Steven;
Spinners wouldn't be my choice but I'm always interested to learn from others' viewpoints.
With the progression of the industry to smaller geometries and very large fields there will be tremendous opportunities in critical enabling technologies affecting projection optical lithography. My focus investments in no order and just by industry group are: mask making, mask inspection, all elements of advanced steppers/scanners (and separate elements: illumination source and lens) , CMP and all manner of planerization, and REI. All critical to the IC industry, very expensive, and needing to be changed out with each progression of lithography in (I'm guessing here (A WAG) --- 100 fabs or so.)
My interest in resist is primarily as gate or speedbump affecting the rate of DUV system purchases. In the past there has been a strong reluctance to migrate from the much better understood I-line chemistry to much less understood and less controllable 248 DUV chemistry. In part, the great interest in advance mask technology (OPC - Optical Proximity Correction and PSM --- Phase Shifting Mask) was induced by this reluctance to change processing chemistry not to mention the enormous costs associated with DUV aligners, floor space & siting issues etc.). This has delayed purchases at a number of companies.
I'd be very interested in any opinions on DUV photoresist. Correct me if I'm wrong please, my understanding is that the Japanese currently have the 248 PR of choice right now through TOK. Other key players include IBM, Shipley/IBM, JSR.
BP |
