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To: FJB who wrote (21508)	3/26/1999 4:31:00 PM
From: Doug Skrypek	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 25960

I was speaking regarding Asia for starters. Secondly I listed particular fabs which may be involved. Furthermore its called hearsay, so I think a lawsuit is out of the question. It is not erroneous information-it is information period.

To: FJB who wrote (21508)	3/26/1999 6:14:00 PM
From: BillyG	Respond to of 25960

Canon's IDEAL exposure technology pushes optical litho below 70 nm A service of Semiconductor Business News, CMP Media Inc. Story posted 5 p.m. EST/2 p.m. PST, 3/26/99 IRVING, Tex. -- Canon has released more details of its new IDEAL multi-level optical imaging technology, which it introduced at the SPIE Microlithography '99 conference held here last week (see Feb. 12 story). IDEAL makes it possible for optical lithography to resolve circuit patterns smaller than half the wavelength of the illumination light. Canon says its method will allow 193-nm argon fluoride (ArF) tools to print circuit features as fine as 80 nm, and extend 157-nm optical lithography to 60 nm or less. IDEAL (for Innovative Double Exposure by Advanced Lithography) works with ordinary optical steppers or scanners, according to Phillip M. Ware, director and assistant general manager of technical marketing for Canon USA Semiconductor Equipment Division in Irving. It also works with a variety of patterns, and with excellent CD control, depth of focus and process latitude. "It applies right now to real-world chip manufacturing," Ware said. Canon is working with chip makers and circuit designers to optimize their circuit layouts to take advantage of IDEAL in volume production. The technology can be applied to periodic patterns of memory devices, as well as the isolated features of logic chips and ASICs, said Ware. The IDEAL imaging method works by dividing critical-layer fine and coarse circuit-pattern components between two reticles. By first using a simple alternating phase-shift mask with fine line and space patterns (a process k1 of 0.3), then a binary mask for rough-outline patterning, IDEAL achieves a multi-level exposure dose at the wafer plane. Highly detailed resist patterns are exposed where the accumulated partial dose from the overlapping aerial images of the phase-shift mask and the coarse reticles meets or exceeds the resist threshold level. IDEAL avoids complex optical proximity correction (OPC) and mask-shifter layout issues and the technology is compatible with both positive and negative resists. Lithographic processes typically achieve k1 factors of 0.5 in production environments. Process k1 factors below 0.4 will be needed for ArF-based lithography to reach 100 nm, and even the most aggressive processes do not exhibit that level of performance. By reducing the k1 factor to 0.3, Canon's IDEAL method will allow high-numerical-aperture 193nm ArF tools to print circuit features as fine as 80 nm, and extend 157 nm optical lithography to 60 nm or less. Canon has applied for 48 patents in Japan and the United States in connection with IDEAL. It plans to license the technology with the sale of its future steppers and scanners, which will be optimized for use with IDEAL technology. One aspect of Canon tool optimization needed for implementing IDEAL is already in place: extremely low aberration lenses, which are key to achieving process k1 of 0.3 in practice. Canon has reengineered its entire lens design, production and tuning process to dramatically reduce both low and high order aberrations. "All of the post-optical, NGL approaches have serious technology hurdles to overcome," Ware said. He said that Canon has the resources to pursue the NGL approaches that look promising, and is doing that today, but that it is likely to be many years before any post-optical approach becomes production-worthy. "From our vantage point," Ware said, "optical lithography using 248-, 193- and 157-nm excimer lasers with extension techniques such as IDEAL appears to hold the most promise, and provides the most flexible and the lowest-cost options for practical manufacturing for the foreseeable future."