Future of Computing: Lace Lithography to Shrink Transistors by 10x with Helium Atoms

A breakthrough in semiconductor manufacturing is on the horizon as the Norwegian startup Lace Lithography, backed by Microsoft, secured $40 million in its latest funding round. The company is developing a chip-making tool that uses a beam of helium atoms instead of light to print patterns on silicon wafers. This "BEUV" (Beyond-EUV) technology aims to push the boundaries of miniaturization.

The precision of this new system is staggering: the beam width is just 0.1 nm, compared to the 13.5 nm wavelength used by ASML’s industry-leading EUV scanners. Since atoms do not have a diffraction limit like photons, this approach allows for transistor sizes to be reduced by an order of magnitude. Founded in 2023 by physicist Bodil Holst, Lace Lithography plans to launch its pilot production by 2029, potentially revolutionizing how the world’s most powerful processors are built.