ARTi

From transistor to microchip

Chapter 1

The spark at Bell Labs

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Chapter 2

The traitorous eight and silicon's debut

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Chapter 3

Printing with light on a microscopic scale

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Chapter 4

The global chip highway

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YOUR GOAL

Master of From transistor to microchip

Ch 3 · Printing with light on a microscopic scale
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steve Photolithography

Light beams precisely, etch the tiny lines. / On silicon wafers, this is the microchip's design.

Jul 9

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Tiny Light Press

steve Tiny Light Press

Jun 18

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steve What is photolithography

Jun 18

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steve Growing the perfect crystal

Jun 18

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steve The magic of ASML

Jun 18

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steve The battle against dust

Jun 18

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Growing the perfect crystal

steve Growing the perfect crystal

Jun 17

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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.

Jun 17

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The magic of ASML

steve The magic of ASML

Jun 17

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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.

Jun 17

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Quiz

What is the wavelength of light used by Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machines?

Jun 17

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Gossip

Would you wear a bunny suit all day for a high-paying job?

Jun 17

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Quiz

What chemical method is used to grow the highly pure single-crystal silicon ingots?

Jun 17

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Quiz

Which European company is the world's sole manufacturer of Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machines?

Jun 17

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Quiz

Why must workers in microchip factories wear full-body 'bunny suits'?

Jun 17

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Quiz

What is the raw, single-crystal cylinder of silicon called before it is sliced into wafers?

Jun 17

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Quiz

How clean is a semiconductor manufacturing cleanroom compared to a standard hospital operating room?

Jun 17

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Quiz

What tool is used to slice a giant silicon crystal ingot into paper-thin wafers?

Jun 17

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Quiz

What is the name of the process that uses light to project circuit patterns onto silicon?

Jun 17