The wafer is then illuminated via a mask, conventionally with ultra-violet light, and in the areas which have been illuminated the silicon may be etched leaving behind the circuits, transistors, etc. Therefore we may make chips with finer features, more gates etc. X-rays to expose the resist in the photolithographic process by which they are made. However the cost of these machines is very large.
Many semiconductor manufacturers seek alternatives.
Schematic of the RAL laser plasma source with an MCP collimator. The inherently diverging beam from the X-ray emitting plasma complicates the design of the lithography mask and the stepper which would move the silicon wafers into position for exposure in an industrial system. 2 Collimator with source positioned at half radius of curvature gives uniform parallel output beam Collimators Collimators have been designed at Leicester based on spherically curved circular pore microchannel plates ground to a special cross-section. The technical problems associated with making such a device are far from trivial. Prototype collimators have been tested using the laser plasma source.