India, May 2 -- What Is A Fab?

In the world of electronics, a fab refers to a fabrication facility. This is a specialised factory that manufactures semiconductors. Fabs manufacture semiconductor devices, most commonly integrated circuits (ICs) like computer processors, memory chips, and microcontrollers.

These facilities are expensive to build and operate and require strictly controlled environments to avoid contamination, even at the microscopic level.

How Does A Fab Work?

Manufacturing silicon-based ICs in a fab is a highly complex process, but here is a simplified overview of the steps that take place within a fab:

Design And Mask Making: The groundwork starts with engineers crafting the blueprint for the chip. This design is then...