Monday, November 23, 2015

Freescale Creates Record Album On A Silicon Wafer

In what might be the most unusual use of multi-million dollar silicon wafer etching equipment to date, Austin-based Freescale Semiconductor said Friday that it has created a record album, etched onto an eight-inch silicon wafer. The 45 rpm record can play on standard record players. According to Freescale, the record player was developed as part of a project at the Freescale Discovery Lab, to demonstrate some of the capabilites of its engineering and manufacturing facilities. Freescale says it has now plans to commercialize the work. The company says its Freescale Discovery Lab was created for "disruptive innovation" to encourage its employees to work on different concepts. Using silicon for a record does make for a fairly pricey record: manufacturing cost per wafer for an eight inch (200mm) silicon wafer is around $100. Freescale did not say what music it etched onto its silicon wafer record.