Semi road map adds imprint, maskless lithography

摘要

Austin, Texas ― Maskless and imprint lithography have been added to the 2003 edition of the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors, swelling the options in the critical lithography arena. The road map, rolled out last week at a meeting in Taiwan, adds a new designation?"litho-friendly design"―to emphasize the importance of avoiding forbidden pitches and other design no-no's. Maskless lithography (see Sept. 22, page 18) goes on the road map at the 45-nanometer node, which could see early production in 2007. Imprint was added to the 32-nm node, coming in 2009, though realistically it may be 2013 before imprint lithography is ready for volume production, said Walt Trybula, a senior fellow at International Sematech, based here. In the late '90s, Sematech sponsored several well-publicized next-generation lithography workshops, with votes taken among the 150 or so participants. Extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) lithography gradually gained favor, X-ray lithography was dropped as the challenge of making the proximity membrane masks became apparent and options were further whittled down to four serious next-generation lithography candidates. Despite that sorting out, however, 11 or 12 forms of maskless and masked lithography are now being seriously pursued, Trybula said.