Breakthrough :
IBM has sucessfully used a high index immersion variant of deep-ultraviolet optical lithography to create/etch structures on a micro-chip that just measured 29.9 nanometres.
This breakthrough in chip making lithography will lead to the production ultra-small microprocessors.
Why is it important :
It was believed that current generation chip making processes would be unable to etch out features on a microprocessor measuring less than 32 nanometres.
Chip makers can breathe easier, as it means that they have atleast seven years before any radical changes in chip making design and techniques have to be introduced.
Most of today's processors use 90nm technology. Intel started shipping the first 65nm chips late last year, and expects such components to become the dominant chip technology by the third quarter of 2006.
Announcement :
IBM's breakthrough is due to be unveiled at the SPIE Microlithography 2006 conference in San Jose later today.
__________________________
Update :
Researchers Find a Way to Keep Moore's Law on Pace
The advance potentially clears one of the biggest hurdles facing the progress of Moore's Law, the observation of Gordon E. Moore, a co-founder of the Intel Corporation, that the density of chips doubles roughly every two years. Mr. Moore made the observation about chip-making technology in 1965, and most semiconductor engineers now believe that the doubling rate will continue through at least the middle of the next decade.
Currently, the densest computer memory chips store 4 billion bits of information; the extension of Moore's Law might make possible a generation storing 64 billion bits by 2013. Such a chip could store roughly 2,000 songs based on today's storage standards.
The industry now uses advanced laser light sources to photo-etch wire lines that are finer than the wavelength of light itself. This is done by generating interference patterns that allow subwavelength resolution. But there had been a general consensus in the industry that this technology would fail below 40 nanometers, requiring a shift to X-ray light sources or other printing technologies.
"We would like to show a pathway to continue optical lithography," said Robert D. Allen, manager of lithography materials at the I.B.M. Almaden Research Center.
The industry has also been pursuing X-ray light sources as a path to the future. That technology, however, would require that the semiconductor manufacturing industry be drastically revamped. For example, using X-ray light sources would require the industry to use mirrors rather than optical lenses to focus the X-ray sources.
The advance also indicates that the industry has found a way to continue to extend the life of argon fluoride excimer lasers that generate the ultraviolet light used in the photolithographic process. Those lasers have a wavelength of 193 nanometers, yet they are now used commercially to create chips with components as fine as 65 nanometers.
The key to pushing the technology further is a fluid immersion process for conducting the light onto the material that is etched to form the circuit pattern.
The researchers discovered that they could enhance the resolving power of the light source by shifting to a lens made from a crystalline quartz material and exotic immersion liquids that have better refraction properties than those currently used by the industry.
"This is significant," said Fred Zieber, a semiconductor industry analyst at Pathfinder Research. He noted, however, there is more required to turn this into a commercial lithographic process.
The I.B.M. researchers performed their research on a custom piece of equipment they call Nemo, referring to the character in Jules Verne's novel "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea."
IBM has sucessfully used a high index immersion variant of deep-ultraviolet optical lithography to create/etch structures on a micro-chip that just measured 29.9 nanometres.
This breakthrough in chip making lithography will lead to the production ultra-small microprocessors.
Why is it important :
It was believed that current generation chip making processes would be unable to etch out features on a microprocessor measuring less than 32 nanometres.
Chip makers can breathe easier, as it means that they have atleast seven years before any radical changes in chip making design and techniques have to be introduced.
Most of today's processors use 90nm technology. Intel started shipping the first 65nm chips late last year, and expects such components to become the dominant chip technology by the third quarter of 2006.
Announcement :
IBM's breakthrough is due to be unveiled at the SPIE Microlithography 2006 conference in San Jose later today.
__________________________
Update :
Researchers Find a Way to Keep Moore's Law on Pace
The advance potentially clears one of the biggest hurdles facing the progress of Moore's Law, the observation of Gordon E. Moore, a co-founder of the Intel Corporation, that the density of chips doubles roughly every two years. Mr. Moore made the observation about chip-making technology in 1965, and most semiconductor engineers now believe that the doubling rate will continue through at least the middle of the next decade.
Currently, the densest computer memory chips store 4 billion bits of information; the extension of Moore's Law might make possible a generation storing 64 billion bits by 2013. Such a chip could store roughly 2,000 songs based on today's storage standards.
The industry now uses advanced laser light sources to photo-etch wire lines that are finer than the wavelength of light itself. This is done by generating interference patterns that allow subwavelength resolution. But there had been a general consensus in the industry that this technology would fail below 40 nanometers, requiring a shift to X-ray light sources or other printing technologies.
"We would like to show a pathway to continue optical lithography," said Robert D. Allen, manager of lithography materials at the I.B.M. Almaden Research Center.
The industry has also been pursuing X-ray light sources as a path to the future. That technology, however, would require that the semiconductor manufacturing industry be drastically revamped. For example, using X-ray light sources would require the industry to use mirrors rather than optical lenses to focus the X-ray sources.
The advance also indicates that the industry has found a way to continue to extend the life of argon fluoride excimer lasers that generate the ultraviolet light used in the photolithographic process. Those lasers have a wavelength of 193 nanometers, yet they are now used commercially to create chips with components as fine as 65 nanometers.
The key to pushing the technology further is a fluid immersion process for conducting the light onto the material that is etched to form the circuit pattern.
The researchers discovered that they could enhance the resolving power of the light source by shifting to a lens made from a crystalline quartz material and exotic immersion liquids that have better refraction properties than those currently used by the industry.
"This is significant," said Fred Zieber, a semiconductor industry analyst at Pathfinder Research. He noted, however, there is more required to turn this into a commercial lithographic process.
The I.B.M. researchers performed their research on a custom piece of equipment they call Nemo, referring to the character in Jules Verne's novel "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea."