PHOTONIC FRONTIERS: EUV LITHOGRAPHY - EUV lithography has yet to find its way into the fab

摘要

Demonstration of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) sources delivering tens of watts to wafers is a major milestone, and shipments will begin later this year. But serious challenges remain in reaching the performance needed for mass production of chips. Extreme ultraviolet (EUV) sources are the future of semiconductor photolithography-and they have been in the future for long time. Those with a long view could see the trend of shrinking chip features in the 1990s, as 248 nm krypton-fluoride (KrF) laser sources replaced mercury lamps, and 193 nm argon-fluoride (ArF) lasers were developed for even smaller geometries. By 2003, EUV sources had found a place about a decade out on the semiconductor development roadmap. Now it's 2013, and EUV has yet to reach the factory floor.