Find out how to build 9nm chip

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT, USA) has found a way to build chips with 9nm detailed dimensions. The technology record achieved in the previous laboratory is 25nm.

Illustration: Wafers for chip production.

Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT, USA) have reported finding a way to reach 9nm in lithography by electron beams. This is considered one of the alternatives to photolithography technology currently widely used to produce chips. This result has been published in the latest issue of Microelectronic Engineering.

Note that, during the course of 50 years of development, transistors in computer chips have become smaller and during this time, semiconductor manufacturers have only used one technology. is lithograph . However, the size of transistors made by this method is limited by the wavelength of visible light (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet).

" If the chip makers attempt to continue to reduce the size of the chip, then it is obvious that they have to change the method of making those chips, " the MIT statement said. Scientists at MIT explained that they have long used a technique called " lithography by electron beams " to create smaller-scale chip patterns. However, lithography chips are often much slower than lithography. The "in" speed increase will in principle need larger chip sizes.

Therefore, the smallest chip was ever built according to the size "lithography with electron beam" process (topology - honeycomb) 25nm. This was a much better result than the 32nm size achieved by using lithography technology. The 25nm chips created by this electron beam lithography process have been introduced to several manufacturers.

To reach the 9nm resolution, MIT scientists chose the optical sensor (fotoresist) to respond to small doses of electron beams, bringing back thinner layers than usual to minimize the distribution of electrons. . After irradiation, the diagram will show up in the salt solution, so that in different regions there will be different amounts of electrons coming into line by characteristic.

However, physics professor Pieter Kruit from Delft University in the Netherlands and co-founder of Mapper Company specializes in the production of lithography systems based on electronic beam technology that suspects manufacturers later. It is possible to use the photosensitive substances that MIT scientists have used in mass production experiments. " Although the goal of scientists is to find photosensitive reactions to small electronic doses, what scientists used is too sensitive, " said Pieter Kruit.