In the eternal search for ways to fabricate smaller features in semiconductors, EUV seems to be the current focus for production facilities. Researchers at the University of Chicago and the Argonne National Laboratory may have a solution which could prove to be very useful in the future and could even see the mask technology currently used in photolithography become obsolete. DOLFIN, aka Direct Optical Lithography of Functional Inorganic Nanomaterials, creates features by making a film of nanoparticles with photoactive ligands which is then covered in a glas or quartz mask with a patterned metal layer and exposed to UV light. This is very similar to current methods, the mask is reusable and the amount of UV light required is similar to that needed currently.
This method differs in several ways, not least of which is it does not require as many rare and unhealthy solutes. What could really help it take off is the fact that seems to be cheaper and more reliable than current processes and it is capable of creating a six-layer 3D pattern in 19 process steps; conventional technology would take 43 steps. There is more over at Nanotechweb.
"The fact that the dose of UV required in the new technique is comparable to that for conventional photoresists opens up a plethora of opportunities for advanced device manufacturing, he tells nanotechweb.org."
Here is some more Tech News from around the web:
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- Ahead Of Radeon RX Vega, AMDGPU+RadeonSI Is Offering The Most Competitive Performance Yet Against NVIDIA On Linux @ Phoronix
- Amazon Echo hack turns speaker into covert listening device @ The Inquirer
- AI quickly cooks malware that AV software can't spot @ The Register
- With 200 Million Daily Users, Giphy Will Soon Test Sponsored GIFs @ Slashdot
- Corsair T1 Race Gaming Chair @ techPowerUp
That’s over 50% less process
That’s over 50% less process steps and depending on the saved steps that’s one whole lot of time saved from the start of the runs to the end of the runs, Weeks saved. So less delays to market, if some part of the process needs to be modified. It could even mean more chances to add processor steppings to improve performance, and even reducing periods between new product cycles/full microarchitecture updates.
Long way off but looks very
Long way off but looks very interesting for future products.
Big Blue and Sony are going
Big Blue and Sony are going all retro with that Tape Cartridge based storage! That’s one hell of a lot of digital toons on one kilometre(3280.84 feet) of tape(1)!
And that’s including parity bits also.
“IBM and Sony cram up to 330 terabytes into tiny tape cartridge” 8/2/2017
ars technica co mz[S and the PAN filter is cranky]
I do not know the source of
I do not know the source of that image but damn that seems like a fun way to lose ones job.
That’s what happened when Al
That's what happened when Al visited Intel.
That’s funny it actually
That’s funny it actually looks like it could be him!!! (Al)
So those are Optane/XPoint
So those are Optane/XPoint wafer/dies and What about Al visiting the Micron plant(to look at their QuantX/Xpoint wafer/dies), or maybe even Samsung’s XPoint wafer/dies(If Samsung licenses any QuantX/XPoint IP from Micron). And Micron appears to be as interested in Licensing Its XPoint IP to third party memory/drive makers(Samsung/Others) as Micron interested is in making Micron’s own QuantX/XPoint products for the XPoint market.
Two companies started that whole XPoint tango and not just one. So how’s Micron’s progress going in getting Its first QuantX/XPoint products to market at the end of 2017? It’s good to know that once Micron/Licensees has a competing XPoint product on the market that Intel will have to keep its Optane prices in check.
And what about Dell’s new Workstation SKUs lots of Xeon there with very little Epyc. And my hopes were up for Dell when Alienware landed that 16 core only Threadripper exclusive OEM gaming PC deal until the end of the year(That’s only for the OEM gaming PC market so fear not home system builders).
I’m still very suspicious of that Exclusive Dell(16 core only OEM Threadripper) gaming PC deal as that’s going to be keeping 16 core Threadripper SKUs off of the wider OEM gaming PC market until the end of the year. Dell has some history with Intel and Intel’s paying of excessive rebates to Dell/OEMs to kacker AMD in the market-place. You better have purchased an a whole lot of those treys(1000 unit treys) of 16 core Threadripper SKUs Dell because that’s about a 4 month lead for the OEM gaming PC market to have the 16 core Threadripper SKUs unavailable for the other large gaming PC OEMs.
I do hope that HP/Lenovo are maybe getting some 1P Epyc SKU based Workstation SKUs to market as the Epyc 7401P has 24 cores/48 threads and only costs $76 more than the highest priced 16 core Threadripper CPU SKU.
/Soapbox off.
That was me pretending to
That was me pretending to make off with a 25nm IMFT flash wafer, Heisman style.
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