Luminary Panel Sees Multi-Beam Mask Writers And Curvilinear Masks Key To 193i And EUV

By Jan Willis - 24 Oct, 2024 - Comments: 0

Attendance was up and the mood was optimistic at this year’s SPIE Photomask and EUV conference held September 29 through October 3, 2024. The optimism was apparent as well for multi-beam mask writers and curvilinear masks during the eBeam Initiative’s 15th annual reception and meeting held on October 1. In the eBeam Initiative’s annual Luminaries survey, 93% of those surveyed said that pu... » read more

Bringing Curvilinear Data To Mask Data Prep

By Al Blais - 15 Aug, 2024 - Comments: 0

Advanced nodes that have been leveraging curvilinear correction with technologies such as ILT and curvilinear OPC are increasingly requiring the use of curvilinear masks to meet advanced feature size and pitch requirements. However, building curvilinear masks with standard OASIS file formats can come at the cost of large file sizes, increased turnaround time, and reduced quality of results. The... » read more

The Benefits Of Curvilinear Full-Chip Inverse Lithography Technology With Mask-Wafer Co-Optimization

By Technical Paper Link - 27 Feb, 2024 - Comments: 0

A technical paper titled “Make the impossible possible: use variable-shaped beam mask writers and curvilinear full-chip inverse lithography technology for 193i contacts/vias with mask-wafer co-optimization” was published by researchers at D2S and Micron. Abstract: "Full-chip curvilinear inverse lithography technology (ILT) requires mask writers to write full reticle curvilinear mask patte... » read more

Why Curvy Design Now? Manufacturing Is Possible And Scaling Needs It

By Jan Willis - 21 Sep, 2023 - Comments: 1

Have you ever seen roots or tree branches take a 90-degree turn? Have you ever seen a river that takes a 90-degree turn? Nature doesn’t do 90-degree turns, or for that matter any sharp angle turns – not even 135 degrees. Yet the entire chip-design infrastructure is based on the Manhattan assumption of 90-degree turns. While it would take time to change, is there any doubt that a curvilinea... » read more

Mapping The Future Of Lithography

By Harry Levinson - 16 Feb, 2023 - Comments: 0

The SPIE Advanced Lithography + Patterning (AL+P) Symposium is always an informative event for lithographers, and looking at the Advance Program, it appears that AL+P 2023 will be no exception. The progress being made on key lithographic challenges is consistently of interest to attendees, and there will be many timely presentations that address issues of current significance. For example, r... » read more

Multi-Beam Mask Writers Are A Game Changer

By Jan Willis - 22 Dec, 2022 - Comments: 0

The eBeam Initiative’s 11th annual Luminaries survey in 2022 reported strong purchasing predictions for multi-beam mask writers, enabling both EUV and curvilinear photomask growth. A panel of experts debated remaining barriers to curvilinear photomask adoption during an event co-located with the SPIE Photomask Technology Conference in late September. Industry luminaries representing 44 compan... » read more

Unsolved Issues In Next-Gen Photomasks

By Mark LaPedus - 17 Feb, 2022 - Comments: 0

Experts at the Table: Semiconductor Engineering sat down to discuss optical and EUV photomasks issues, as well as the challenges facing the mask business, with Naoya Hayashi, research fellow at DNP; Peter Buck, director of MPC & mask defect management at Siemens Digital Industries Software; Bryan Kasprowicz, senior director of technical strategy at Hoya; and Aki Fujimura, CEO of D2S. What f... » read more

Photomask Challenges At 3nm And Beyond

By Mark LaPedus - 25 Jan, 2022 - Comments: 1

Business, Technology Challenges Increase For Photomasks

By Mark LaPedus - 16 Dec, 2021 - Comments: 0

Gearing Up For High-NA EUV

By Mark LaPedus - 21 Oct, 2021 - Comments: 2

The semiconductor industry is moving full speed ahead to develop high-NA EUV, but bringing up this next generation lithography system and the associated infrastructure remains a monumental and expensive task. ASML has been developing its high-numerical aperture (high-NA) EUV lithography line for some time. Basically, high-NA EUV scanners are the follow-on to today’s EUV lithography systems... » read more

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Knowledge Centers
Entities, people and technologies explored

Shift Left Is The Tip Of The Iceberg

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3.5D: The Great Compromise

Pros and cons of a middle-ground chiplet assembly that combines 2.5D and 3D-IC.

by Ed Sperling

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Focus is on letting engineers do much more with the same or fewer resources — and less drudgery.

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by Laura Peters

Memory Fundamentals For Engineers

eBook: Nearly everything you need to know about memory, including detailed explanations of the different types of memory; how and where these are used today; what's changing, which memories are successful and which ones might be in the future; and the limitations of each memory type.

by The SE Staff

What Comes After HBM For Chiplets

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