Robotic Nation Evidence

IBM's new idea for saving on chips / Method addresses basic problem for the industry: "IBM researchers say they have figured out a way to extend the optical lithography method by shooting light through a specially designed liquid rather than through air.
The researchers will detail their findings at the SPIE Microlithography 2006 conference in San Jose today.

'The whole industry has quite a challenge here, but scaling is what drives the whole industry,' said Gian-Luca Bona, a scientist at IBM's Almaden Research Center in San Jose. Risto Puhakka, an analyst at industry research firm VLSI Research, said chipmakers are looking at a variety of new methods of making chips, but those technologies are new and largely unproven. Also, the cost of switching to a new method would mean refitting chip factories with new equipment that could cost the industry billions of dollars, he said.

That's why he finds IBM's latest findings are so intriguing. 'It tells us that optical lithography is not running out of steam,' he said."