Vehicle Semiconductor Chips 101

[ocbucks1]

There are a lot of gear heads here that can rattle of how engines and drivetrains work and how to make many modifications on our Broncos. But they might struggle to describe what a semiconductor does and why is there a shortage. I had a reply to a post that said "I know just leave them out". Not

First full disclosure I like this stuff and I do have an engineering degree but I am not am expert but thought I would provide a basic overview since this is such a big topic now.

• What does semiconductor mean? Metal is a conductor of electricity and glass is a insolater (does not conduct). A semiconductor can be either. Weather electricity will flow through the semiconductor or not is changed by energy. In electronics, the energy is electromagnetic fields produced by transistors. The transistors and software, for example will dictate off or on , up or down, locked or not locked and a lot more detailed decisions about when to open the circuit.
• How many semiconductors are there is a car? Overall the world uses one trillion semiconductor chips a year! You probably know they are in every electronic device. The auto industry uses about 10% of the total. In one car there can be 3,000 chips.
• How are they manufactured? This is where it gets very complicated. A chip takes 2 months to make and goes through 3000 manufacturing steps. They are made on a silicon wafer. The silicon wafer is the "semiconductor" material. This goes through a dozen or more machines before complete. It takes massive amounts of pure water to purify equipment. One factory reported they used 60,000 tons of water a year. Because of the requirements and complexity, there are only a handful of factories in the world. The order lead time prior pandemic was 10 weeks and is now roughly 18 weeks.
• Why is there a shortage? There were multiple factors that came together to cause the current shortage.
  • -First at the pandemic auto maker reduced orders expecting a reduction in car buying. At the same time there was a huge increase in buying of other stay at home electronics. For a somewhat brief period, the chip manufacturers focused on providing chips to other industries and auto orders were now behind
  • -Then the strained relations and trading with China, where the biggest chip manufactory was located ,reduced supply. But this was not really a direct hit to auto.
  • -A majority auto chips were made in Japan and in one factory. This factory had a severe fire. This is what hurt Ford the most.in getting behind on orders. This plant is now back but not full capacity.
  • -Another major factory in Twain was shut down due to a drought there and they did not have enough water.
• What did Ford do? Contrary to popular opinion here Ford did make some moves. They made an exclusive partnership directly with a foundry, global foundries, This vertical integration is not common in auto. Overall they are in slightly better or the same position as most auto makers. (Tesla did do some creative software engineering to make better use to available chips.)

Want more Semiconductor Video.

I hope that helps. We know the track record with the Bronco and delays. But this one is truly farther reaching than Ford and the bronco. We have less of a gripe in my opinion.

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[SuperFord]

Thank you for the writeup!

 

[Jdc]

https://www.motortrend.com/news/aut...semiconductor-chip-shortage-reasons-solution/

 

[22OBX]

https://www.motortrend.com/news/aut...semiconductor-chip-shortage-reasons-solution/

Yeah and everyone thinks Ford is the only one with ice mountain and the only one making on the fly changes to remove chips, Aka the disappearing temp display on hvac knobs.

Quote:
Necessity forced automakers to get creative. They ran vehicles down the line, skipping some components, and parking the almost finished vehicles until the missing part and/or features could be added and the vehicle delivered to the dealer. When factory lots overflowed with partially finished models and dealership lots emptied out with little available inventory, automakers starting sending the unfinished vehicles to dealers to await chips and components.

Another tactic: shipping vehicles without specific features such as wireless charging, lumbar support in the passenger seat, automatic start-stop, or extra key fobs to save chips. And going forward, automakers are working to reduce the number of chips needed in each part. "Historically, we've made decisions as if chips were nearly infinite so each and every module required a chip, every window lift, every modulator,"
Unquote

Almost every system or switch on a car is controlled by a chip.

 

[North7]

@ocbucks1 good write-up on semiconductors but to help clear up the biggest misconception, Ford is not waiting to simply receive the semiconductors/chips and pop them into your vehicle.

The semiconductors/chips are the devices that go inside of the finished electronic units. A couple of past posts to explain and some follow-up below.

Ford does not receive chips to install, the electronic unit manufactures do. When the electronic devices have finished being manufactured, those completed assemblies are shipped to Ford.

This photo below is an example of a one of the electronic units opened up. The small black devices on the green circuit board are the semiconductors/chips.

As @JohnnyX pointed out, these semiconductors/chips are not simply installed when received.

Chips are electrostatically sensitive and must be soldered with special processes and tested with special tools before they can be packaged up and shipped to Body & Assembly plants like MAP. "Retrofits" happen at B&A and Dealers at the end-item component level, never the chip level.

