And everyone would be using X-ray systems with a synchrotron source.

It's amazing what an incentive a really big bag of cash is.

Why a Thursday?

I never could get Thursdays.

Oh look, yellow.

Besides, time is an illusion; lunchtime doubly so.

Same problem EUV is experiencing now, only more so. It's just too bloody slow. The electron beam is also a very touchy thing to get right--too weak and its energy could be disperse in the target or the beam is too unstable for high resolutions; too strong and you'll get the electron version of spalling.

i agree, won't start ironising the air? Or will they just move to vacuum production?

Extreme UV sits just this side of soft X-rays, cut-off is at 10nM

The distinction between EUV and x-rays is arbitrary and set at 10nm, they are both generated by electrons changing energy level, as distinct from from gamma rays which are nuclear in origin.

UV is typically from valence (i.e. outer shell) electrons, whereas X-rays typically originate from inner shell transitions (like when an electron beam removes the inner most electron from a metal atom in a target and the other electrons cascade down to fill the gap).

@ AB3

yes UV less than 200nm is only usually used in a vacuum... for this reason this section of the spectrum is also known as the "vacuum ultraviolet" as all wavelengths in this range are strongly absorbed by oxygen in the air.

Plus I beleive the actual lithographic processes of chip manufacture have been performed in the absence of air for donkeys years...

Yes soft xrays - I'm told the name change was because the public doesn't like things that sound like radiation (ie why the NMR machine in your hospital is called an MRI)

Silly really, I would have thought that a public looking at bleeding edge tech would understand, said tech..(proof from point being raised on tech website!).... I guess the marketing guys did a weekday highstreet survey outside poundstretcher and found people who still refuse to have microwaves in thier houses due to the nucular praticles....

In the short term why don’t you use laser interference? Fire one laser, interfere with another one down the same axis and the result is a much smaller spot. Cheap, simple, fast and obvious – i.e. it’s not worth patenting, so nobody is going to persue it!

Look out for the trolls, I just mentioned patents ;-)

EUV like Ebeam and X-rays produces a variable number of secondary electrons. This was part of their explanation for accumulating contamination on their mirrors. I think these extra roaming particles will add some variation to the dose calculation.