芯片设计、MCU、ISA

• Chiplet
• Semiconductor device fabrication: 半导体器件制造。
• Semiconductor Manufacturing Steps with Flow Charts: 这篇文章图文并茂，深入浅出。
  几百个过程，大体上：Wafer Processing, Oxidation, Photography, Etching, Film Deposition 薄膜沉积, Interconnection 互联, Test 测试, and Package 封装.
  原材料（沙子、多晶、单晶棒）=》晶圆 Wafer、die，测试、封装。
  1. Wafer：Electronic Grade Silicon (EG-Si，EGS) 电子级的硅，棒切片成 Wafer，打磨：即 铸造、切片、抛光。
  2. Oxidation 氧化。保护表面。

  3. Photomask 光罩（光掩模）：photoresist coating 涂层, exposure 曝光 and development 显影。

     
     
     Photomask

  4. Etching 蚀刻

     
     
     Wet Etching Method
     
     
     Dry Etching: Physical Sputtering. Plasma particles hit the oxide layer.

• Computer architecture
• EDA：电子设计自动化
  EDA：Electronic Design Automation.
• MCU: microcontroller unit. 比 SoC (system on a chip) 的复杂性要低得多。MCU: 微控制器单元，单片机: single-chip microcomputer 单片微型计算机。
  
  MCU芯片规格分类
• 根据需求环境划分：消费级、工业级、车规级、军工级芯片。手机芯片：消费电子。车规级MCU: 汽车电子。
• DPPM: defective parts per million. 交付良率。
• AEC: Automotive Electronics Council 汽车电子委员会。如：AEC-Q100 "Failure Mechanism Based Stress Test Qualification For Integrated Circuits"。
• 四维图新 了解国产车规级MCU。
• 半导体测试ATE介绍: AutomaticTest Equipment。

常见 ISA

• ISA: Instruction set architecture. 指令集架构。
• CISC
  Complex Instruction Set Computing.
• RISC
  Reduced Instruction Set Computing.
  A common misunderstanding of the phrase "reduced instruction set computer" is the mistaken idea that instructions are simply eliminated, resulting in a smaller set of instructions. In fact, over the years, RISC instruction sets have grown in size, and today many of them have a larger set of instructions than many CISC CPUs.
• Processors that have a RISC architecture typically require fewer transistors than those with a CISC architecture (such as the x86 processors found in most personal computers), which improves cost, power consumption, and heat dissipation.

• The only typical differentiating characteristic is that most RISC designs use uniform instruction length for almost all instructions, and employ strictly separate load/store-instructions.

  
  
  ISA
• Comparison of instruction set architectures；

简单梳理

• SPARC
  Sun 公司，早期做 EMAIL 服务时，在 SPARC 机器上运行 Sun Solaris 操作系统。
• MIPS；
  Microprocessor without Interlocked Pipeline Stages.
• MIPS processors are used in embedded systems such as residential gateways and routers.
• MIPS 是模块化结构（modular architecture），支持4个 Coprocessor （协处理器），做浮点计算（floating-point arithmetic）, memory management, and graphics accelerators.
• ARM
  Advanced RISC Machine.
  通常三类授权：指令集；核心 Core；改进和调整；

ISA（Instruction Set Architecture）

• ISA：指令集体系架构。
• ISA 位于软件和硬件之间，硬件的功能通过 ISA 提供出来，软件通过 ISA 规定的指令使用硬件。

CS: APP（Computer Systems: A Programmer's Perspective）

• 第3版，Randal E. Bryant, David R. O'Hallaron，可以读一下。

了解一下内存模型

• Computerhope 是个不错的网站；
• TOP 500 @ wikipedia；
• TOP 500 org；
  
  Share of processor architecture families in TOP500 supercomputers by time trend