With each new lithography process technology generation becomes more and more difficult to meet the so-called Moore's Law. Doubling the number of transistors per unit area of the chip, which is still going on surprising regularity in the future, may slow down, and the preservation of Moore's Law requires manufacturers increased material costs, not to mention the engineering resources.
As recognized by Mike Mayberry , who heads Intel line of research in the field of components, market participants need to redefine the concept of scientific development in the field of lithography to successfully overcome barriers to regular physical ways to improve the chips performance .
The future of the semiconductor industry are clearly projected before the development of 10-nm technology, according to Mike Mayberry. Intel is using a number of existing and emerging technologies will conquer this milestone by 2015. However, with the decline of technological norms to 7 nm and below, the possibility of using silicon as a basic building material for the production of chips being put into question. According to Mayberry, market participants must work together to tackle the problem of finding new materials, and the work must be carried out in several directions at once. Now all semiconductor manufacturers with varying degrees of success using about the same idea. In the future, this specialization does not allow time to identify promising new direction that will be taken as a basis for the development of the industry.
Not only new materials (gallium arsenide or germanium), but also new transistors structures will be actively used in an attempt to find solutions to continue the production of chips with more and more advanced technological norms. We could already see how the competing consumers lithography equipment took together to fund ASML. This proves that in order to solve common problems, market participants may agree. In the development of new lithographic technologies such consolidation is also vital, according to Intel representative . Money in this area is sufficient, according to Mayberry, just need to prioritize funding.