ElI5 how microchips have millions of transistors without placing them individually

Question

ElI5 how microchips have millions of transistors without placing them individually

In: 5

Answer 1

Have you seen those videos where a painting is made by spraying paint through various stencils? They put one stencil, spray one color then put another stencil and spray a different color and so on until a painting emerges?

Chip making is similar. They start with a silicon disk and then add or remove material using stencils to create transistors and connections between them in place.