A Fab Like This Doesn't Exist Anywhere Else in India Right Now

The HackerFab at IIT Bombay demonstrates that semiconductor fabrication tools can be built and operated by students at significantly lower costs than commercial equipment, making hands-on semiconductor education accessible to students who would otherwise never touch a silicon wafer. The facility uses a DLP-based maskless lithography machine (10um resolution), a quartz tube furnace reaching 1,200°C for oxidation and annealing, and a DC plasma sputter for metal deposition, all constructed from repurposed components and secondhand parts. This approach enables students to gain practical fabrication experience, develop intuition for process optimization, and potentially tap out transistors by graduation, addressing the critical gap in India's semiconductor education ecosystem where most electrical engineers never get hands-on experience with semiconductor fabrication.