Few Concepts：

• The Wafer: Chipmakers start with a large, thin disc of silicon called a wafer.
• Mass Production: They print or etch hundreds of identical copies of a circuit pattern all over this single wafer.
• Cutting (Dicing): They then slice the wafer into small, rectangular pieces, much like cutting a brownie slab into individual squares.
• The Die: Each one of these small, cut-out pieces is a die (plural: dice). It’s a fully functional, but bare and unprotected, integrated circuit.
• Final Step (Packaging): This raw die is then placed into a protective casing (the “package”) with metal pins so it can be safely handled and soldered onto a circuit board.

Fig. 1 Chip Making Process