The race between Intel, Samsung, and TSMC to ship the first 2 nm chip

Given that 2nm is a marketing term, can't they ship literally anything and call it 2nm?

China plans to build a giant chip factory driven by particle accelerator

While there are many researchers chasing the technology, the Chinese scientists have been exploring a different path. It is a project that has been running since 2017, but due to Huawei’s breakthroughs in chip manufacturing, it was recently catapulted into public view.

“One of the potential applications of our research is as a light source for future EUV lithography machines. I think this is why the international community is paying close attention,” said project leader Professor Tang Chuanxiang from Tsinghua University in a report on the university’s website.

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Before reaching the chip, the EUV beam undergoes reflection from 11 mirrors, each causing about a 30 per cent energy loss. As a result, the power of the beam is less than 5W when reaching the wafer. This can become an issue when manufacturing turns to 3nm or 2nm.

SSMB technology avoids such concerns. SSMB beams achieve a higher output power of 1000W, and due to its narrow bandwidth, fewer reflecting mirrors are needed, which naturally generates higher terminal power.

Zhao proposed this theory in 2010. Later, in 2017, Tang formed a dedicated team at Tsinghua.

The team conducted the first verification phase at Metrological Light Source (MLS) in Berlin, Germany. In 2019, the experiment was successful and they published a paper to illustrate the phenomenon in peer-reviewed journal Nature in 2021.