Not quite true. There is a pathway to shorter wavelengths for at least the next generation or two using fluorinated silicon dioxide and calcium fluoride for lenses. It's possible to get modest improvement below the half wavelength "limit" using special techniques (known as phase-shifting masks). And after that reflective optics in the far UV is a possibility, and of course electrons (which have far smaller wavelengths) have been used for many years to make much smaller structures (problems with electrons are mostly throughput, not resolution).
The problems in lithography are not fundamental but practical, at least for a decade or so. And there are two or three options for future lithography which have been very extensively studied. Odds are one of these known options will win.
Most universities (by now) have established intellectual property policies. You can see Carnegie Mellon's at
http://gollum.mac.cc.cmu.edu/univ_policy/documents /IntellProp.html
To the best of my knowledge all graduate students who are paid have accepted (implicitly or explicity) that they are covered by this policy.
white guy
In 18 years as a professor I haven't had a SINGLE non-US citizen Ph.D. student who has NOT stayed in the US. Many of my former students are working for companies whose first response is "we don't hire without a green card."
I don't have a problem with it. If there were enough interest by US citizens in graduate study we wouldn't get predominantly non-US applicants.
How do they do it? I don't know. I would encourage students to use the grapevine-check with recent graduates that have been in the same position.
(old) white guy
Slashdot Mirror
Not quite true. There is a pathway to shorter wavelengths for at least the next generation or two using fluorinated silicon dioxide and calcium fluoride for lenses. It's possible to get modest improvement below the half wavelength "limit" using special techniques (known as phase-shifting masks). And after that reflective optics in the far UV is a possibility, and of course electrons (which have far smaller wavelengths) have been used for many years to make much smaller structures (problems with electrons are mostly throughput, not resolution). The problems in lithography are not fundamental but practical, at least for a decade or so. And there are two or three options for future lithography which have been very extensively studied. Odds are one of these known options will win.
Most universities (by now) have established intellectual property policies. You can see Carnegie Mellon's at http://gollum.mac.cc.cmu.edu/univ_policy/documents /IntellProp.html
To the best of my knowledge all graduate students who are paid have accepted (implicitly or explicity) that they are covered by this policy.
white guy
In 18 years as a professor I haven't had a SINGLE non-US citizen Ph.D. student who has NOT stayed in the US. Many of my former students are working for companies whose first response is "we don't hire without a green card." I don't have a problem with it. If there were enough interest by US citizens in graduate study we wouldn't get predominantly non-US applicants. How do they do it? I don't know. I would encourage students to use the grapevine-check with recent graduates that have been in the same position. (old) white guy