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Technology Stocks : Dupont Photomasks (DPMI)
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To: Duane L. Olson who wrote (427)3/21/1998 3:56:00 PM
From: Katherine Derbyshire  Read Replies (3) of 955
 
How long can a photomask last?

I don't have a precise number of days/weeks/exposures on that, I'm afraid. I do know that both replacement masks and prototype masks have shrunk as a fraction of the total market with the advent of projection lithography and better simulation tools. New designs are by far the lion's share. (Mask shops love foundries!)

I do know that the mask lifetime is long enough to be pretty much irrelevant for short run chips. I would also expect that replacement masks would be cheaper than the original ones, because the setup costs would be less.

Also, all of this only applies to chrome-quartz masks used for projection lithography. X-ray proximity masks are much more fragile and subject to much harsher operating conditions. EUV masks are not yet well understood enough to make any kind of predictions. Post-optical lithography techniques may have much different market characteristics from conventional (including OPC and phase-shift) masks.

Katherine
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