So how small are individual components (e.g., transistors) nowadays? Presumably there's a lower limit: once you're a few atoms across, it seems that you can't go any smaller (?).
some gates are only 10-14 nm wide, thats about 50 silicon atoms!
ASML unveils EUV light source advance that could yield 50% more chips by 2030
21–30 of 111 posts
Re: ASML unveils EUV light source advance that could yield 50% more chips by 2030
#22Earlier quoted context omitted.
The whole “exploding tiny drops of metal” in the middle of this is just Loony Toons. This machine is literally insane and two of the companies I am long-long on would be completely fucked without it.
Yes it was crazy when I first heard about it "wait what? they shoot it in mid-air?" and that was before I found out they did that like 30k times a second. But now 100k times a second apparently. Humans are amazing.
You have a machine that’s basically a clean room inside and one of the parts is essentially electrosputtering tin but then throwing all the tin away and using the EM pulse from the sputter to do work.
Oh and can you build it so it can run hundreds or thousands of hours before being cleaned? Thanks byyyyyyyyeeeeee!
Re: ASML unveils EUV light source advance that could yield 50% more chips by 2030
#23> SAN DIEGO, California > to help retain the Dutch company's edge over emerging U.S. and Chinese rivals Great news, but what a strange attempt to equate the U.S. and China in this and build a narrative. Cymer was founded in San Diego.
Yeah it's an interesting angle in the article. The EUV light source technology is completely designed, developed, and manufactured by Cymer in California, which is a US company that ASML acquired in 2013. If export control agreements were not in place then ASML would have never been permitted to acquire Cymer. And if they are not enforced then the US would almost certainly require ASML to sell Cymer back to US owners…
Which American rival would that be anyway? I have not heard of any.
Re: ASML unveils EUV light source advance that could yield 50% more chips by 2030
#24This video is a really cool dive into EUV for the uninitiated (me) https://youtu.be/MiUHjLxm3V0?si=kEPSicC2WXYhcQ6L
The thing I didn't understand after watching that video was why you need such an exotic solution to produce EUV light. We can make lights no problem in the visible spectrum, we can make xray machines easily enough that every doctors office can afford one, what is it specifically about those wavelengths that are so tricky.
Re: ASML unveils EUV light source advance that could yield 50% more chips by 2030
#25Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah it's an interesting angle in the article. The EUV light source technology is completely designed, developed, and manufactured by Cymer in California, which is a US company that ASML acquired in 2013. If export control agreements were not in place then ASML would have never been permitted to acquire Cymer. And if they are not enforced then the US would almost certainly require ASML to sell Cymer back to US owners…
Which American rival would that be anyway? I have not heard of any.
xLight is the promising new US competitor to Cymer. Lots of funding from the US CHIPS And Science Act. Founded by Dept. of Energy engineers who formerly worked on large-scale X-Ray systems and particle accelerators.
Re: ASML unveils EUV light source advance that could yield 50% more chips by 2030
#26So how small are individual components (e.g., transistors) nowadays? Presumably there's a lower limit: once you're a few atoms across, it seems that you can't go any smaller (?).
Gates are about 30-50 nm wide, even though they're called '3nm' for marketing reasons.
Metal pitch is 26nm. That means parallel wires can be placed 2 wavelengths apart with 13.5nm light.
Re: ASML unveils EUV light source advance that could yield 50% more chips by 2030
#27> SAN DIEGO, California > to help retain the Dutch company's edge over emerging U.S. and Chinese rivals Great news, but what a strange attempt to equate the U.S. and China in this and build a narrative. Cymer was founded in San Diego.
I think the Japanese are also working on potentially competing technology
Re: ASML unveils EUV light source advance that could yield 50% more chips by 2030
#28This video is a really cool dive into EUV for the uninitiated (me) https://youtu.be/MiUHjLxm3V0?si=kEPSicC2WXYhcQ6L
The thing I didn't understand after watching that video was why you need such an exotic solution to produce EUV light. We can make lights no problem in the visible spectrum, we can make xray machines easily enough that every doctors office can afford one, what is it specifically about those wavelengths that are so tricky.
It really is the specific wavelength. Higher or lower is easier. But euv has tricky properties which make it feasible for Lithography (although just barely it you have a look at the optics) but hard to produce with high intensities.
Re: ASML unveils EUV light source advance that could yield 50% more chips by 2030
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
The thing I didn't understand after watching that video was why you need such an exotic solution to produce EUV light. We can make lights no problem in the visible spectrum, we can make xray machines easily enough that every doctors office can afford one, what is it specifically about those wavelengths that are so tricky.
It really is the specific wavelength. Higher or lower is easier. But euv has tricky properties which make it feasible for Lithography (although just barely it you have a look at the optics) but hard to produce with high intensities.
Any source to this? I am hearing this for the first time.
Re: ASML unveils EUV light source advance that could yield 50% more chips by 2030
#30Earlier quoted context omitted.
The whole “exploding tiny drops of metal” in the middle of this is just Loony Toons. This machine is literally insane and two of the companies I am long-long on would be completely fucked without it.
Yes it was crazy when I first heard about it "wait what? they shoot it in mid-air?" and that was before I found out they did that like 30k times a second. But now 100k times a second apparently. Humans are amazing.
> We are going to spray expensive stuff in an extremely fine and precise line. Then we're going to shoot a laser at each droplet.
> To make a better laser.
> 100,000 times per second.
< [AFK, buying shares.]