I understand the method of (photo)lithography and etching and stuff to create tiny microstructures at the surface of a material. However, I was wonderkng what the different effect of different structures are on the electronic properties of the now structured material.
Like lets say I create simple 1D line structures along the material how is that different from creating small rectangular islands.
So, a lot of Manufacturers like TSMC are having 7nm processes, but how can they manufacture at that precision when even Extreme Ultra Violet Light has a wavelength of 13.5nm? Wouldn't the edged gates basically be unusable?
https://imgur.com/YzbkM9e
I have an oddly shaped flex PCB (like an octopus) that I've been getting quotes on and due to the design it's bloody expensive. The high cost is due to the large wasteful areas of photoresist/copper/polyimide/coverlay but I unfortunately can't make the design any more efficient. As a result I began looking into ink-printed copper/silver.
In addition to the reduced waste of copper, the ink also has the added benefit of being able to add additives to it to enhance stretch/flexibility without trace breakage.
The more I look into it the more benefits I see to using ink-printed. To help me see both sides of the argument, what benefits would photolithography have over ink-printed when we're talking about printed cables? I'm wondering if certain industry areas like automotive, consumer goods might switch over to them at some time due to reduced cost?
