Inside the global battle over chip manufacturing with Chris Miller - The Verge

Inside the global battle over chip manufacturing with Chris Miller - The Verge: Here%u2019s%20how%20the%20process%20works.%20A%20ball%20of%20tin%20falls%20at%20a%20rate%20of%20several%20hundred%20miles%20an%20hour%20through%20a%20vacuum%20and%20measures%20around%2030%20millionths%20of%20a%20meter%20in%20diameter.%20It%20is%20pulverized%20by%20two%20shots%20from%20one%20of%20the%20most%20powerful%20lasers%20ever%20deployed%20in%20a%20commercial%20device%20and%20explodes%20into%20a%20plasma%20measuring%20several%20times%20hotter%20than%20the%20surface%20of%20the%20sun%20%u2014%20several%20hundred%20thousand%20degrees%20Fahrenheit.%20This%20plasma%20emits%20EUV%20light%20at%20exactly%20the%20right%20wavelength%20of%2013.5%20nanometers%2C%20which%20is%20then%20collected%20via%20a%20series%20of%20about%20a%20dozen%20mirrors%2C%20which%20themselves%20are%20the%20flattest%20mirrors%20humans%20have%20ever%20produced.%20The%20mirrors%20reflect%20the%20light%20at%20just%20the%20right%20angle%20so%20that%20it%20hits%20the%20silicon%20wafer%20and%20carves%20the%20circuits%20on%20the%20chips%20that%20make%20your%20iPhone%20possible.%0A%0A