A significant achievement has been made by a team of researchers who have successfully developed a method for laser-drilling extremely small 3-micrometer diameter holes on circuit boards placed at 5-micrometer intervals. This progress comes as a response to the growing demand for next-generation semiconductor chips that require intricate designs and miniaturization to meet the needs of high-performance technologies like generative artificial intelligence.
Professor Yohei Kobayashi, specializing in applied physics at the University of Tokyo's Institute for Solid State Physics, is at the forefront of this groundbreaking research. Together with collaborators from the University of Tokyo, Ajinomoto Fine-Techno Co., Mitsubishi Electric Corp., and Spectronix Corp., the team aims to revolutionize the way circuit boards are processed to accommodate the shrinking size of semiconductor chips. The development is especially crucial as traditional 40-micrometer holes on circuit boards are deemed too large for the compact nature of high-density semiconductor chips required for advanced technologies.