Researchers from Jones Hopkins University presented new materials and technological process to revolutionize microelectronics
Researchers from Jones Hopkins University have introduced new materials and a technological process that have the potential to expand the boundaries of modern microelectronics. Their groundbreaking work paves the way for the creation of more compact, fast, and cost-effective chips, ranging from smartphones to on-board aircraft systems. The key idea behind their innovation is to form chains of such small sizes that they become invisible to the naked eye, while the technique remains suitable for large-scale production.
The foundation of microelectronics lies in lithography technology, where a thin layer of material sensitive to fluidity, known as resistance, is applied to Silicon plates. A beam of light or radiation bundle triggers chemical reactions in the resistance, forming a pattern of the future scheme. By utilizing extremely ultraviolet sources (EUV) in the industry, the researchers are now focusing on the next generation – Beyond Extreme Ultraviolet (B-EUV), which demands a higher level of resistance. To address this challenge, they have introduced metal-organic resist, combining metals like zinc with the organic component imidazole. This new approach enables the application of imidazole-containing resistance to silicon substrates at nanometer levels, ensuring industrial feasibility without the need for abandoning existing methods.
To further advance their research, the team has collaborated with scientists from the University of Science and Technology of Eastern China, the Federal Polytechnic School of Lausanne, the University of Suzhou, the National Laboratory of Brookhaven, and the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory. By employing the chemical liquid deposition (CLD) method, they are able to experiment with various metal-imidazole combinations, optimizing light absorption and subsequent chemistry rapidly.
According to the researchers, there are over a dozen different metals and hundreds of organic molecules suitable for this process, providing a vast space for exploration. Testing of specific combinations tailored for B-EUV is currently underway and is expected to be implemented in production lines in the coming decade. The efficiency of the process is highly dependent on the wavelength, with certain metals performing exceptionally well under B-EUV compared to older EUV methods. For example, zinc, previously inefficient in EUV, has shown promising results under the more rigid B-EUV radiation.