Making semiconductor fabrication accessible to students We’re open source- join us - https://nitter.cf/t.co/GxyjE6HcAj
Joined December 2025
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HackerFab IITB was at #SemiconIndia!
It was an awesome experience and inspired our whole team to build more machines - and soon, get a booth for our own at Semicon. India all the way.
@SemiXatIITB @SemiconIndia @SEMIconex
HackerFab IITB retweeted
The difference between these two images is exactly one year.
One year of rapidly iterating on hardware.
What started with a second hand projector from facebook marketplace is now a lithography system delivering similar feature sizes as RnD grade systems that cost crores.
If there’s anything you really want to build right now:
- Think of the simplest, dumbest prototype you could build- and get started today- hardware from day 1 - no simulations or modelling to begin with.
- Keep iterating on the prototype and make it better, some iterations will be marginal, while others will tear the system down and restart from scratch- the only thing that matters is improving.
You’ll build something unrecognisable if you let it compound with time.
@hackerfabindia has come far, and there’s so much still to do- this is just the tip of the iceberg of what a small group of college kids can do
HackerFab IITB retweeted
LFGG, @hackerfabindia continues to grow! Excited to see what the folks at Bits have in store for us🫡
HackerFab IITB retweeted
Today me and two friends visited @hackerfabindia in IITB. The people there were really welcoming :)
We're currently in talks about opening a similar fab in BITS Goa, considering the recent push in India's Semiconductor Mission and the Semiconductor & Nanoscience degree here.
ALT Tube Furnace
ALT Hackerfab IITB
HackerFab IITB retweeted
This is Aryan(@4rynv) and he is building the world's cheapest lithography system.
He has been trying to build a HackerFab at VJTI, but could not immediately secure the required funding and support so we invited him to intern at our lab at IITB over the summers.
In just north of 2 months, he built a safety-critical, fully-autonomous control system for our sputter, and has made significant progress on building what we believe to be the world's cheapest micron scale lithography system.
It will cost less than an Iphone, and be simple enough that a high schooler can assemble it, and Aryan will be leading this project as he establishes a HackerFab at VJTI.
HackerFab's so far, have only been built in "elite" universities like CMU and IITB, all of whom rely heavily on access to an existing semiconductor fabrication ecosystem(inluding professors, nanofab access, etc.) for all things from simply accessing Silicon wafers and specialty chemicals, to directed guidance from domain experts.
Aryan aims to show this can be done in a college without any of this, and become a true enabler for the movement to spread, for continue democratisation of access to semiconductor fabrication.
If he is successful, it demonstrates that anyone, anywhere in the world can do this.
He is one of the best practical engineers I have had the pleasure of working with, and I am confident he will succeed.
Aryan is also looking to raise funding to build out a HackerFab at VJTI and truly expand the @hackerfabindia movement - If you are interested in supporting the cause, you should get in touch with him(@4rynv), as I can't think of a better way to spread the movement than supporting builders like Aryan.
What does it take to build the worlds cheapest lithography system
@4rynv @hackerfabindia are building it using a BeagleBone Black paired with a miniature TI DLP board
<$300 in optics.
HackerFab IITB retweeted
spent Independence day fabricating transistors and fixing tools with kids more goated than I could ever hope to be. To more abundance, more ambition and more capitalism. Happy 80th to the Republic!
@jaibellare @hackerfabindia
HackerFab IITB retweeted
The @hackerfabindia movement expands! We officially have India’s Second HackerFab at Mahindra University - it was a pleasure to interact with the students and faculty as they kick off the initiative.
Also great to see the movement backed personally by @anandmahindra sir!
