Microchips are found almost everywhere in technology these days, and as our needs grow and microchips become more complex, so does the manufacturing process.
The microchip manufacturing process began way back in 1977, and since then, scientists, engineers, and everyone else in between has been working hard at making the process not only be more efficient but also more powerful. The current process of chip manufacturing is called 'photolithography'. This is the process of using light to transfer geometric patterns onto silicon, which are then engraved into the metal.
This whole process is extremely specific, and as humans have made chips more advanced, they have gotten smaller, acquired more transistors, have more performance, and are more energy-efficient. But what if the process required a change in manufacturing to achieve even better chips? Manufactures have already thought of this and have redesigned a new process that will create faster and better chips.
The new process is called Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography, or EUV for short. EUV manufacturing still uses the same principles of photolithography, but instead, it uses light at an extremely small wavelength. The EUV process also involves liquid metal and high energy plasma. Despite manufactures having numerous challenges ahead of them when it comes to changes in the design process, achieving this level of manufacturing will give birth to new microchips that will be a leap not only in speed but energy efficiency as well.