Equation 1 · Part 7 · Patterning at the Limit: What Actually Happens When a Chip Is Manufactured

Denominator: NA

R = k_1 \frac{\lambda}{\mathrm{NA}},

\mathrm{NA}

What this part means

The complete quantity below the fraction bar; it must be nonzero for this division.

Its job in the formula

NA occurs below the fraction bar. The quantity above the bar is divided by this expression; zero is excluded as a denominator.

Full expressionDenominator: NAArticle meaning

The passage around this formula

…in the loop carries information, so it deserves the arithmetic. Projection lithography is an imaging problem, and its resolution obeys the Rayleigh relation $R = k_1 \frac{\lambda}{\mathrm{NA}}$ . where $\lambda$ is the exposure wavelength, $\mathrm{NA}$ is the numerical aperture of the projection optics, and $k_1$ is a dimensionless process factor absorbing illumination scheme, mask engineering and resist behaviour. Two-beam interference sets a hard floor: for a periodic line-and-space pattern the smallest printable half-pitch is $\lambda$ …

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Learn the underlying idea

A fraction a/b means a divided by b. The top number is the numerator; the bottom number is the denominator, and it cannot be zero.

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Sources cited in the article section

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