The microchip crisis in the game console and electronics sector

Abstract

This TFG is going to deal with a current problem that is weighing down several industries with millionaire losses and even temporary closure of factories due to lack of materials. It is a crisis in the supply of semiconductors. To put this in context, these semiconductors, or "chips", are in theory small flat parts, composed mainly of silicon, and are the basis for the assembly of an electronic circuitry, which is mainly composed of small transistors. Two types of integrated circuits are conceived: logic chips and memory chips. The first group includes processors (CPUs) in electronic devices or graphics processing units (GPUs), while the second category refers to working memory (RAM) and flash (NAND). On the other hand, the degree of sophistication of a chip is usually measured by the space separating the teeth of the transistors: the less empty space there is, the faster the information flows and the more components fit on the same board. Today, this space is reduced to just two nanometres1 in the most advanced semiconductor devices. Since their appearance in the mid-20th century, microchips have become smaller and smaller and more efficient, extending their usefulness to increased objects. In fact, it is becoming increasingly difficult to find an electrical device that does not contain some kind of chip. From mobile phones to computers and tablets, from microwaves and ovens to refrigerators, cars and vehicles of any kind, toys, video consoles, televisions, medical and military equipment... Additionally, the growing use of the internet in recent decades has required the installation of new and gigantic servers and data centres capable of storing and processing so much information, for which state-of-the-art microchips are required. (Almagro, 2021, Libremercado). The manufacturing process of a microchip is as follows, silicon which is the basis of all modern microchips, silicon has special properties because it is what we call a semiconductor, that means that depending on how it has been treated silicon can conduct or block electric current, it is this property that makes it perfect as a support for the millions of tiny transistors needed to make a modern microprocessor. The problem is that because these transistors are so small, the silicon base on which they rest has to be absolutely perfect, so it took decades to perfect the process of producing silicon with a perfect single-crystal structure. It starts with polycrystalline silicon or polysilicon, which is heated to 1,420 degrees Celsius in a special sealed furnace. This furnace has been purged with argon gas to remove air. The molten silicon lake we obtain is then spun in a crucible and a silicon crystal is introduced to act as a seed. This crystal has the dimensions and shape of a pencil and rotates in the opposite direction as the molten polycrystalline silicon cools down and the crystal, which acts as a seed, separates at a rate of one and a half millimetres per minute. The result is a single silicon crystal that weighs about 200 kilos and has a diameter of about 200 millimetres. The crystal is so strong that it supports its entire weight with a single 3 mm thick wire. Specifically in this research we will address the problem of this crisis in the video game and electronics industries. These are especially important industries in the world economy, on which many jobs depend, and which, if this crisis continues, could seriously affect the economy of many countries and their infrastructures, as these semiconductors are present in all electrical appliances.