leading integrated circuit pattern defining technique

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milan2003_07

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Good evening everyone,

The phrase below has been taken from the book 'Microelectronics: present and future' by M. Buh and L. Zaytseva (in Russian):

Original sentence: Optical lithography has been the leading integrated circuit pattern defining technique for many years

Can we paraphrase the sentence the following way with the same meaning:

Optical lithography has been the defining technique for integrated circuit patterns for many years?

Is the meaning the same?
 
'Microelectronics: present and future' by M. Buh and L. Zaytseva (in Russian)

Do you mean this is a translation?

Why are you reading it in English, not Russian?
 
I have translated the original title of the book into English. In Russian it sounds as 'Микроэлектроника: настоящее и будущее'. The translation in English is 'Microelectronics: present and future'.

I'm using this book for studying and teaching different texts and vocabulary in the fields of physics and electronics.

Could you please help me with my phrase?
The phrase is NOT a translation. It's the original phrase given by the authors of the study book:

Optical lithography has been the leading integrated circuit pattern defining technique for many years - Original sentence

Optical lithography has been the defining technique for integrated circuit patterns for many years - Paraphrased sentence
 
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Can we paraphrase the sentence the following way with the same meaning:

Optical lithography has been the defining technique for integrated circuit patterns for many years?

I don't think so. (I don't know what you mean by 'defining' here, plus, you've missed the sense carried by 'leading'.)

I don't know much about microelectronics, but I think a faithful paraphrase would be:

Optical lithography has for many years been the leading technique for defining integrated circuit patterns.

Be aware that I might be completely wrong here. I believe that 'defining' is a technical term related to the way the patterns are created. Is that right? I'm sure you're more familiar with the process than I am.
 
I have translated the original title of the book into English. In Russian it sounds as 'Микроэлектроника: настоящее и будущее'.

The phrase is NOT a translation. It's the original phrase given by the authors of the study book:

I don't understand. Are you saying that the book is in Russian but that this particular sentence is in English? What's a 'study book'?
 
Jutfrank, I can now see the difference between my suggestion and yours. I think you're right.

I don't think so. (I don't know what you mean by 'defining' here, plus, you've missed the sense carried by 'leading'.)

I don't know much about microelectronics, but I think a faithful paraphrase would be:

Optical lithography has for many years been the leading technique for defining integrated circuit patterns.

Be aware that I might be completely wrong here. I believe that 'defining' is a technical term related to the way the patterns are created. Is that right? I'm sure you're more familiar with the process than I am.
 
I don't understand. Are you saying that the book is in Russian but that this particular sentence is in English? What's a 'study book'?
The book is aimed at teaching electronics, microelectronics and physics to English learners. It contains texts in English. The tasks are given in Russian. The task can be, for instance, to translate the text, translate some phrases, retell the text, etc.

As I've said before, I'm using this book for self-education and also preparing material for teaching my students (I'm an English teacher and I teach technical English, too).

By 'study book' I just meant a book used for study purposes like we use the term 'Student's book' when speaking about many classical books intended for teaching English. I know very well Oxford, Cambridge, McMillan, and some other student's books.
 
Okay, I see. Thank you.

If I've understood the sentence properly, I think my version is considerably better than the original. In the original, the head word technique is preceded by too many modifiers, making it quite hard to parse, for a layman at least. I'm not surprised you had difficulty with it.
 
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Okay, I see. Thank you.

If I've understood the sentence properly, I think my version is considerably better than the original. In the original, the head word technique is preceded by too many modifiers, making it quite hard to parse, for a layman at least. I'm not surprised you had difficulty with it.

Actually, I understood that there were many modifiers. I know these sort of constructions in English. The thing is that there are too many of them in the original sentence and the paraphrased sentence is much better for perception.
 
"Pattern-defining" should be hyphenated in the original. It is the patterns that are defined by the technique.
 
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