Intersting news, does anyone have details on Canon's announcement of a k1 of 0.3 ???? Maybe they are just going to make us wait until SPIE.
-Uno
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Story posted 9 a.m. EST/6 a.m., PST, 2/12/99
Canon says extension technique
will delay post-optical lithography
TOKYO -- Canon Inc. here today announced a new optical
lithography extension technique that could significantly delay the need
for next-generation exposure technology being planned by a number of
competitors and the U.S.-based Sematech industry consortium.
The patented technique is called IDEAL--for Innovative Double
Exposure by Advanced Lithography. It will extend the use of each
optical lithography tool generation by increasing the resolution to
one-half the wavelength of the illumination light, said Nobuyoshi
Tanaka, director and chief executive of Canon Optical Products
Operations.
IDEAL is a multilevel imaging system that effectively reduces the photo
process k1 factor to 0.3, according to Canon. This will allow today's
248-nm steppers to produce minimum drawn feature sizes of 0.10 to
0.12 micron, according to Canon officials. New 193-nm tools, which
are expected to move into pilot wafer fabs this year, could produce ICs
with feature sizes below 0.10 micron using IDEAL, said managers.
And if 157-nm exposure tools are developed and delivered early next
decade, the IDEAL technology would be able to extend optical
lithography to the 0.06 to 0.07-micron range, said Canon managers. If
so, that could push back the need for so-called next-generation
lithography (NGL), which has become the focus of a number of Canon
competitors attempting to line up support for post-optical exposure
techniques (see story on the race to develop NGL technology from
SBN's Feb. 1 issue).
"The IDEAL method represents a significant breakthrough in optical
lithography that has yet to be factored into the SIA Roadmap," Tanaka
said. "If it is used with 157-nm tools, IDEAL could potentially shift the
NGL insertion node down to the 50-nm region."
He said Canon is now evaluating 157-nm optical lithography designs
that, when used with IDEAL technology, would enable resolution down
to 60 nm (for 0.06-micron feature sizes). The current technology
roadmap set by the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) and
Sematech shows optical tools potentially running out of steam at the
0.09-micron (or 90-nm) node, which would be around 2006, based on
projected device shrinks. But Canon believes its IDEAL technology
will push back the need for post-optical tools by at least three or four
years.
"It's impossible to be predicting now what will be needed in the next 10
years," said Phillip Ware, director of technical marketing for the
Semiconductor Equipment Division of Canon USA Inc., who is based
in Irving, Tex. "In 1999, there is no urgency to develop NGL tools," he
added, referring to Sematech's efforts to narrow down the options for
post-optical lithography.
In December, a Sematech workshop voted to favor extreme-ultraviolet
(EUV) technology and an electron-beam system, called Scalpel,
developed by Lucent Technologies Inc.'s Bell Laboratories ( Dec. 17
story).
In the last week of January, Nikon Corp.--Canon's biggest
rival--announced an e-beam stepper as a candidate for replacing
optical lithography in the next decade (see Jan. 26 story). Lucent
Technologies, Applied Materials Inc. and ASM Lithography
announced support for Scalpel as a next-generation tool (see Jan 26
story). And other group of companies, led by Intel Corp. and other
chip makers, is pushing EUV with the help of U.S. funding.
"All of the NGL approaches pose serious technology hurdles, but we
have the resources to pursue those that look promising, including
high-speed direct-write e-beam," Tanaka said. "But, while Canon
continues to maintain aggressive development programs for post optical
lithography, we believe that the introduction of any of the NGL
methods into mainstream production is far into the future."
Canon plans to describe its IDEAL technology in detail at the SPIE
Microlithography '99 conference in San Jose on March 18. |
