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To: Ritz who wrote (21085)	2/12/1999 11:28:00 AM
From: BillyG	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 25960

Canon says extension technique will delay post-optical lithography semibiznews.com A service of Semiconductor Business News, CMP Media Inc. Story posted 9 a.m. EST/6 a.m., PST, 2/12/99 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.