Amy - re: "how long does it take to manufacture chips? I seem to recall you saying it takes a month or two? "
That all depends on the manufacturer and a zillion variables.
In Intel's case, the time for wafer processing was about 6 to 8 weeks - from Wafer Start to Wafer out.
Next, the wafers need to be "sorted" - that is, each die site on the wafer is tested for DC parametrics and functionality. Bad devices are are identified at this stage. Sort can take several days to a week or more.
Following this, the sorted wafers are sent to assembly - generally off-shore (usually air-freight) - and this operation can be 2 to 4 weeks - depending on "loading" of the assembly house, prioritization, etc.
Following assembly, the completed device/module will undergo final testing - in a handler that heast the component up to high temperature (80 - 110 Deg. C) and a full functional test, AC and DC parametric testing, and speed testing is performed. This testing is quick ( several minutes/device) but the overall time consumed may be days - sometimes a week or more - again, depending upon factory loading.
Finally, marking and packing and shipping must be performed.
All-in-all, three months - start to finish - is quite typical. Variations of a few weeks in either direction are possible.
Your problem of a device being out of stock and on allocation seems quite unusual for the current econmic climate. What type of device is it ?
Paul |
