Double Patterning: Sharing the Benefit and the Burden


By David Abercrombie Share and share alike! Our mothers always said it was the right thing to do, and it seems that this ideology is now coming front and center for double patterning at 20nm and below. As we continue to shrink the metal pitch from node to node, we also push the lithography k1 lower and lower, since we are currently stuck with 193nm/1.35NA scanners. When k1 dropped below 0.6,... » read more