New Manufacturing Technology Enables Vertical 3D Transistors 75
MrSeb writes "Applied Materials has taken the wraps off a new etching system meant to turn vertically stacked, three-dimensional transistors from lab experiments into commercial reality. The new Centura Avatar solves multiple problems facing manufacturers who are interested in 3D NAND but find their current equipment not up to the task of actually building it. According to the folks at Applied Materials, trying to build 3D NAND structures in real life would be like trying to dig a one-kilometer-deep, three-kilometer-long trench with walls exactly three meters apart, through interleaved rock strata — and that's before we discuss gate trenches or the staircases. While this machine specifically targets 3D NAND today, a number of the challenges to scaling flash memory apply to scaling CPU logic as well. As for when 3D chips will be available for commercial purchase, Applied Materials was vague on that point, but personally I would expect to see companies adopting the new etch equipment in the next few years."
Re:Only Two Questions: (Score:4, Interesting)
Five years are barely enough to get a small modification of a process from a research fab to a real one, if it works flawlessly. A couple more years are typical for technologies that don't work flawlessly at the first try. This process needs an antire new fab, with much more layers than normaly available, and their special etching tech. I wouldn't expect it to get mainstream soon.