> When some people say "5 nm" is the early-stage of nanotechnology, remember that the gate length actually stays at 25 nm since 2009
Single exposure limit is 40nm for ArF and 30 for EUV. The cost of those 10nm were ~$18B spent over 2 decades, and it will go up much further. 3400 is rumored to costs $360M a pop in early production.
157nm fluorine laser can actually get to 25nm with a single exposure, and pure argon even further.
25nm is better than EUV at the moment, but it was an industry wide decision that it was better to stop beating a dead horse, and work on a first in-vacuum process as it has the biggest potential for further improvement, and opens a road to less painful transition to soft X-ray and particle beam litho.
Single exposure limit is 40nm for ArF and 30 for EUV. The cost of those 10nm were ~$18B spent over 2 decades, and it will go up much further. 3400 is rumored to costs $360M a pop in early production.
157nm fluorine laser can actually get to 25nm with a single exposure, and pure argon even further.
25nm is better than EUV at the moment, but it was an industry wide decision that it was better to stop beating a dead horse, and work on a first in-vacuum process as it has the biggest potential for further improvement, and opens a road to less painful transition to soft X-ray and particle beam litho.