New chemistry shrinks microchips past the limits of human sight

Johns Hopkins researchers have developed a novel microchip manufacturing process that enables circuits to be carved with unprecedented precision at the 229-nanometer scale, producing features smaller than what the human eye can see. This advancement leverages new materials and laser techniques to create ultra-small, faster, and more cost-effective microchips suitable for widespread applications including smartphones and aerospace. The innovation addresses a key industry challenge: finding materials and processes that can endure the intense radiation needed to etch such tiny details economically and reliably in large-scale production. Central to this breakthrough is the use of metal-organic resists composed of metals like zinc combined with an organic compound called imidazole. These resists can withstand beyond extreme ultraviolet (B-EUV) radiation, which traditional materials cannot tolerate. The team employed a chemical liquid deposition (CLD) method to precisely engineer and test various metal-imidazole combinations, discovering that different metals perform optimally at different radiation wavelengths. Zinc, for example, is particularly effective for B