentle intro, you can also read "The Elements of Computing Systems" (https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/elements-computing-systems) that accompanies a course called "Nand2Tetris".
George Hotz also compiled a list of topics to cover to learn the computing stack from bottom-to-top (https://github.com/geohot/fromthetransistor).
These resources are mostly software-oriented, so they wouldn't give you much insight into modern chip fabrication, but if you're coming from a software background, may prove to be useful for building on what you already know.
Good way to learn about TSM nonetheless
Semiconductor manufacturing by now is heavily Asia centric. So it is natural for a YouTube channel about Semi conductor manufacturing to be Asia centric. That's where most of the world production is taking place!
I've seen the YouTube channel and it pays attention to ASML for example which is based in Europe. It doesn't ignore important players, even if they are non-Asian.
> but also dangerous because it's not comprehensive
Describing something as "dangerous" because it is not comprehensive is going too far. You can watch this channel and supplement your viewing with videos from other channels. Like any normal YouTube viewer does.
Nothing is ever truly comprehensive.
oh and Jeri Ellsworth https://www.youtube.com/c/jeriellsworth
I haven't looked at the IRDS roadmaps, but they're free with some registration to the IEEE.
VLSI Circuit Design Methodology Demystified: A Conceptual Taxonomy:
https://www.wiley.com/en-us/VLSI+Circuit+Design+Methodology+...
https://fs.blog/knowledge-project-podcast/the-ultimate-barga...
2) Chip Design for Non-Designers: An Introduction by Juan-Antonio Carballo.
3) Demystifying Chipmaking by Ricahrd F. Yanda et al..
4) Fabless: The Transformation of the Semiconductor Industry by Daniel Nenni et al.
https://www.amazon.com/Makers-Microchip-Documentary-Fairchil...
Even if you didn't know a single word of Mandarin. (Though in that case they might expect you to know English at Minimum)
Additionally, you should know Taiwan sources many parts of the production process from technologies in other countries.
For example ASML is the company that actually makes the EUV machines that etch the patterns onto the silicon, and that company is Dutch. In addition to that the lenses used in the EUV machines are custom made from Carl Zeiss, a German company.
Both of the aforementioned technologies are highly advanced and there is no way for TMSC to replicate each one.
Taiwan does not hold a monopoly on semiconductor technology. You should note that Korea (Samsung) also holds second place in this area and is not far behind.
China is actually pretty behind in the semiconductor race. Worse then intel as of right now.
Don't dismiss the photo-lithography machines from ASML. The technology involved in the creation of those machines rivals TSMC itself. ASML gets less press but it is indeed as critical if not more critical in the supply chain than TSMC.
TSMC can be overtaken by samsung or intel... the possibility exists. No one, however is even close to being able to replicate the EUV machines created by ASML.
Hennessey and Patterson's computer architecture.
"oh c'mon it ain't semiconductor engineering!"