MIT Develops New Chip Pattern Etching Method

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed a revolutionary new method of etching very intricate patterns on computer chips, which could potentially allow manufacturers in the business to fit more design features on their future processors. The innovation makes use of a type of material that has the ability to transform its physical properties from transparent to opaque when subjected to a specific type of wavelength frequencies. That is to say, exposing it to different kinds of light makes the changes happen.

Experts at MIT have learned to maneuver the material in such a manner that they are able to create a mask that can support extremely fine lines on it. The mask can then be used to create the same lines on the underlying material, which is the chip support layer itself. This approach to constructing processors is not a new one, but thus far researchers from other teams have believed that the thickness of the lines they could draw with light has been limited by the wavelength of the light itself. The Massachusetts team has proven that these limitations can be surpassed by using interference patterns.

Simply put, this technique moves light in such a manner that wavelengths intertwine and make each other stronger and more focused, in some places, while in other ones they cancel each other out. The method is used on a type of materials called photochromics. Their main property is that they change color, and therefore transparency, once exposed to certain types of light. During the recent experiments, such objects have been treated with two different wavelengths of light at the same time, and the results have been remarkably obvious.

In charge of the new experiments has been MIT Research Laboratory of Electronics research engineer Rajesh Menon, who has worked with Department of Chemistry graduate student Trisha Andrew, and with Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science grad student Hsin-Yu Tsai. The team have published the results of their studies in the April 10th issue of the journal Science. Menon says that the new technique “could have a significant impact on chip making.”

In addition to this application, the new light-manipulating technique could be developed into finer and more accurate telescopes, able to resolve details at a nano-scale level. This would eliminate the need for scanning electron micrography and other similar observation methods, which are very difficult to conduct.