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Monday, April 25, 2022

Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography -- April 25, 2022

I track computer chips / semiconductors here

I have no interest in the investment analysis or comments on Intel as this SeekingAlpha article, but it did introduce me to EUV lithography. Nowhere in the linked article does the author spell out the acronym.

From wiki: extreme ultraviolet lithography. Note the first line in the second paragraph:

Extreme ultraviolet lithography, also known as EUV or EUVL, is an optical lithography technology using a range of extreme ultraviolet wavelengths, roughly spanning a 2% FWHM bandwidth about 13.5 nm, to produce a pattern by exposing reflective photomask to UV light which gets reflected onto a substrate covered by photoresist. It is widely applied in semiconductor device fabrication process.

As of 2022, ASML Holding is the only company who produces and sells EUV systems for chip production, mainly targeting 5 nm. 
At the 2019 International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM), TSMC reported use of EUV for 5 nm in contact, via, metal line, and cut layers, where the cuts can be applied to fins, gates or metal lines. 
At IEDM 2020, TSMC reported their 5 nm minimum metal pitch to be reduced 30% from that of 7 nm, which was 40 nm. 
Samsung's 5 nm is lithographically the same design rule as 7 nm, with a minimum metal pitch of 36 nm.

Note: ASML is not the only company to make these tools that make chips. They are the only company to use EUV which is a significant departure from the deep ultraviolet lithography process. 

EUV vs DUV, I suppose. 

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Netflix

Over at SeekingAlpha, also, Netflix disaster paves way for Disney to find a streaming partner. 

Folks commenting on the article noted that Disney already has a streaming partner, Hulu, and others suggested that regulators would never allow a tie-up between Disney and Netflix.  

I suggested the same thing earlier: that one of big ones (Apple, Google, Meta) could swoop in and buy Netflix. I had forgotten about the regulators.

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The Movie Page

On the joke at the end of the movie, Annie Hall

The essay is a bit long and a bit circular but it raises some interesting observations. 

Let me read the joke. It’s at the very end of the movie, and Alvy (Woody Allen) is talking about meeting Annie for coffee, and he says, “After that it got pretty late and we both had to go, but it was great seeing Annie again. I realized what a terrific person she was and how much fun it was just knowing her, and I thought of that old joke—you know, this guy goes to a psychiatrist and says, ‘Doc, my brother’s crazy! He thinks he’s a chicken!’ And the doctor says, ‘Well, why don’t you turn him in?’ And the guy says, ‘I would, but—I need the eggs.’ 
Well, I guess that’s pretty much now how I feel about relationships. You know, they’re totally irrational and crazy and absurd, and I guess we keep going through it because most of us … need the eggs.” The funny thing about the joke for me is that there are no eggs. Just because the brother thinks he’s a chicken doesn’t mean there are eggs. And David was like—

The participants:

  • Zohar Atkins is a rabbi, poet, scholar, and podcaster.
  • Nathan Goldman is the managing editor of Jewish Currents. 
  • David Heti is a stand-up comic of two comedy albums, It was ok and And you will regret it.
  • Sheila Heti is a novelist and the former interviews editor of The Believer.
  • Noreen Khawaja is the author of The Religion of Existence and teaches in the Religious Studies department at Yale University.

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The Recipe Page

Chicken, artichoke, mushroom recipes.

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