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Technology
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2006-10-12 11:42:54-04
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Computer chips to be more efficient and cost-effective
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Washington, Oct 12: US researchers have developed a more efficient and cost-effective power source for the next generation of chip production, called extreme ultraviolet light (EUV). A University of Central Florida research team led by Martin Richardson have successfully demonstrated a EUV light source that provides 30 times the power than earlier machines, thereby providing enough power to the stepper machines, which is used to reproduce detailed circuitry images onto computer chips. The UCF breakthrough came as a result of a collaboration between Richardson and Powerlase Ltd., a company based in England. Chips are now manufactured using longer-wavelength ultraviolet light sources. Using the short wavelength, 13.5 nanometers, and an uncontaminated light source the stepper can project ever-smaller circuitry onto chips, making it more efficient and cost-effective. "We must use a light source with a wavelength short enough to allow the minimum feature size on a chip to go down to possibly as low as 12 nanometers," Richardson said. The current industry standard for semiconductor production is approximately 65 nanometers. A nanometer is one-billionth of a meter; a sheet of paper is about 100,000 nanometers thick. Continued collaboration with industry groups such as Powerlase is allowing the work to advance exponentially, Richardson said.
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