Materials Science at the Heart of Next-Generation Microelectronics

Materials innovation is powering the future of microelectronics. This research focuses on the fundamental materials that make modern chips possible—from resist materials that define nanoscale patterns, to channel and interconnect materials that carry and connect electrical signals. By understanding how these materials behave during EUV lithography, scientists can precisely control patterning at the smallest scales. The goal: enable next-generation, smaller, faster, and more energy-efficient devices through breakthroughs in materials science.

Transcript

00:00:06 Microelectronics plays a critical role in the modern world. It's embedded in every aspects in our life. Today, we need to meet the growing demands of the computing power. So we need to make our devices smaller, faster, and also more energy efficient. Fundamental research and materials innovation will play a very important role. I study the materials that make up electronics, for example, the resist materials that record the patterns, and the channel materials that the carry signal,

00:00:46 and also the interconnected materials that link everything together. And finally we got a chip from this materials. And those chips are used in our phone, laptop, and cars, and everything in our daily life. At Berkeley Lab, we have the EUV lithography tool that can make a very tiny features. And that features can be recorded in the resist materials, that is the fundamentals for the microelectronics. We need to understand how resist materials behave during the EUV lithography process

00:01:21 and then we can control them to achieve the high precise patterning. I think I really hope to see the EUV lithography and the new materials, they can come together and enable next generation microelectronics. And, we can continue to meet the demands for the computing power. Also, this field consistently remind me how fundamental science can be part of our daily lives. I think that's what keeps me motivated and excited for my research.