> Could someone help contextualize what parts of this manufacturing process are considered the most important and closely guarded trade secrets?
There's way too many fine details to even begin to list. Modern chip fabbing is the closest thing on the planet to actual dark magic, and the difficulty only rises exponentially with every new fabrication node. Literally any part of this could be considered a "trade secret" if it's not already described publicly as part of patents, academic research or both.
There's way too many fine details to even begin to list. Modern chip fabbing is the closest thing on the planet to actual dark magic, and the difficulty only rises exponentially with every new fabrication node. Literally any part of this could be considered a "trade secret" if it's not already described publicly as part of patents, academic research or both.