On-Demand

A speck of dust is huge compared to a semiconductor— so how can we make sure our microchips are clean?  Using pennies and various liquids, Mrs. Pope and the Chip Kids discover which substance does the trick.

Explore how chemicals are used to keep microchips clean! Computer chips are made up of tiny components that are so small that a human hair or speck of dust would be huge in comparison. Let’s check out how engineers keep wafers clean as they are made. Grab some dirty pennies and a couple of household liquids (lemon juice, vinegar, and soapy water) to simulate how we can use chemicals to keep our microchips clean.

Vocabulary for Students to Define: Clean Room, Sterile, Personal Protective Equipment, Semiconductor, Microchip, Transistors

Teacher Guide for Lesson & Experiment

Student Handouts

Microchips are found in electronic devices all around us, from computers to rocket ships, but what do they actually look like?  Mrs. Pope zooms in on these tiny devices and their surprising layers.

Vocabulary for Students to Define: Silica, Copper, Oxide, Polymer, Mask, Etching, Resistors, Diffusion, Deposition, Dopant, Transistors, Diodes, Capacitors, Insulators, Conductors, Semiconductors

Lesson & Experiment Activities:

What do slices of pizza and microchips have in common?  In this episode, The Chip Kids race to place as many square chips as they can on a circular wafer and learn about space efficiency.

Vocabulary for Students to Define: Molten Silicon, Seed Crystal, Ingot Formation, Boule, Insulator, Resistors, Diffusion, Etching, Mask, Photolithography, Semiconductor

Challenge Question: Why are boules round instead of square?

Lesson & Experiment Activities:

Key to Video Scavenger Hunt

Student Handouts

Advanced 10 part lesson plans for Let the Chips Fall Where They May from NanoHUB.org

Did you know you can power a lightbulb with just a battery and aluminum foil?  Mrs. Pope illuminates the bright ideas behind electrical current. This hands-on activity will help students visualize how energy moves through a circuit, enhancing their understanding of electrical conductivity and the importance of creating a closed loop for effective energy transfer.

Vocabulary for Students to Define: Microchip, Semiconductor, Current, Voltage, Flowing Water Analogy

Teacher Guide for Lesson & Experiment

Student Handouts

In the world of semiconductors, how do we draw the microscopic markings needed for their circuits to work?  Mrs. Pope and the Chip Kids perform an experiment with antacids, vinegar, and tape to learn about the process of chemical etching. Learning about etching on antacids helps students to understand the process of etching in the creation of microchips. When microchips are etched, parts of the silicon wafer are removed to form a pattern of tiny circuits to allow the chips to process information and perform tasks.

Vocabulary for Students to Define: Microchip, Microfabrication, Semiconductor, Silicon Wafer, Etching, Masking

Teacher Guide for Lesson & Experiment

Student Handouts