Update:
Good News! HashFast will be announcing Contact imminently.
Please check the HashFast Blog for more information.
For those of you wondering how things are going with our chip fabrication, the answer is: Quite well. Everything at the foundry is on schedule (which believe me we are watching like a hawk every day!)
Unfortunately, our agreements with TSMC forbid us going into much, if any, detail about where exactly in the process our wafers are. 'Cause that would be telling.
On the other hand, nothing forbids me writing a general educational article on semiconductor fabrication.
And today, I'd like to introduce you to Front End of Line (FEOL) and Back End of Line (BEOL) fabrication. And the moment in between, when a foundry switches from one to the other.
Front End of Line is the first half of the process, where all the transistors are created.
"FEOL processing refers to the formation of the transistors directly in the silicon. Some steps include growth of the gate dielectric (traditionally silicon dioxide), patterning of the gate, patterning of the source and drain regions, and subsequent implantation or diffusion of dopants to obtain the desired complementary electrical properties." -- Wikipedia
Back End of Line is the second half of the process, where those transistors are wired up together. An insulating layer is deposited, metal wiring created on top of it, then another layer of insulation, and vias - metal tunnels - to connect layers. They form the wiring that connects the transistors.
"BEOL processing involves creating metal interconnecting wires that are isolated by dielectric layers. The various metal layers are interconnected by etching holes (called "vias") in the insulating material and then depositing [metal] in them. BEOL includes contacts, insulating layers (dielectrics), metal levels, and bonding sites for chip-to-package connections."
The point when the first half of the process (FEOL) is done, and the second begins (BEOL), is an entirely artificial but highly satisfying milestone on the way to finished chips.
Some call it 'Contact', some call it the start of metallization, some just call it progress.
And thus ends my lesson on generic semiconductor manufacturing practices!
** You can read more about semiconductor fabrication here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semiconductor_fabricationFor more or less these same words on our blog, you can look here:
http://www.hashfast.com/blog 
