Years ago, it would have taken a roomful ofhardware to match the computing power oftoday’s average laptop computer. One key toprogress has been the steady improvement inultraviolet lithography, the photographicprocess used to print integrated circuits oncomputer chips. However, current lithographictechnology has reached its limit because itslenses absorb the shortwave extreme ultravioletlight (EUV) needed to print even small chips.A team from Lawrence Berkeley NationalLaboratory, Lawrence Livermore NationalLaboratory, and Sandia NationalLaboratories—working together as the VirtualNational Laboratory (VNL)—has developed anext-generation lithography called ExtremeUltraviolet Lithography (EUVL). Thistechnology overcomes the problems of olderlithography by using coated mirrors, ratherthan lenses, to bend and focus the light. As aresult, microprocessors can be made that are 10times faster, with active transistors andmemory chips that can store 40 times moreinformation.EUVL technology and its associatedknowledge has been transferred under aCRADA to the Extreme Ultraviolet LimitedLiability Company (EUV LLC), a consortiumwhose members include Advanced MicroDevices, IBM, Infineon, Intel, MicronTechnologies, and Motorola. As a result of theCRADA, the technology is making thetransition into commercialization.EUVL will benefit the general public byimproving the quality of life through moreefficient consumer products and smartmachinery, breakthroughs in biotechnologyand materials science, and continuing advancesin personal computers and the Internet.