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Just as an interesting aside does anyone have a list of weird engineering hacks used in these processes to get smaller and smaller transistor densities? There m

Just as an interesting aside does anyone have a list of weird engineering hacks used in these processes to get smaller and smaller transistor densities? There must be some very clever stuff to jam them in there and still be able to etch the lines.

yaantc 7y ago
It's a vast and complex topic. I once stumbled on the following presentation from ARM: https://community.arm.com/developer/research/b/articles/posts/the-ics-of-2030 https://community.arm.com/developer/research/b/articles/post... The first part covers EUV, which is key to advanced nodes. Then it moves on to more futuristic and tentative techniques. But the EUV part is a nice introduction for non specialist, with pointers to dig if one is interested.
- Dylan16807 7y ago
  EUV is an amazing nightmare, but the etching part of the process is pretty straightforward. The difficulty is in finding materials that don't absorb it all and/or break constantly. In my mind, the really interesting tricks and hacks are all the ways they've managed to take 193nm light and etch things that are so much smaller than the wavelength.
aklascheema 7y ago
There is this interesting talk by Jim Keller. Talks about new approaches (different transistor tech, architecture, etc) to keep moores law going for another decade or so. You should defintely check it out if have time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIG9ztQw2Gc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIG9ztQw2Gc
deepnotderp 7y ago
Scaling boosters: https://en.wikichip.org/wiki/scaling_booster https://en.wikichip.org/wiki/scaling_booster
sl-1 7y ago
Best resource I have run in to about this is this talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGFhc8R_uO4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGFhc8R_uO4 It quickly introduces the various hacks we do in order to get ~30nm features on silicon. But the talk is quite dated (early 2010's), but never ceases to amaze me. Semiconductors are indistinguishable from magic indeed.
- saganus 7y ago
  I love this video. I watch it every few months since I first found it a few years ago, because it's just so interesting and mind blowing. I would love to see an update with newer technology. Highly recommended!

yaantc 7y ago

It's a vast and complex topic. I once stumbled on the following presentation from ARM: https://community.arm.com/developer/research/b/articles/posts/the-ics-of-2030 https://community.arm.com/developer/research/b/articles/post... The first part covers EUV, which is key to advanced nodes. Then it moves on to more futuristic and tentative techniques. But the EUV part is a nice introduction for non specialist, with pointers to dig if one is interested.

Dylan16807 7y ago
EUV is an amazing nightmare, but the etching part of the process is pretty straightforward. The difficulty is in finding materials that don't absorb it all and/or break constantly. In my mind, the really interesting tricks and hacks are all the ways they've managed to take 193nm light and etch things that are so much smaller than the wavelength.

aklascheema 7y ago

There is this interesting talk by Jim Keller. Talks about new approaches (different transistor tech, architecture, etc) to keep moores law going for another decade or so. You should defintely check it out if have time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIG9ztQw2Gc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIG9ztQw2Gc

deepnotderp 7y ago

Scaling boosters: https://en.wikichip.org/wiki/scaling_booster https://en.wikichip.org/wiki/scaling_booster

sl-1 7y ago

Best resource I have run in to about this is this talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGFhc8R_uO4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGFhc8R_uO4 It quickly introduces the various hacks we do in order to get ~30nm features on silicon. But the talk is quite dated (early 2010's), but never ceases to amaze me. Semiconductors are indistinguishable from magic indeed.

saganus 7y ago
I love this video. I watch it every few months since I first found it a few years ago, because it's just so interesting and mind blowing. I would love to see an update with newer technology. Highly recommended!