News Article
All The Major Obstacles To 157nm Optical Lithography Have Been Overcome, Was
All the major obstacles to 157nm optical lithography have been overcome, was
the striking claim to come out of the International Symposium on 157nm
Lithography in Belgium.
"Although very significant engineering challenges remain, it is believed
that the developments are on track targeting insertion in manufacturing,"
says Luc Van den hove, general chair of the 2002 157nm symposium, and vice
president of Silicon Process and Device Technology at IMEC. "All major
bottlenecks have been removed."
Tony Yen, symposium co-chair and a director of Lithography at International
SEMATECH (ISMT), adds: "All lens designs for the first-generation 157nm
exposure tools have now been fixed, and suppliers' commitment to deliver the
first 157nm scanners in 2004 is highly encouraging."
These machines will accommodate the use of hard as well as soft pellicles.
Birefringence of the basic calcium fluoride optical material has been
minimised using compensating lens designs. Improved resists have increase
transparency and imaging characteristics. Hard pellicles can be used to
protect the photomasks.
While these developments enable the 157nm to go forward, further work is
being carried out to extend the technology. New resist chemistry is needed
to provide the resolution and thickness for 65nm manufacturing. Lower cost
soft pellicles are the aim of an ISMT project.
The next symposium is scheduled for August, 2003, Yokohama, Japan.
US foundry PolarFab has a new 0.5micron BiCMOS process (PBC4). This is aimed
at the power management and smart power markets with a top power level of
30V. A 40V capability is planned for availability in 2003. The process is
available on 150mm and 200mm wafers.
Researchers have developed a technique for welding single-walled carbon
nanotubes using irradiation and heat. The source of the radiation was a
special high voltage electron microscope in Stuttgart, Germany. The work was
the result of collaboration between scientists from the Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute in New York, Germany, Mexico, the UK and Belgium,
Currently, bonds are made between tubes that cross and touch.
"Unfortunately, we can't control this type of alignment just yet," says
Professor Pulickel Ajayan of Rensselaer.
Japanese researchers at the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology
have produced a light emitting device based on nanocrystalline porous
silicon (nc-PS). The device consists of a semitransparent top electrode, a
thin film of fluorescent material, the nc-PS layer, an n-type silicon
substrate and an ohmic contact on the back of the wafer.
A positive dc voltage on the top electrode injects electrons into the nc-PS.
These are accelerated via multiple tunneling through the nanocrystallites,
reaching the outer surface as energetic hot or quasi-ballistic electrons.
The electrons excite the fluorescent film creating the light.
The researchers describe the device as being a "vacuumless cathode ray
tube". "It may lead to big innovations in the development of large-area thin
flat-panel display and other electronic devices," says the abstract to their
Applied Physics Letters report (September 23, 2002).
IMPORTANT EUROSEMI PLUS TRIALISTS
that the developments are on track targeting insertion in manufacturing,"
says Luc Van den hove, general chair of the 2002 157nm symposium, and vice
president of Silicon Process and Device Technology at IMEC. "All major
bottlenecks have been removed."
Tony Yen, symposium co-chair and a director of Lithography at International
SEMATECH (ISMT), adds: "All lens designs for the first-generation 157nm
exposure tools have now been fixed, and suppliers' commitment to deliver the
first 157nm scanners in 2004 is highly encouraging."
These machines will accommodate the use of hard as well as soft pellicles.
Birefringence of the basic calcium fluoride optical material has been
minimised using compensating lens designs. Improved resists have increase
transparency and imaging characteristics. Hard pellicles can be used to
protect the photomasks.
While these developments enable the 157nm to go forward, further work is
being carried out to extend the technology. New resist chemistry is needed
to provide the resolution and thickness for 65nm manufacturing. Lower cost
soft pellicles are the aim of an ISMT project.
The next symposium is scheduled for August, 2003, Yokohama, Japan.
US foundry PolarFab has a new 0.5micron BiCMOS process (PBC4). This is aimed
at the power management and smart power markets with a top power level of
30V. A 40V capability is planned for availability in 2003. The process is
available on 150mm and 200mm wafers.
Researchers have developed a technique for welding single-walled carbon
nanotubes using irradiation and heat. The source of the radiation was a
special high voltage electron microscope in Stuttgart, Germany. The work was
the result of collaboration between scientists from the Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute in New York, Germany, Mexico, the UK and Belgium,
Currently, bonds are made between tubes that cross and touch.
"Unfortunately, we can't control this type of alignment just yet," says
Professor Pulickel Ajayan of Rensselaer.
Japanese researchers at the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology
have produced a light emitting device based on nanocrystalline porous
silicon (nc-PS). The device consists of a semitransparent top electrode, a
thin film of fluorescent material, the nc-PS layer, an n-type silicon
substrate and an ohmic contact on the back of the wafer.
A positive dc voltage on the top electrode injects electrons into the nc-PS.
These are accelerated via multiple tunneling through the nanocrystallites,
reaching the outer surface as energetic hot or quasi-ballistic electrons.
The electrons excite the fluorescent film creating the light.
The researchers describe the device as being a "vacuumless cathode ray
tube". "It may lead to big innovations in the development of large-area thin
flat-panel display and other electronic devices," says the abstract to their
Applied Physics Letters report (September 23, 2002).
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