To further explain, the semiconductors/chips, once received, are soldered to the green Printed Circuit Board Assembly (PCBA), which used to be called Circuit Card Assembly (CCA). This is a highly technical process requiring millions of dollars of specialized fabrication machines. Once the finished PCBA is completed it is installed inside of the various electronic modules or units that create the actual finished assembly that gets installed into your vehicle. These steps may happen across several different companies.

Here is a finished Printed Circuit Board Assembly (PCBA) ready to be installed into an electronic assembly. The larger black devices (14 total) are the actual semiconductors/chips that get soldered to the green Printed Wiring Board (PWB).

 

[ocbucks1]

Yeah and everyone thinks Ford is the only one with ice mountain and the only one making on the fly changes to remove chips, Aka the disappearing temp display on hvac knobs.

Quote:
Necessity forced automakers to get creative. They ran vehicles down the line, skipping some components, and parking the almost finished vehicles until the missing part and/or features could be added and the vehicle delivered to the dealer. When factory lots overflowed with partially finished models and dealership lots emptied out with little available inventory, automakers starting sending the unfinished vehicles to dealers to await chips and components.

Another tactic: shipping vehicles without specific features such as wireless charging, lumbar support in the passenger seat, automatic start-stop, or extra key fobs to save chips. And going forward, automakers are working to reduce the number of chips needed in each part. "Historically, we've made decisions as if chips were nearly infinite so each and every module required a chip, every window lift, every modulator,"
Unquote

Almost every system or switch on a car is controlled by a chip.

Yeah and everyone thinks Ford is the only one with ice mountain and the only one making on the fly changes to remove chips, Aka the disappearing temp display on hvac knobs.

Quote:
Necessity forced automakers to get creative. They ran vehicles down the line, skipping some components, and parking the almost finished vehicles until the missing part and/or features could be added and the vehicle delivered to the dealer. When factory lots overflowed with partially finished models and dealership lots emptied out with little available inventory, automakers starting sending the unfinished vehicles to dealers to await chips and components.

Another tactic: shipping vehicles without specific features such as wireless charging, lumbar support in the passenger seat, automatic start-stop, or extra key fobs to save chips. And going forward, automakers are working to reduce the number of chips needed in each part. "Historically, we've made decisions as if chips were nearly infinite so each and every module required a chip, every window lift, every modulator,"
Unquote

Almost every system or switch on a car is controlled by a chip.

It would be interesting to know what exactly is missing. There are likely a few types / specs of chips in cars. How they build with some missing is a mystery. The ease of the install is likely the deciding factor.

 

[BennyBronco69]

One thing I find interesting is the difference in how to handle this by manufacturer.

Ford is focusing on building lower models.

JLR is telling people to fuck off if they want a lower model and are focusing on the upper tear options.

 

[Bmadda]

Found the press release from GF:

https://gf.com/press-release/globalfoundries-ford-address-auto-chip-supply-and-meet-growing-demand

 

[JohnnyX]

One thing I find interesting is the difference in how to handle this by manufacturer.

Ford is focusing on building lower models.

JLR is telling people to fuck off if they want a lower model and are focusing on the upper tear options.

This is not correct. Some of the higher end features have unique chips; some are feature specific. Chips aren't like nuts and bolts... there is a lot of uniqueness between them -- they are not that interchangeable.

Like all manufacturers, including JLR, Ford is trying to maximize profit which generally means producing the vehicles with best margin and volumes. Margins are generally higher on the feature rich upper end vehicles. Vehicles like Bronco, MachE, and F-Series have been prioritized. They are balancing the available components while dealing with unpredictable supply chain and labor disruptions. Not an easy balance. No, I don't work for Ford. But I believe they are driven to maximize shareholder value.

And I personally think we have seen the end of the US manufacturing "push model" which comes with bloated inventories that need to be moved with heavy incentives.... I don't see any OEM rushing back to that model.... even after the supply chain issues subside. No, I think B2O is here to stay -- but clearly Ford has A LOT of room for improvement. And nagging supply chain issues have made a tough transition even tougher...

 

[JohnnyX]

There are a lot of gear heads here that can rattle of how engines and drivetrains work and how to make many modifications on our Broncos. But they might struggle to describe what a semiconductor does and why is there a shortage. I had a reply to a post that said "I know just leave them out". Not

First full disclosure I like this stuff and I do have an engineering degree but I am not am expert but thought I would provide a basic overview since this is such a big topic now.

