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Ask HN: What books are recommended to learn the semiconductor industry?

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Re: Ask HN: What books are recommended to learn the semiconductor industry?

#11

Post by allie1 »

readingnews wrote: post #9

Define "learn semiconductors industry"... 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…

Much appreciated! I dont quite know yet which routes to take. I need to understand the ecosystem, manufacturing, different semicodnuctor uses, architecture, manufacturing.

Planning on spending the next two years getting up to speed so I can navigate the field from an investment standpoint

Re: Ask HN: What books are recommended to learn the semiconductor industry?

#12

Post by hackernewds »

victorbojica wrote: post #7

You could try checking this out. Seems like a good starting point. The videos are very detailed. https://youtube.com/c/Asianometry

Heads up it's heavily Asia centric. Bit biased, but also dangerous because it's not comprehensive.

Good way to learn about TSM nonetheless

Re: Ask HN: What books are recommended to learn the semiconductor industry?

#13

Post by readingnews »

allie1 wrote: post #11
readingnews wrote: post #9

Define "learn semiconductors industry"... 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…

Much appreciated! I dont quite know yet which routes to take. I need to understand the ecosystem, manufacturing, different semicodnuctor uses, architecture, manufacturing. Planning on spending the next two years getting up to speed so I can navigate the field from an investment standpoint

Ahh, well, Rabay and Weste have a short chapter on manufacturing. The Hennessy and Patterson book does as well, albeit shorter. Architecture of semiconductors is going to be Rabay and Weste. Architecture of CPU is going to be H&P book. The ecosystem of it all (packaging, die layout, etc, is going to be in more specific books).

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.

Re: Ask HN: What books are recommended to learn the semiconductor industry?

#14

Post by ghaff »

allie1 wrote: post #10
andi999 wrote: post #8

From a business or from a physics perspective?

Business/investment perspective

From a business/investment report, most of what's in books is going to be pretty much historical at this point. Doesn't mean not worth reading though--e.g. Andy Grove's Only the Paranoid Survive. Industry analysts (both financial and IT) can be good sources for current information--although a lot of that kind of thing is expensively gated. There's also just talking to people. After all, that's a good part of what analysts do--though they may have a greater level of access than you do.

Re: Ask HN: What books are recommended to learn the semiconductor industry?

#15

Post by deepnotderp »

allie1 wrote: post #11
readingnews wrote: post #9

Define "learn semiconductors industry"... 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…

Much appreciated! I dont quite know yet which routes to take. I need to understand the ecosystem, manufacturing, different semicodnuctor uses, architecture, manufacturing. Planning on spending the next two years getting up to speed so I can navigate the field from an investment standpoint

If you're interested in an investment standpoint check out Asianometry on youtube

Re: Ask HN: What books are recommended to learn the semiconductor industry?

#16

Post by qbasic_forever »

Learn the Mandarin language. Taiwan is the epicenter of the cutting edge work in the industry. China is the powerhouse of production for it too. Both speak Mandarin natively and it would behoove you to understand it and their cultures.

Re: Ask HN: What books are recommended to learn the semiconductor industry?

#18

Post by sidkshatriya »

hackernewds wrote: post #12
victorbojica wrote: post #7

You could try checking this out. Seems like a good starting point. The videos are very detailed. https://youtube.com/c/Asianometry

Heads up it's heavily Asia centric. Bit biased, but also dangerous because it's not comprehensive. Good way to learn about TSM nonetheless

> Heads up it's heavily Asia centric.

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.

Re: Ask HN: What books are recommended to learn the semiconductor industry?

#19

Post by sidkshatriya »

qbasic_forever wrote: post #16

Learn the Mandarin language. Taiwan is the epicenter of the cutting edge work in the industry. China is the powerhouse of production for it too. Both speak Mandarin natively and it would behoove you to understand it and their cultures.

If you had a decent Ph. D. from anywhere in the world in Semiconductor technology, I'm sure the fabs in Taiwan would still be interested in hiring you.

Even if you didn't know a single word of Mandarin. (Though in that case they might expect you to know English at Minimum)

Re: Ask HN: What books are recommended to learn the semiconductor industry?

#20

Post by agumonkey »

victorbojica wrote: post #7

You could try checking this out. Seems like a good starting point. The videos are very detailed. https://youtube.com/c/Asianometry

There's also the usual Sam Zeelof channel https://www.youtube.com/c/SamZeloof

oh and Jeri Ellsworth https://www.youtube.com/c/jeriellsworth

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