Advances in semiconductor lithography have driven the rapid growth of the semiconductor industry since its beginnings. From the contact printers of the 1960s to today's 193nm immersion scanners, this progress has been powered by the efforts of suppliers to push the technology envelope to improve tool resolution with better accuracy and higher throughput. In this article, we examine the evolution of semiconductor lithography using an "ecosystem lens"-expanding the focus to include not only the evolution of tool technologies, but also the co-evolution of the infrastructure of lens, energy source, mask, and resist technology to shed new light on the uneven progress of the past.
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