Australia Uses Nanoparticles To Design New Light Source That Helps Improve Chip Quality And Yield

A group of physicists from the Australian National University (ANU) and the University of Adelaide recently announced that by developing a new light source using nanoparticles, they were able to observe the world of extremely small objects thousands of times smaller than a human hair, which promises to lead to significant advances in medicine and other technologies.
The research could have a major impact on medical science by providing a cost-effective solution for analyzing tiny objects that previously could not even be "seen" by a microscope, and the work could also benefit the semiconductor industry by improving quality control in computer chip manufacturing.
The technique from the Australian National University uses carefully designed nanoparticles to increase the frequency of light seen by cameras and other techniques by a factor of seven. There is "no limit" to how far the frequency of light can be increased, the researchers said. The higher the frequency, the smaller the object we see with the light source.
The technology, which requires only one nanoparticle to work, could be applied to microscopes to help scientists magnify the world of ultra-tiny objects with 10 times the resolution of traditional microscopes. This will allow researchers to study objects that would otherwise be too small to see, such as the internal structure of cells and individual viruses. And being able to analyze such tiny objects could help scientists better understand and combat certain diseases and health conditions.
"Traditional microscopes can only study objects larger than 10 millionths of a meter. However, there is a growing need in a range of fields, including the medical field, to be able to analyze small objects as small as one billionth of a meter," said lead author Dr. Anastasiia Zalogina from the School of Physics Research at the Australian National University and the University of Adelaide, "and our technology can help meet this demand."
The nanotechnology developed at the Australian National University could help create a new generation of microscopes that could produce more detailed images, the researchers said.
"Scientists who want to generate highly magnified images of a very small nanoscale object cannot use a traditional optical microscope. Instead, they must rely on super-resolution microscopy techniques or use electron microscopy to study these tiny objects," Dr. Zalogina noted, "but this technique is slow and the technology is very expensive, typically costing more than $1 million. Another drawback of electron microscopy is that it can damage the fine samples being analyzed, while optical microscopy alleviates this problem."
While our eyes cannot detect infrared and ultraviolet light, we can potentially "see" them through cameras and other technologies. Co-author Dr. Sergey Kruk, also from the Australian National University, said the researchers were interested in obtaining very high frequency light, also known as "extreme ultraviolet". We can see smaller things with violet light than with red light. And with an extreme ultraviolet light source, we can see much more than what we can see with a conventional microscope today.
Dr. Sergey Kruk said the technology from the Australian National University could also be used in the semiconductor industry as a quality control measure to ensure a streamlined manufacturing process. "Computer chips consist of very tiny components with feature sizes of almost a billionth of a meter. During chip production, it would be beneficial for manufacturers to use a tiny source of extreme ultraviolet light to monitor the process in real time so that any problems can be diagnosed early."
In this way, manufacturers can save resources and time in manufacturing inferior chips, thus increasing the yield of chip manufacturing. It is estimated that every 1 percent increase in computer chip manufacturing output could save $2 billion.
"Australia's thriving optics and photonics industry, represented by nearly 500 companies with approximately $4.3 billion in economic activity, puts our high-tech ecosystem in a good position to adopt new light sources to access new global markets for nanotechnology industry and research." Dr. Sergey Kruk noted.