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To: Shakush who wrote (21708)	4/15/1999 4:06:00 PM
From: Proud_Infidel	Respond to of 25960

No agreement on 157-nm prospects at Semicon lithography panel A service of Semiconductor Business News, CMP Media Inc. Story posted 12:30 p.m. EST/9:30 a.m., PST, 4/15/99 By Jack Robertson MUNICH -- A lithography panel at SEMI Semicon Europa here today split down the middle on prospects for the 157-nm wavelength exposure tool -- depending on whether speakers felt that earlier-generation 248- and 193-nm systems could be extended to 0.10-micron processing. Ron Miller, director of Ultratech Stepper Inc.'s 157-nm mini-stepper program, said a small-field-of-view 157-nm stepper will be available from the San Jose company in a year for testing all the critical issues surrounding 157-nm systems. He said the mini-stepper can be used for developing photomasks, resists, and optics for follow-on full-field-of-view development tools. Phillip Ware, technical marketing director for Canon's Semiconductor Equipment Division, questioned if 157-nm tools can be developed in time to meet the SIA semiconductor roadmap's accelerated timetable, which he said could 2003 for 0.10 micron processing. He portrayed the industry's flip-flop on 157-nm as having an "other-world quality." Ware noted that in 1997 Sematech said 157-nm lithography wasn't feasible, and one year later ranked 157-nm as the preferred tool for 0.09-micron generation chips. Ware said too many unsolved technical roadblocks remain in 157-nm for the technology to be developed in time for 0.10-micron chip processing. He said no known material now exists for 157-nm resists or pellicles, and calcium fluoride material for lens must be improved by a factor of three. The entire optical path for 157-nm must also be purged, which he called a formidable challenge. Ware believed upcoming 193-nm argon fluoride laser tools, and even 248-nm krypton fluroide systems, may be extended by optical means to reach the 0.10-micron SIA roadmap target. Adolph Hunter, product manager for ASM Lithography, Veldhoven, The Netherlands, said tests now clearly show that 248-nm tools with high-numerical-aperture lenses can be extended to 0.13-micron and in some cases even to 0.12-micron processing. He said hard phaseshift masks aren't needed to push the workhorse 248-nm tools to these very small processing geometries. Winifried Meier, senior engineer of technology for Nikon Precision Europe, agreed that 248-nm tools "will easily go down to 0.13 microns." He said step-and-repeat exposure tools can also be extended below 0.18-micron limits -- while ASML's Hunter claimed that scanners will mainly be used for 0.18-micron and lower lithography. Canon's Ware pushed his company's IDEAL (Innovative Double Exposure by Advanced Lithography) optical enhancement technique to extend 248-nm steppers potentially to 0.10-micron levels.