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Re:Intel Delays Mass Production of 10nm CPUs to 2019 by kibwen on Friday April 27, 2018 @10:18PM (#16945763)
Thanks for the elaboration. Is there also a layman's explanation for the what makes 13.5nm lasers harder to etch with than 193nm lasers?
Re:Intel Delays Mass Production of 10nm CPUs to 2019 by Barjak on Friday April 27, 2018 @10:51PM (#16945840)
There are no lenses which are transparent at 13.5. This means you have to use mirrors instead, and even that's a challenge. 13.5nm was selected because it can be reflected by special Molybdenum/Silicon mirrors, but even these mirrors only reflect about 70% of the light. This means that for every two mirrors you add to the system, you have to double the brightness of your energy source.

As I understand it, the EUV light is produced by dropping little drops of tin in front of a laser, which turns it into a plasma that emits 13.5nm light. However, tin particles scatter everywhere and eventually damage the collector mirror, so it's hard to make these machines robust.

I also imagine with these high energies and 30% absorption, you have to cool all the mirrors to keep them from deforming, but I'm no expert.

Re:Intel Delays Mass Production of 10nm CPUs to 2019 by stephen999 on Friday April 27, 2018 @10:40PM (#16945810)
Radiation at 13nm cannot use normal mirrors or lenses for guiding/focusing the beam. The ones we know of reduce the power significantly such that your light source has to be very powerful. Generating this radiation is not easy.