New Flying Lens Could Save Optical Lithography, Replace Blu-ray
 

With the never-ending quest for greater processor power, the hardware industry's sharpest minds and biggest companies are pouring money, time, and effort at the challenge of extending the life of Moore's Law. Moore's Law, which states that the maximum number of transistors on a given chip area doubles every one and a half years, is close to reaching its limit due to the problems with controlling light at ultra low nanometer resolution. While Intel, AMD, IBM, and others race to 32 nm and beyond, this wall looms ahead.

Now new research from the University of California Berkeley could buy Moore's Law some more time, and could pave the way for the next generation of ultra-tiny transistors. It could also pave the way for an optical drive replacement for Blu-ray. The research was led by Xiang Zhang, UC Berkeley professor of mechanical engineering and David Bogy, UC Berkeley professor of mechanical engineering. Its new approach uses a metal arm similar to that on a record turntable or in a hard drive. It also utilizes a tiny lens that literally flies above the surface of the chip wafer.

http://www.dailytech.com/New+Flying+...ticle13277.htm