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I got that. Just what is the process of actually making chips smaller and smaller until the limit would eventually be met.
by KorfmannArno 6y ago
I got that. Just what is the process of actually making chips smaller and smaller until the limit would eventually be met.
- mytailorisrich 6y agoI'm not expert. I think lithographic processes are very important. That's why companies like ASML are so critical. The technology to work at these scales and wavelengths is very tricky. From Wikipedia: "ASML manufactures extreme ultraviolet lithography machines that produce light in the 13.3-13.7 nm wavelength range. A high-energy laser is focused on microscopic droplets of molten tin to produce a plasma, which emits EUV light." (that's UV close to the X-ray range...)
- SonOfLilit 6y agoEach additional step requires solving a lot of new engineering problems and usually some new physics too, and it's not a linear process: many techniques are proposed that become cost effective only when previous techniques hit their size limits, and then a lot of research is done and most techniques are never gotten to work at scale and just a few pan out and become the next process. This is a great talk on the history of chip processes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGFhc8R_uO4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGFhc8R_uO4 This is about some of the challenges that had to be solved for a current modern process: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0gMdGrVteI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0gMdGrVteI