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posted by janrinok on Friday May 21 2021, @02:53PM   Printer-friendly

TSMC and Partners Develop Key Feature for Sub 1nm Process Technology

According to a publication by TSMC, NTU, and MIT in Nature [DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-03472-9] [DX] (noticed by Verdict), Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) and its research partners from the National University of Taiwan (NTU) and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have said that they have developed material that will be used for transistor contact electrodes with an upcoming 1nm fabrication process.

[...] The publication indicates that usage of semi-metal bismuth (Bi) as the transistor's contact electrode can greatly reduce the resistance and increase the current. TSMC currently uses tungsten interconnects (made using selective tungsten deposition process), whereas Intel uses cobalt interconnects. Both have their advantages and both require specific factory tools.

In a bid to use semi-metal bismuth (Bi) as transistor's contact electrode, researchers had to use a helium ion beam (HIB) lithography system and design an 'easy deposition process.' This 'process' was only used on an R&D production line, so it is not quite ready for mass production.


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  • (Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Friday May 21 2021, @03:25PM (1 child)

    by hendrikboom (1125) Subscriber Badge on Friday May 21 2021, @03:25PM (#1137562) Homepage Journal

    1 nm is less than 10 times the size of typical atoms.
    We're getting small.

  • (Score: 4, Interesting) by ese002 on Friday May 21 2021, @05:17PM

    by ese002 (5306) on Friday May 21 2021, @05:17PM (#1137590)

    This isn't even fake nanometers. It isn't even a process at all, just progress on a piece of technology expected but not guaranteed to be used in a forthcoming 1nm process.

    https://www.tomshardware.com/news/tsmc-makes-1nm-breakthrough [tomshardware.com]

  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 24 2021, @06:27AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 24 2021, @06:27AM (#1138167)

    ...That a, 'limit,' is approaching at all. To me, anyway, that's a really, really big deal. The sound barrier used to be a perceived limit. Currently the, 'speed of light,' which is a misleading phrase, is a supposed limit.

    I imagine one day, we will be able to build nand gates with actual atoms, and perhaps do so without near zero kelvin refrigeration; but... then what? Maybe our universe does have inbuilt properties that say, generally, "X can not be done." Whatever X is. But, I also like to think that, that same X, was once crossing the ocean, or putting a man into space.

    Can you or I imagine the life of a sentient being composed of a network of nand gates made out of atoms? The cells that make up a human being are Turing complete, as far as I'm convinced. We are molecular sentient beings; but, the atomic sentient being? It makes me wonder. Does a single cell that makes up a color sensing cone in my eye have any knowledge of the being, it's daily work, collectively supports? I would like to think on some level, even a sentient/conscious level, every cell in my body is aware to some degree, even if it's just a few short lines of GCAT programming it to be as it is...

    Does the Universe have more surprises in store for us? Or will we hit a ceiling at some point? I'd like to think it's both. The ceiling, perhaps like gateless gate is real; but, the only thing prevents us from passing through it, is ourselves.

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