Multi-Beam Writers Are Driving EUV Mask Development


By Jan Hendrik Peters (bmbg consult) and Ines Stolberg (Vistec Electron Beam) The European Mask and Lithography Conference (EMLC) 2023, held in Dresden this past June, was attended by about 180 people and over 60 talks and posters were presented. With several keynote and invited talks over two and a half days, the conference gave an overview of the semiconductor and technology landscape in E... » read more

The Next Chip Shortages?


The rollout of chiplets and heterogeneous designs could have unexpected implications on a global scale, creating a whole new round of chip shortages that will be much harder to fix. It's impossible to say for certain what will happen here in the wake of massive changes in chip design and a fluid and unpredictable geopolitical situation. The trade war between the United States and China began... » read more

193i Lithography Takes Center Stage…Again


Cutting-edge lithography to create smaller features increasingly is being supplemented by improvements in lithography for mature process nodes, both of which are required as SoCs and complex chips are decomposed and integrated into advanced packages. Until the 7nm era, the primary goal of leading-edge chipmakers was to pack everything onto a single system-on-chip (SoC) using the same process... » read more

Week In Review: Semiconductor Manufacturing, Test


Japanese and American trade officials announced a joint roadmap for cooperation in strengthening global semiconductor supply chains by advancing Japan-U.S. collaboration with emerging and developing countries in the Indo-Pacific. China and South Korea agreed to strengthen dialogue and cooperation on semiconductor industry supply chains with a focus on the supply of key raw materials and ensu... » read more

The History Of CMOS


Since CMOS has been around for about 50 years, a comprehensive history would be a book. This blog focuses on what I consider the major transitions. NMOS Before CMOS, there was NMOS (also PMOS, but I have no direct experience with that). An NMOS gate consisted of a network of N-transistors between the output and Vss, and a resistor (actually a transistor with an implant) between the output and... » read more

Assist Layers: The Unsung Heroes of EUV Lithography


Most discussions of advanced lithography focus on three elements — the exposure system, photomasks, and photoresists — but that's only part of the challenge. Successfully transferring a pattern from the photomask to a physical structure on the wafer also depends on a variety of films working together, including the underlayers, the developers, and a variety of surface treatments. In fact... » read more

Nanoimprint Finally Finds Its Footing


Nanoimprint lithography, which for decades has trailed behind traditional optical lithography, is emerging as the technology of choice for the rapidly growing photonics and biotech chips markets. First introduced in the mid-1990s, nanoimprint lithography (NIL) has consistently been touted as a lower-cost alternative to traditional optical lithography. Even today, NIL potentially is capable o... » read more

Large-Scale Nanometer-Thick Graphite Film (NGF) As A EUV Pellicle


A new technical paper titled "Graphite Pellicle: Physical Shield for Next-Generation EUV Lithography Technology" was published by researchers at University of Ottawa, Sungkyunkwan University, and Hanbat National University. Abstract "Extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUVL) is widely employed in the electronics, automotive, military, and AI computing areas for IC chip fabrication. A pellicl... » read more

Tech Forecast: Fab Processes To Watch Through 2040


The massive proliferation of semiconductors in more markets, and more applications within those markets, is expected to propel the industry to more than $1 trillion by 2030. But over the next 17 years, semiconductors will reach well beyond the numbers, changing the way people work, how they communicate, and how they measure and monitor their health and well-being. Chips will be the enabling ... » read more

Evolution Of The EUV Ecosystem Reflected At 2023 Advanced Lithography + Patterning


As anticipated, this year’s Advanced Lithography + Patterning Symposium was a very informative event, with many interesting papers being presented across a wide range of subjects. Many papers addressed topics relevant to leading-edge lithography, which these days means EUV lithography. With EUV lithography firmly established in high volume manufacturing (HVM), we could see in the presentation... » read more

← Older posts Newer posts →