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To: Tenebrous who wrote (22356)	7/1/1999 1:10:00 PM
From: ScotMcI	Respond to of 25960

July 01, 1999 02:15 ASML Announces Development Program to Extend OpticalLithography to 157 nm; Lithography Leader InitiatesIndustry-Wide Effort to Develop 157 nm Solution by 2003 VELDHOVEN, The Netherlands--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 1, 1999--ASM Lithography (ASML)(Nasdaq:ASML) formally announced today an active 157 nm technology development programto extend imaging capabilities beyond 193 nm technology. The program's goal is to deliver production lithography systems by the year 2003 forleading-edge IC developments. The 157 nm program will facilitate research activities amongASML's strategic technology partners, including Carl Zeiss for 157 nm optics. At International Sematech's advanced lithography critical review meeting in Chicago last month,industry members sanctioned 157 nm lithography as an important candidate for printingsemiconductor circuit linewidths smaller than 100 nm. A key benefit of extending optical lithography to 157 nm technology is that this patterningprocess comes with a proven industry infrastructure and manufacturing capability.Next-generation technologies beyond optical lithography will require the industry to assumemuch more manufacturing risk. "Developing a 'whole product' solution for 157 nm lithography will require a focused,industry-wide effort," said Bill Arnold, ASML's executive scientist. "This undertaking, whoseimpact will be felt throughout the global semiconductor business, is beyond the resources ofany single company." "ASML, our strategic optics partner Carl Zeiss, optic materials supplier Schott, and lasersuppliers Cymer and Lambda Physik are committed to meeting the technical challenges,"Arnold added. "However, the business factors are less clear, so we are actively soliciting investments oftechnical resources and participation from photoresist suppliers, reticle manufacturers, and allparties that have a role in continuing to shrink the design rules of advanced semiconductordevices. Also it is anticipated that key customers will participate in launching the program." Initial design studies by ASML and Carl Zeiss indicate that it is technically feasible to build avery high numerical aperture (NA) lens that will enable a 157 nm system to achieve greaterresolution and process latitude than is possible with 193 nm technology. Beyond the exposure system, however, other technical and business challenges remain inpioneering a complete 157 nm lithography solution. For example, photoresist and processdevelopments would have to be completed within a time frame that is much more acceleratedthan the industry has ever before attempted. To assist in this process development work, ASML is investigating, together with themicroelectronics research organization IMEC, the feasibility of starting a 157 nm processdevelopment program, to help their customers with a fast ramp up of this technology. ASML expects to complete design concept studies for a 157 nm lithography system by themiddle of next year, and to begin preparing the infrastructure for system development andprototyping, with the goal of shipping the first 157 nm production systems to leading-edge ICdevelopment groups by 2003.

To: Tenebrous who wrote (22356)	8/19/1999 12:30:00 PM
From: Tenebrous	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 25960

From today's NYTimes: Crowding Transistors Onto a Chip Integrated circuits 40 years ago had a handful of transistors wired together on a piece of silicon. Integrated circuits of 2005 will very likely have about 200 million transistors packed into each minuscule microprocessor. But to keep up this marvelous shrinking act, the camera systems that help pattern the extremely miniature circuitry onto silicon wafers have to change, because even the small wavelengths of light used are becoming too crude a tool. The existing method of chip manufacturing, called photo or optical lithography, uses ultraviolet light to record an image of the circuit on a slice of silicon, much as a photographer records an image on a piece of film. Now two competing technologies have emerged that use sources with far shorter wavelengths. One is called electron-beam projection, the other extreme ultraviolet: both offer the possibility of greatly shrinking the geometries of computer chips. "By the mid-90's, the industry realized that we would eventually hit the wall with conventional light," said Jess Blackburn, a spokesman for Sematech, a consortium in Austin, Tex., of semiconductor manufacturers. "We knew the next generation of chips would require a different wavelength." Beginning in 1997, Sematech sponsored an industrywide evaluation of new lithographic systems. The semiconductor industry, through Sematech and other groups, has issued several roadmaps for manufacturing development as it heads toward the 200-million-transistor integrated circuits it hopes to build by 2005. Such circuits are currently in the 5- to 10-million range. Because the development of new chip manufacturing processes is so enormously expensive -- some predictions put the cost between $300 million and $500 million for the semiconductor industry as a whole -- only one technology is expected to predominate on the productionlines of 2005. One of the contenders for next-generation lithography, being developed at Bell Laboratories, replaces light with a wide beam of electrons. "We've switched from printing with light to printing with electrons," said Dr. Lloyd R. Harriott, a physicist at Lucent Technology's Bell Laboratories who is program manager for the project. "This technique allows you to get around the difficulties of printing with light like diffraction and interference, which limit you today to feature sizes about equal to the wavelength of light." The electron beams project an image onto the wafer. "You can print much smaller features when you switch to electrons, which have an effective wavelength of 3.7 picometers, about a million times smaller than the wavelength of light," Dr. Harriott said. A picometer is one-trillionth of a meter. Precise beams of electrons, similar to those in scanning electron microscopes, have long been used in laboratories to inscribe shapes directly, but the process was thought to be too slow for the manufacturing of semiconductors. But the tool, which uses a beam far larger than earlier technologies to project a high-contrast image onto the wafer, has a number of optical and production refinements that lend it the potential for high-speed manufacturing. Dr. Harriott and his group have worked on the tool for more than a decade. The prototype of their electron-beam projection system is built; they are working with several semiconductor equipment manufacturers to produce a more advanced model commercially. They hope to have a beta version developed by 2002 or 2003, Dr. Harriott said. The other contender for next-generation high-resolution lithography uses ultraviolet light -- but unlike current systems it uses the far or extreme end of the spectrum, where wavelengths are very short. Dr. Charles W. Gwyn of the Intel Corporation directs the program for extreme ultraviolet development, a consortium effort that includes a number of research laboratories and manufacturers. "Extreme ultraviolet lithography is an extension of conventional optical wavelength technology, using very, very short wavelengths of 13.4 nanometers to expose critical circuit dimensions," he said. "The technology builds on present industrial optical experience -- integrated circuit manufacturers are used to working with optical lithography." Extreme ultraviolet light is absorbed by all materials, so the process uses reflective rather than transmissive materials, which are used in the current technology. One of the companies contracted to build prototypes of the extreme ultraviolet tool is Silicon Valley Group, a manufacturer of equipment for the semiconductor industry. A first-generation version of the tool is scheduled for completion in 2003, said Noreen Harned, who directs the program at Silicon Valley Group. Ms. Harned said she thought there would be only one victor in the battle to control next-generation lithography. "The whole lithography field is so expensive that no circuit manufacturer will want to buy more than one next-generation tool," she said. Meanwhile, researchers are trying to find ways to extend the boundaries of present optical technology. "The industry has years and years of comfort using optical lithography equipment," Ms. Harned said. "They are experts at squeezing as much as possible out of the present generation of light." In general, the lifetime of a particular generation of lithography technology is extended until a total switchover to the next generation can be made. "We have no idea which technology will predominate or when," said Blackburn of Sematech. "Next-generation lithography is a moving target based on demands of the industry."