iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Few tweaks left before the final deadline. Then it's off to the fab and we'll see if it works in three months! Really hope there isn't a bug in the memory loader, otherwise it'll be DOA and not much to do about it. But even so, was a great learning experience!

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Spade | Spade Hardware Description Language

Chip was written in Spade HDL (spade-lang.org), which transpiles down to SystemVerilog. That's then fed into a LibreLane build process that turns the verilog into transistors. All open source!

spade-lang.org

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Instruction set is pretty standard set of ALU, LSU, comparisons, branching, bit manip, etc. But I snuck in a few fun extras like a pseudorandom number generator, tanh and multiply-and-accumulate to try some light ML inference (rough plan is reservoir computing)

Clock speed is sorta up in the air. Still optimizing, but simulations say it should hit ~20MHz in all "process corners" (i.e. if the fab makes slow transistors and the chip is 125C hot). Probably faster in nominal case but we'll see

I did manage to sneak in two small silicon art logos. Wish I had more time to put more on the chip but oh well!

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- Transport-triggered architecture - ~20Mhz - Two 32 bit data buses (i.e. two instructions per cycle) - 1024 double slot instruction memory - 256 word stack - 4kb of general RAM - 80 or so various instruction types - 16 GPIO, SPI, UART, 8 bit parallel memory loader interface

Breaking Taps @breakingtaps.com · 25/05/2025

The last month of my life: BreakingTTAPs This is a custom transport-triggered, 32 bit processor that will be fabricated by GlobalFoundries on their 180nm process (via of wafer.space) I'll make a video at some point, but some high level details here:

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I made a video about this! Laser deposition of aluminum, silver, copper, titanium, invar 36, niobium ITO and (sorta) zirconium. Pretty nifty little technique. Not perfect, has some major disadvantages... but easy and reasonably robust! youtu.be/J0NNO91WyXM

youtu.be

Printing metal on glass with lasers

YouTube video by Breaking Taps

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Breaking Taps @breakingtaps.com · 19/05/2025

Am I west coasting correctly?

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Breaking Taps @breakingtaps.com · 18/05/2025

This thing is pretty impressive in person 😯

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Breaking Taps @breakingtaps.com · 04/05/2025

Had a long flight and finally got around to fully reading @benjaminreinhardt.com 's essay on DARPA, why it works, where it struggles, and how it might be replicated: blog.benjaminreinhardt.com/wddw Very thought provoking read. Been on my todo for ages, should have read sooner!

benjaminreinhardt.com

Ben Reinhardt

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Breaking Taps @breakingtaps.com · 03/05/2025

RIP NASA science missions 😢

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Breaking Taps @breakingtaps.com · 02/05/2025

The optimization field has the best names -Artificial Gorilla Troops Optimizer (GTO) -Remora Optimization Algo (ROA) -Polar Bear Optimization (PBO) -Red Fox Optimization (RFO) -Grey Wolf Optimization (GWO) -Marine Predator Algo (MPA) -African Vulture Optimization Algo (AVOA)

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Breaking Taps @breakingtaps.com · 28/04/2025

Ooh, didn't know that was a thing, will look into it!

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Breaking Taps @breakingtaps.com · 27/04/2025

Oh hai there, look what I found in the bin of childhood stuff my parents dropped off 👀

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Breaking Taps @breakingtaps.com · 22/04/2025

Strapping tensioner/sealer and kraft tape dispenser 😄

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Breaking Taps @breakingtaps.com · 22/04/2025

Probably the two best things I've ever purchased

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Breaking Taps @breakingtaps.com · 14/04/2025

Yunno I never ended up testing it 😅 Pretty shortly after this I got the OM2a, and then moved shops so it got partially disassembled and stored under a table. And just never got back to it / never had a need for it. It about tripled the weight, so probably would have helped!

Breaking Taps @breakingtaps.com · 14/04/2025

Yep! It's gravel/sand mixed with epoxy (and some urethane because I ran out of epoxy). Added a ton of mass to the CNC frame for better cutting/vibration damping.

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Breaking Taps @breakingtaps.com · 14/04/2025

Shoutout to bad decisions that past BreakingTaps let future BreakingTaps sort out 😑

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Breaking Taps @breakingtaps.com · 10/04/2025

brb starting a new channel called Breaking Bones

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Breaking Taps @breakingtaps.com · 08/04/2025

Who could have foreseen this?! If only there had been some kind of temporary appropriation - let's call it a continuing resolution - that could have been used as a wedge. 🤔 Should probably call your senator Chuck to chat with them about this unfortunate circumstance!

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Breaking Taps @breakingtaps.com · 07/04/2025

gotta aim for the stars! 🌠

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Breaking Taps @breakingtaps.com · 07/04/2025

Getting ready for my $5.50/hr reindustrialization sewing job at the textile factory. 👊🇺🇸🔥

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Breaking Taps @breakingtaps.com · 04/04/2025

Well that's some nightmare fuel right there.

