>>I realized, it's cheap when one considers no other equipment upgrades
are necessary. I believe current Deep UV is 193 nanometers. Dropping<<
Just a minor point here. Current DUV is 248 nm, not 193 nm. So yes, *major* equipment upgrades will absolutely be required for sub-0.13 micron or so features. 193 nm still seems more viable and less expensive than x-ray or E-beam, but the UT work, exciting though it is, is a long long way from production.
Also, to my knowledge, DPMI does not hold the patent on phase shift masks. The particular mask type used for the UT work was invented by Marc Levenson and coworkers at IBM. (I'm not sure which names are on the patent, but it is generally known in the industry as a "Levenson phase shift mask.") All of this was long enough ago that the patent may very well have expired, or been broken, by now.
Disclaimer: Marc Levenson is a friend and former coworker of mine, so I may be biased.
Katherine |
