European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 19, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse Quest for fastest computer Chip International contest intensifies by William j. Broad new York times he race Lor dominance in making semiconductors the tiny chips that carry electronic circuits is entering a new phase As scientists convinced they have almost exhausted the present technology strive to use a rays to make chips thai Are faster and Mote Power jul in Iho mid 1990s, the winners of this contest Are expected Lobule the most advanced patrol the $100 billion annual Chip Markot and to propel Chip related industries such As computer manufacturing to new Heights the losers can expect an erosion of their Industrial might and military strength which Are intimately lied to High technology systems. Keenly aware of the Staves 1ho Federal government earmarked 125 million in he current budget to Percel the a Ray technology. But that is Only 3 Small fraction of what experts n the United states Bei Ieva he japanese and even Trie europeans Are spending. The goal old Ray lithography As the technique is known is to use giant particle accelerators known As Synchrotrons to etch Tiner semiconductor circuits than Ever belie. Ii perfected the process would cram Lar More components onto the Fingernail sized chips that drive most electronic devices including computers. While the Best Chip today bristle with a million or so circuits Vuturo ones created with a rays conceivably might hold up to a Btl Ion such densities Promise vast increases in Chip Power and Speed since in lakes less Lime Lor electrical signals to zip among Casely packed components to Dale most Chip advances have come from shrinking the distance Between circuits the contest has a sense of urgency because conventional methods Aro being pushed o the limit because foreign Competition is rising and because the technology Iselt to be reliable alter a decade of preliminary research. Synch Irons Aro close cousins of giant atom smashers and produce a rays obtainable in no other Way. Charles h. Ferguson a former analyst Lor the International business machines corp. Who is now at the Massachusetts Institute of technology s Center Lor technology policy and Industrial development said Synchrotrons look Tike an extraordinarily powerful technology but they will be very expensive to develop and operate. The a rejected capital cos of a synchrotron Chip factory is $500 indeed the a Ray goal is so ambitious and costly that no sing s corporation has she resources la achieve it. It s a very exciting period because of the Federal said David a tiber director of the synchrotron radiation Cen tar at the University of Wisconsin. The qua lion is whether this going to be enough or whether the germans or japanese Are going to gel a Long Lead on us scientists in the United Stales pioneered Many of Trie technologies being exploited today around the world to perfect a Ray lithography. Today and for years past Light has been he hey to Chip making in a process known As photo lithography. First Large drawings Are made of Complex patterns Tor Liny circuits and then Hose drawings Aro drastically reduced in size and transferred onto a tiny mask like a photographic negative. Finally Bright Light shining through this mask etches circuits Alop Silicon wafers coated with photo sensitive chemicals. As circuits have gotten smaller Over the years it has been necessary to use Light Wilh Ever Shorter wavelengths in order to maintain Sharpness in circuit features the length of the Waves of Light have to be smaller than Iho Chip features they Are trying to etch Chip makers have now pushed past the visible part of the electromagnetic spectrum into ultraviolet Region and cannot Progress further with conventional mesh cd. Today the smallest features of the Best chips Art about one Micron in size or on Hundredth the diameter of a human hair. The goal in a Ray lithography is to reduce features to possibly As Small As one tenth of a Micron. There Are increasing problems As you shrink dimensions said Alan cd. Wilson manager of Chip lithography for ism s Watson research Center in Yorktown Helga is . The billion Dollar question11 is How to go beyond Iho problems to perfect a new Chip making process. One Way is to exploit some of he smallest wavelengths those of a rays. The problem is that the right kind of a rays soil ones close to the ultraviolet Region Are difficult to produce. The a rays used by doctors and dentists Are Loo hard their Wavelength being so Short thai they tend to pass through matter rather than reacting Wilh it. Mar Morita for cup to a did it Tai and me the. Wulk id. Mingoi m 6n Mui to at Udu Uon Lor Rehng. Bui no Minimi Mownn own us Ipac Tim � Una Elx fit kill we Rhawn la product to liar to ulna stun Kuril intr i . Wix it Man str in of Trina. Tuft it Kbyii Tea x vh4 tar herring. The pfc inn Nan it u Brut unit no la Ehatt my torn liw saturday March 19, 19bb the stars and stripes Page 17
