In microelectronics, smaller really is better. Thus, the semiconductor industry has targeted ever-smaller circuits in its path toward faster computer chips that can pack more memory in less space.
Consumers expect increasingly compact, quick and powerful computers.
But those miniaturization goals make integrated-circuit manufacturers face a task equivalent to painting a thin line with a thick brush. This is five times smaller than currently found in mass-produced chips. The laboratory-scale advance represents a feat of precision that integrated circuit manufacturers would like to put into production by the year 2007. The features are imprinted on a chip much the way a photograph is printed on paper. Normally, integrated circuit patterns are reduced by projecting an image through a series of lenses.