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Cornell Team Visualizes Atomic ‘Mouse Bite’ Defects Inside 3D Transistors

A Nature Communications study with TSMC, ASM, plus Imec presents an EMPAD-powered ptychography method as an 'atomic debugger' for chip fabrication.

Overview

  • Cornell-led researchers used electron ptychography with an Electron Microscope Pixel Array Detector to reconstruct 3D atomic positions inside gate-all-around transistor channels.
  • The images exposed interface roughness—nicknamed “mouse bites”—where the gate meets the channel, a feature that can slow electron flow.
  • Researchers say the tool enables direct, after-step checks during the hundreds of etch, deposition, and heating steps used to build chips.
  • Prototype measurements indicated only about 60% of silicon in 5 nm channels retained a perfect bulk-like structure, with the rest altered by strain and roughness.
  • The Feb. 23, 2026 Nature Communications paper reports a collaboration spanning Cornell, TSMC, ASM, and Imec, with support from NSF-backed CCMR and PARADIM.