• What does semiconductor mean? Metal is a conductor of electricity and glass is a insolater (does not conduct). A semiconductor can be either. Weather electricity will flow through the semiconductor or not is changed by energy. In electronics, the energy is electromagnetic fields produced by transistors. The transistors and software, for example will dictate off or on , up or down, locked or not locked and a lot more detailed decisions about when to open the circuit.
• How many semiconductors are there is a car? Overall the world uses one trillion semiconductor chips a year! You probably know they are in every electronic device. The auto industry uses about 10% of the total. In one car there can be 3,000 chips.
• How are they manufactured? This is where it gets very complicated. A chip takes 2 months to make and goes through 3000 manufacturing steps. They are made on a silicon wafer. The silicon wafer is the "semiconductor" material. This goes through a dozen or more machines before complete. It takes massive amounts of pure water to purify equipment. One factory reported they used 60,000 tons of water a year. Because of the requirements and complexity, there are only a handful of factories in the world. The order lead time prior pandemic was 10 weeks and is now roughly 18 weeks.
• Why is there a shortage? There were multiple factors that came together to cause the current shortage.
  • -First at the pandemic auto maker reduced orders expecting a reduction in car buying. At the same time there was a huge increase in buying of other stay at home electronics. For a somewhat brief period, the chip manufacturers focused on providing chips to other industries and auto orders were now behind
  • -Then the strained relations and trading with China, where the biggest chip manufactory was located ,reduced supply. But this was not really a direct hit to auto.
  • -A majority auto chips were made in Japan and in one factory. This factory had a severe fire. This is what hurt Ford the most.in getting behind on orders. This plant is now back but not full capacity.
  • -Another major factory in Twain was shut down due to a drought there and they did not have enough water.
• What did Ford do? Contrary to popular opinion here Ford did make some moves. They made an exclusive partnership directly with a foundry, global foundries, This vertical integration is not common in auto. Overall they are in slightly better or the same position as most auto makers. (Tesla did do some creative software engineering to make better use to available chips.)

Want more Semiconductor Video.

I hope that helps. We know the track record with the Bronco and delays. But this one is truly farther reaching than Ford and the bronco. We have less of a gripe in my opinion.

​

​

​

Thanks for this. I think it is also important to point out that chips aren't really interchangeable like standard nuts and bolts. Some are very feature specific; some are custom. Some utilize special technologies and fabrication processes for different purposes -- speed vs. power handling, analog vs. digital, etc. etc. And I have never seen a 2 months lead time for a semiconductor. Closer to 6 months.

 

[22OBX]

It would be interesting to know what exactly is missing. There are likely a few types / specs of chips in cars. How they build with some missing is a mystery. The ease of the install is likely the deciding factor.

Every module just about has a chip controlling it. The modules come into the assembly plant from other plants and just installed during the final assembly. MAP is assembly, they are not soldering in the semiconductor chips into the modules or parts. If they run out of the part or “module” they can build and just not plug that module up until another shipment of modules come in, and then just plug it up once it arrives. The chip shortage is actually at the plants that are assembling the electrical components. They don’t have the chips to build the modules that are in turn shipped to assembly to install.

 

[ocbucks1]

Every module just about has a chip controlling it. The modules come into the assembly plant from other plants and just installed during the final assembly. MAP is assembly, they are not soldering in the semiconductor chips into the modules or parts. If they run out of the part or “module” they can build and just not plug that module up until another shipment of modules come in, and then just plug it up once it arrives. The chip shortage is actually at the plants that are assembling the electrical components. They don’t have the chips to build the modules that are in turn shipped to assembly to install.

Yes agree. But don’t the chips come together on a board with many chips?. Then that board with chips and associated transistors is plugged in. Not sure how many boards there are but looking at the modules maybe a clue.

 

[adrock]

At my work we’ve seen a fairly common Ethernet PHY chip that used to go for $10 apiece now going for $600. It’s insane.

 

[22OBX]

Yes agree. But don’t the chips come together on a board with many chips?. Then that board with chips and associated transistors is plugged in. Not sure how many boards there are but looking at the modules maybe a clue.

The boards are all part of the electrical assemblies. They are assembled outside MAP in another plant. If you ever have a chance to do a tour it will make more sense. The entire dash assemblies , seats, computers and harnesses are literally being unloaded from trucks as the vehicles are coming down the line. They will install the entire dashboard as a complete module, seats the same, engines the same, harnesses and computers the same. They are not installing “soldering” chips into boards in assembly.

It could be any of these modules that have shortages or a combination.

Below is an idea but even more modules with 4WD controls.

 

[VictoryLights]

Don’t wreck your electronic laden vehicles that you do have. Repairs are taking forever and rental car prices are through the roof. Crazy times.

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