I suspect knowing the fundamentals gets you pretty far, just knowing that UV and masks are a way to do it is enough for people to re-create the tech given the resources. Maybe e-beam would be a easier start? IDK.
It's all well and good to know the fundamentals of photolithography, but in a societal boot-strapping scenario it's not enough to get you out of the technological subbasement.
For example, I don't know where or how to derive the necessary chemistry. Or how to construct a building and fans to achieve a clean enough room to do this in. Nor do I know how to build a UV lamp. Hell, I don't know enough about metalworking to reliably manufacture enough wire to build a basic generator to power all this.
>I suspect knowing the fundamentals gets you pretty far,
Not much further than eighties, and you are not getting anything done with seventies era ICs.
I'd say. After seventies, most of academic research gets almost wholly separate from the fab floor, and of course fab owners and equipment makers keep to their valuable secrets.
At TSMC, the EUV workgroup, for example, is a very select cohort of people with 10+ years at the company, with posted security bonds, screened for loyalty, and signed an omerta style NDA.
...considering just how much got done with, say, the 6502, saying you're not getting anything done with 70s-era ICs is patently ludicrous. 70s-era microprocessors brought us the home computer revolution.
Not related but fun given the q: https://news.stanford.edu/news/2015/june/computer-water-drop...