The key to the new technology is the length of the lightwave. Because EUV light has a shorter wavelength, smaller features can be etched into silicon. As a result, the process occurs in a vacuum and mirrors are used to focus the light. By doing so, the Livermore Laboratory and its partners have designed an EUV system that can pattern features smaller than 0.5 micrometre. It is the technique by which transistors are printed into microchips.
Light passes through a mask of the chip design and is projected onto the silicon wafer.
Light-sensitive chemicals then etch in the desired pattern. EUV, surprisingly, has not been free of controversy. Much of the laser technology used by the EUV consortium came from research done to design former US President Ronald Reagan's strategic defence initiative, by organisations such as Sandia and the Livermore National Laboratory. Mirrors used in the process stem from work on the Hubble space telescope. The Dual Approach Supporters are confident that the new technology would step up the growth engine of the world's economy.