@maestrodrumboe

"What degree of difficulty are they facing in the process and does anybody know if they were already working on this prior to the recent NR?"

I'm not qualified to say how difficult it would be, but I think it involves setting design rules with new geometries based on the reduced feature sizes. If this is true, it's just a matter of calculating and inputting the settings, and then testing to see if it is fully functional. At first glance a person might wonder why they just didn't do it long before now. But as they continue to add functionality and new configurations it makes sense to confidently use functional components and test them against measured results.

POET announced in their MS3 NR this past December, in addition to the laser, that they would be working to reduce the n- & p-channel to 100nm. However, only the n-channel has been reported reduced (to .8um, I think?) in subsequent milestones.

I suspect when MS5 & MS7 are announced, Taylor and team will already be part way through the process of scalling towards 100nm, with no other capabilities to develop - just simply reducing what they have developed to date.