Earlier this year, researchers at IBM created the smallest, high-quality features ever made with the main-line photolithography technique – 193nm deep UV illumination. This technology is currently used to “print” circuits onto semiconductor chips. Similar to silk-screening, except using light instead of paint or ink, photolithography can transfer various designs and patterns onto a silicon wafer by shining laser light through a shadow mask onto a photosensitive photoresist material that coats the silicon wafer. As shown in the picture on the left, the ridges formed by this technique are only 29.9 nanometers wide, which is less than one-third the size of the current 90-nanometer features (on the right) that are currently used in mass production. Over the years, improvements in the photolithography process have led to the continual shrinking of circuits and semiconductor chips, which in turn leads to smaller, faster, and cheaper electronics.

Source:IBM Research demonstrates path for extending current chip-making technique