Lettres d'information

Choisissez ce que vous souhaitez recevoir :

Merci de renseigner votre adresse de messagerie électronique :

@

Votre adresse email ne sera utilisée que dans le cadre de campagnes d'information ITER Organization auxquelles vous êtes abonné. ITER Organization ne communiquera jamais votre adresse email et autres informations personnelles à quiconque ou dans le cadre d'informations commerciales.

Si vous changez d'avis, il vous est possible de vous désinscrire en cliquant sur le lien 'unsubscribe' visible dans vos emails provenant d'ITER Organization.

Pour plus d'information, veuillez consulter notre Politique de confidentialité.

Actu & Médias

Links

Of Interest

See archived articles

Conferences


Pour les actualités en français, voir la page Actus & Médias.

UV light from plasma to etch next-generation chips

Xenon plasma produced in this laboratory equipment generates the Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) wavelentgh that should provide the light output that the microprocessor industry needs. © University of Washington (Click to view larger version...)
Xenon plasma produced in this laboratory equipment generates the Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) wavelentgh that should provide the light output that the microprocessor industry needs. © University of Washington
Light is the etching tool industry uses to create the microscopic circuits on the surface of silicon microprocessors. As "chips" follow Moore's law and become more powerful with each new generation, the features on the silicon become denser, meaning smaller structures need to be etched.

The short-wave (193 nanometres) ultraviolet light that is currently used by the industry is neither "sharp" nor powerful enough to meet the next generations' standards. What industry needs is light with an even shorter wavelength—less than one-tenth the present one—that will enable the etching of even finer grooves.

Such extreme ultraviolet light can be created only from plasmas. Scientists at the University of Washington College of Engineering have developed a "low-cost version of a fusion reactor," dubbed ZaP, that should provide the light output that the microprocessor industry needs.
 
Read the full story here


return to Newsline #235