Source: http://sam.zeloof.xyz/second-ic/

I am officially running out on superlatives with story number #1 today already. You built a retro computer on breadboard, make it work, program it, actually understand it and pat yourself on the back. Gotcha. Then you decide to take it one step further and build your own CPU. Whoa. (What is the cost of the world?) Then you read about Sam Zeloof’s work. (I think I'll stick with a Coke after all.)

In 2018 Sam - still a senior in high school at the time - built the first lithographically fabricated integrated circuits in … his garage fab 😱.

Let that one sink in. The Z1 dubbed device had 6 transistors and acted as an amplifier.

A few days ago - Sam is a senior in college - he announced, that he built the second iteration. The Z2 comes with 100 transistors created in a 10µm poly silicon gate process - the same technology that Intel applied during the creation of the 4004. IN HIS GARAGE! Intels first microprocessor had 2200 transistors, Sam built 1200 on the same piece of silicone. See the video.

Currently there is no functionality yet, since Sam created a 10x10 array of transistors to refine the process first. But one thing is sure. There will be a Zeloof processor at the heart of a future computer.

Go Sam go.