This is cool. CO2 used to make chips smaller, faster, cleaner

[Adul]

Computer chip manufacturers are facing a couple of tough challenges: one environmental, the other purely technical. Every year, a typical chip-making plant sucks up about four million gallons of ultrapure water and uses an ocean of toxic chemicals to scrub and prepare microchips for use. At the same time, companies in the highly competitive industry are trying to further shrink transistors and other devices on chips to continue to make computers and other microelectronics cheaper and faster. The solution to both these challenges could come from an unlikely source: carbon dioxide.

http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/upstream.asp

 

[Elledan]

Very cool, indeed 🙂

I only wonder how long it will take before this technology will be implemented.

 

[Beau]

<< ...When the researchers add hydrogen gas, the compounds release their metal loads onto the silicon surfaces to create high-quality interconnects thinner than 100 nanometers. >>



Wow..... all I can say 😀

 

[CTho9305]

cool

 

[kazeakuma]

cool, that's pretty impressive.

What I found really interesting though was the properties of supercritical carbon dioxide. That is one freaky substance

 

[Yoshitoshi]

Zero surface tension?

Hope they got good seals on that thing or they'll have one helluva leak!

 

[Evadman]

Woah, that is how you say... Nifty 🙂 Sounds like I have some research to do now 🙂

Adul, you have too many posts 🙂

 

[Adul]

CO2 in general has weird properties. It can go from a gas into a solid bypassing its liquid state.

 

[Jerboy]

<< Computer chip manufacturers are facing a couple of tough challenges: one environmental, the other purely technical. Every year, a typical chip-making plant sucks up about four million gallons of ultrapure water and uses an ocean of toxic chemicals to scrub and prepare microchips for use. At the same time, companies in the highly competitive industry are trying to further shrink transistors and other devices on chips to continue to make computers and other microelectronics cheaper and faster. The solution to both these challenges could come from an unlikely source: carbon dioxide.

http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/upstream.asp >>




CO2 has been used as a solvent for quite a while. There even exists CO2 dry cleaner. Traditional dry cleaner use perchloroethylene. It is carcinogenic and environmental hazard. Smells bad too. Basically liquified CO2 acts just like any other non-polar solvent. It is favorable anywhere, because it is cheap, non toxic, non flammable, residue free and no environmental hazard. Liquified propane works just as well for dry cleaning too, other than the fact it is extremely flammable.


CO2, even dry ice becomes liquid under enough pressure. Liquid CO2 dissolves many stuff petroleum stuff can. You'll be left with puddle of peanut oil if you place some peanuts and dry ice in a pressure vessel then let it evaporate. It works with other stuff like cannabis leaves, tobocco, coffee bean etc. (Don't try CO2 "leave oil" extraction at home. Average home containers can't sustain the pressure and you'll most likely experience a Ka Boom!).

 

[LiquidCyanide]

thats really cool, and as already stated, it could be used to clean up almost anything! nice! now they have a reason not to pump it to the bottom of the ocean...

 

[Evadman]

<< thats really cool, and as already stated, it could be used to clean up almost anything! nice! now they have a reason not to pump it to the bottom of the ocean... >>



Man, I thought I was the only person who actually thought that they would do that 🙂 What abotu a landslide? Nothing like a cpl million tons of CO2 vaporizing 10,000 feet down. That's a big boom and wave 🙂