Chapter 1
The spark at Bell Labs
Chapter 2
The traitorous eight and silicon's debut
Chapter 3
Printing with light on a microscopic scale
Chapter 4
The global chip highway
YOUR GOAL
Master of From transistor to microchip
Ch 3 · Printing with light on a microscopic scale
steve Photolithography
Light beams precisely, etch the tiny lines. / On silicon wafers, this is the microchip's design.
steve Microchips require silicon that is 99.999999999% pure, grown into a single giant crystal cylinder.
steve A single Dutch company makes the highly complex machines required to print the world's most advanced chips.
Fun Fact
Flawless silicon mirrors: The mirrors in ASML's EUV lithography machines are so flat that if expanded to the size of Germany, the largest bump would be less than a millimeter high.
Glossary
photolithography (noun)
A photographic process used in microfabrication to transfer geometric patterns from a mask to a substrate. Jay Lathrop patented the technique in 1957 while working on miniaturizing military transistor components.
A photographic process used in microfabrication to transfer geometric patterns from a mask to a substrate. Jay Lathrop patented the technique in 1957 while working on miniaturizing military transistor components.
Quiz
What is the wavelength of light used by Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machines?
Quiz
Which European company is the world's sole manufacturer of Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machines?
Quiz
What is the raw, single-crystal cylinder of silicon called before it is sliced into wafers?
Quiz
How clean is a semiconductor manufacturing cleanroom compared to a standard hospital operating room?