Science & technology | Computing

Back-side inspection

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EVERY few years, the semiconductor industry takes a deep breath and stuffs four times as many components on to silicon chips as before. And the more components there are, the more connections there need to be between them. As a result, today's microprocessors may have three or four layers of metal wiring snaking across their surfaces.

This article appeared in the Science & technology section of the print edition under the headline “Back-side inspection”

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