Science Curriculum

Have you ever wondered why a magnifying glass distorts your reflection?  Mrs. Pope and the Chip Kids discover how to bend light like engineers.

Explore how engineers “bend light” to make computer chips! Photolithography is a process used to put a specific pattern on a chip before etching. Photo means light and lithography means printing, so in photolithography you are printing with light. It is easy to see how this process works with a pair scissors, a paper plate, and flashlight. Engineers use a special mask, which is like a stencil with some dark areas and clear areas, to properly print a pattern onto the chip. The light shines only through the clear areas of the mask onto a wafer or chip

Vocabulary for Students to Define: Photolithography, Photo Resist, Convex, Refraction, Etching, Mask, Semiconductor, Microchip

Teacher Guide for Lesson & Experiment

Student Handouts

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What happens when you pour water in the center of a circle of candy?  Mrs. Pope connects the colorful result to the principle of diffusion, where particles flow outwards to become evenly spread out.

Explore what candy and semiconductors have in common! Diffusion is the movement of molecules from areas of high concentration to low concentration. Candy is a high concentration of sugar and coloring, when placed in water, the molecules will gradually try and move towards the plain water. With microchips, we can expose a semiconductor like silicon to gas or liquid containing other elements to chemically alter the composition of the wafer.

Vocabulary for Students to Define: Molecules, High & Low Concentration, Conductivity, Diffusion, Etching, Mask, Resist, Semiconductor, Microchip

Teacher Guide for Lesson & Experiment

Student Handouts

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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

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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

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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

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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

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