 new chip design could be implemented within five years, enabling applications such as video streaming on cell phones." 2.12.2 Cutting-Edge Manufacturing Vendors would like to make mobile phones small enough to embed into everyday objects, such as jewelry, eyeglass frames, or even clothing. First, however, researchers need to find a way to pack more transistors onto chips. TURBOCHARGING DATA Now, a new manufacturing technique, one that combines two chip manufac- turing processes, promises to make tiny phones an everyday reality. Lithography, the current technology chipmakers use to build the different layers that make up microelectronic devices, is cost prohibitive at a smaller scale. Another approach to building smaller microelectronic devices exists, yet has its own limitations. The alternative method relies on long chains of mole- cules, called block copolymers, which arrange themselves into patterns on a given surface. With self-assembling materials, creating exceptionally tiny cir- cuits is inexpensive and routine. This method is inexpensive, but it is hampered by a high rate of defects and several other fabrication problems. The new manufacturing technique combines lithography and self-assembly. By merging the two processes, researchers at the University of Wisconsin at Madison and the Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland developed a hybrid approach that maximizes the benefits and minimizes the limitations of each technique. "Our emphasis is on combining the approaches, using the desirable attributes of both, to get molecular-level control in the existing manufactur- ing processes," says Paul Nealey, a University of Wisconsin-Madison chemical engineer. Specifically, the researchers used lithography to create patterns in the surface chemistry of a polymeric material. Then, they deposited a film of block copoly- mers on the surface, allowing the molecules to arrange themselves into the underlying pattern without imperfections. "Tremendous promise exists for the development of hybrid technologies, such as th