Breaking Taps @breakingtaps.com · 02/04/2025

Lol futures for S&P, NASDAQ, Dow etc are like a vertical cliff. So much winning! jfc

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Breaking Taps @breakingtaps.com · 28/03/2025

Possibly! Might interfere with the bond to the glass though, since the "susceptor" layer would be in between the metal and glass 😕

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Breaking Taps @breakingtaps.com · 28/03/2025

The annual urge to build a modern letterpress has sidled into my brain yet again. 🙃 Hand-fed platen press, ballscrew/linear rails/servos to actuate press and inking rollers. Resin print the plate. Load cells to automatically tune the printing pressure, etc etc.

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Breaking Taps @breakingtaps.com · 28/03/2025

50W 1064nm fiber laser (the kind used for etching/engraving metals)

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Breaking Taps @breakingtaps.com · 27/03/2025

Large area deposition ends up being quite easy, but does require a spacer between metal and glass which limits ability to pattern. Ag is great, Cu is tricky (oxidizes easily). Ti, Nb and Invar 36 seem good. Can make TiO2 easily too. Zr seems to oxidize immediately

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Breaking Taps @breakingtaps.com · 27/03/2025

Probably a combination of sputtered material, and droplet formation. Adhesion is good! Can rub it pretty vigorously with a kimwipe and it doesn't scratch off

Breaking Taps @breakingtaps.com · 26/03/2025

Playing around with a laser thing today and accidentally found a good set of parameters for transferring aluminum onto glass. Neat!

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Breaking Taps @breakingtaps.com · 23/03/2025

If anyone is interested, it's called "Technology Transfer" and most every govt agency and major university has a program to facilitate this Here's NASA's for example: technology.nasa.gov Labs do R&D and patent the basics, then license and teach companies who then scale it up for mass production

technology.nasa.gov

NASA Technology Transfer Portal Home

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Breaking Taps @breakingtaps.com · 23/03/2025

It's often licensed or sold to companies, so the proceeds from that (licensing fees, royalties, sale fee, etc) go back to funding more research or covering budget shortfalls

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Breaking Taps @breakingtaps.com · 22/03/2025

Yeah I like the breaks, gives me a chance use the restroom and get some snacks. 100% waiting for a stall to open up or playing tetris to access the charge cable is the part that sucks right now

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Breaking Taps @breakingtaps.com · 16/03/2025

But yeah this isn't going to happen regardless. Even ignoring Musk's antics, SpaceX has a ton of shit to iron out before Starship is remotely usable for inter-planetary flight. It can't even complete an orbit yet. (And humanoid robots are dumb)

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Breaking Taps @breakingtaps.com · 16/03/2025

Ehh not really. Minimum energy launch windows (Hohmann transfer orbits) only occur every ~26 months. So if you want that 9 month transit time the next windows is Nov-Dec 2026 At best it's a disingenuous statement because they'd be _launching_ end of 2026.

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Breaking Taps @breakingtaps.com · 07/03/2025

Haha I kinda like the sound of a clank 😄

Flexible on price, mention "BreakingTaps" if you make an offer. Heavier items will take a few days to get packaged up, not sure I have good enough boxes on hand for them. Just fyi: some equipment is untested, check the description!

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Shameless shilling: I'm selling some esoteric equipment! Want a 200 femtosecond IR laser, or a 532nm picosecond laser? How about a linear motor stage with 10nm resolution? Or an XYZ wafer stage with 250nm steps? I gotchu: www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_...

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Oh wow, those look cool! And yeah dangerous, feel like you could do all kinds of janky things with it 😄

Astronomy Picture of the Day 🪐 @apod.shinyakato.dev · 28/02/2025

I own a lot of tripods apparently 😅

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Reposted by Breaking Taps

🔭 Athena to the Moon Image Credit: Intuitive Machines apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap25022...

Planet Earth hangs in the background of this space age selfie. The snapshot was captured by the IM-2 Nova-C lander Athena, just after stage separation following its February 26 launch to the Moon. A tall robotic lander, Athena is scheduled to touch down on Thursday, March 6, in Mons Mouton, a plateau near the Moon’s South Pole. The intended landing site is in the central portion of one of the Artemis 3 potential landing regions. Athena carries rovers and experiments as part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services program, including a drill intended to explore beneath the lunar surface in a search for evidence of frozen water. It also carries a propulsive drone dubbed the Micro Nova Hopper. After release to the lunar surface, the autonomous drone is intended to hop into a nearby crater and send science data back to the lander.

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Breaking Taps @breakingtaps.com · 01/03/2025

Yunno honestly I don't remember why it ended up like that. I think it was leftover from a feature that was later deleted, and I never made the stops symmetrical. I think making it symmetrical would be better though!