HackerFab IITB retweeted
Vikram-1, In Silicon
A tribute to @SkyrootA
Thanks for inspiring us all
- @hackerfabindia
HackerFab IITB retweeted
Spent the last couple of days making the litho @hackerfabindia vertical - this will enable automated loading and unloading of samples, as opposed to the previous horizontal vacuum chuck based system
HackerFab IITB retweeted
An added advantage of going vertical - it allows for adding a theta DOF, which lets me align a previous layer (small resolution test) with new layer (big checkerboard)
Multilayer alignment is critical to making transistors so that the gate sits perfectly between source and drain
Spent the last couple of days making the litho @hackerfabindia vertical - this will enable automated loading and unloading of samples, as opposed to the previous horizontal vacuum chuck based system
HackerFab IITB retweeted
How to Build Your Own HackerFab - A guide to fabricating semiconductors cheaply as a student
youtu.be/McIU-L6DveY
The recording is now available on YouTube
Great to see 100+ people show up for this webinar on a Sunday evening - hope to see many many more HackerFabs in India
HackerFab IITB retweeted
We want to see 100+ more HackerFabs
“How to build your own HackerFab” - we are organising a webinar tomorrow, 28th June, 5pm on GMeet - will cover everything that’s needed- and follow up with a QnA.
It’s much easier than it sounds and every college should have one!
Link below
HackerFab IITB retweeted
If you live in India and love tech and you're looking for inspiration, do yourself a favour and visit the crew masterminding India's first student-run semiconductor fab (@hackerfabindia) at IIT Bombay.
(if you can't make the trip just peep @caleb_friesen's visit here👇)
HackerFab IITB retweeted
India’s Semiconductor Mission needs tens of thousands of engineers with hands on semiconductor knowledge.
Most students (even EEs at elite universities) graduate without ever touching a silicon wafer.
This is the gap we’re attempting to bridge @hackerfabindia
Thanks Caleb!
HackerFab IITB retweeted
India is about to face a MAJOR semiconductor bottleneck.
The Government of India has approved ~13 semiconductor projects under the India Semiconductor Mission, across 7 states. Three of these are full/compound fabs. Things are ramping up FAST, with ISM supported by an incentive framework of ₹76,000 crore.
But one massive question mark remains: where is the talent going to come from? The money is there. The fabs are going to be there soon. But what about the many thousands of skilled technicians required to run these semiconductor fabrication plants? Much of the knowledge in this industry is tightly-guarded trade secrets kept under lock and key by the nations that lead global semiconductor production.
One way India can quickly close this knowledge gap is by ensuring that young people across the country are learning how to fabricate semiconductors from first principles. Ideally at the university level if not earlier. But because this is an entirely new industry segment in India, most of the country’s top colleges haven't caught up. Semiconductor fabrication is not accessible to Indian students. Until the Graduate or PhD level, most students never even get to touch a silicon wafer.
A group of 15 students at IIT Bombay wants to change this. 10 months ago they launched the HackerFab at IIT Bombay. So far, they’ve raised ₹30 lakh to built DIY machines like a DLP-based lithography machine, a tube furnace to oxidise silicon, and a DC plasma sputter.
They realised that existing institutions weren’t going to give them the early education they needed to develop REAL chip fabrication experience, so they took up the challenge themselves and created everything from scratch.
HackerFab IITB is one of the most important developments in India’s semiconductor story, not just because the students passing through this programme will become leaders in India’s future semiconductor industry, but because they’re open-sourcing the India-specific recipes they’ve developed to build their machines and processes. They’re doing this so that other Indian colleges can replicate their work. No more gatekeeping.
This movement started at IIT Bombay, but it will spread to other Indian colleges soon. As a result, India will see young people graduating from college with practical semiconductor fabrication experience first the very first time.
HackerFab IITB retweeted
A tour of our student built semiconductor lab @hackerfabindia with @RuntimeBRT !
HackerFab IITB retweeted
Indian students are DIYing a semiconductor fab at IIT Bombay.
In just 10 months they've built:
1. A DLP-based lithography machine.
2. A tube furnace to oxidise silicon.
3. A DC plasma sputter.
Total cost: ₹30 lakh.
Here's a rare behind-the-scenes look at HackerFab IITB.
HackerFab IITB retweeted
We recently achieved 1.3 micron features on our DIY photolithography setup @hackerfabindia
We are pushing the limits of what's possible in a college dorm, on a budget!
