Semiconductor chips — which make our smartphones, cars, medical equipment and many other devices possible — are getting smaller and smaller, and today contain features that are so tightly packed together that there are only a few nanometers between each object.

Scientists at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory are developing a new method to reduce the cost of production and increase reliability of these chips by protecting the highly sensitive mirrors used to etch the chips’ fine-resolution structures.

The new method, from Princeton physicist Ahmed Diallo and graduate student Ben Israeli, involves creating a magnetic-free zone – an area where all magnetic fields cancel each other out – in front of the chip’s mirrors to guide particles away from the reflective surfaces.

Learn more at innovation.princeton.edu/celebrate-princeton-innovation