Underlayer Optimization Method For EUV Lithography

By Brewer Science - 21 Jul, 2021 - Comments: 0

Photoresist and underlayer combine to serve a central role in EUVL for patterning. Layers will be very thin in future, because high numerical aperture (NA) and tight pitches will require very thin layers in the lithography stack. This thinness will make chemical interactions at the photoresist-underlayer interface more common. Adhesion between these layers will be critical to overcome pattern c... » read more

Robust Growth And Strong Outlook For Semiconductor Materials

By Inna Skvortsova - 20 May, 2021 - Comments: 0

2020 was a year that made a mark in the history of mankind as well as the semiconductor industry. It was a year of business and personal disruptions caused by COVID-19, supply chain interruptions, and exceptional agility of industries coping with the new normal imposed by the pandemic. Nevertheless, it was a year of extraordinary growth for the semiconductor industry, including semiconductor ma... » read more

Why New Photoresist Technology Is Critical

By Rich Wise - 18 Mar, 2021 - Comments: 0

As chipmakers move to advanced technology nodes, they are challenged to resolve ever finer features. One of the major roadblocks involves the material used to transfer chip design to the wafer. That material is rapidly reaching its limit to accurately transfer designs. To keep next-generation device scaling on track, a breakthrough technology has been introduced: dry resist. To better understan... » read more

The Chemistry Of Semiconductors

By Ed Sperling - 21 May, 2020 - Comments: 0

At each new process node, the chemistry of chip manufacturing has become much more complex than at previous nodes. But at 5nm and below, it's going to get orders of magnitude more complex. For the first few decades, the chemistry of chips was largely shielded from view for most of the industry. Caustic gases were relatively well understood because they are a potential health hazard, but the ... » read more

Improving EUV Process Efficiency

By Mark LaPedus - 19 Mar, 2020 - Comments: 2

The semiconductor industry is rethinking the manufacturing flow for extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography in an effort to improve the overall process and reduce waste in the fab. Vendors currently are developing new and potentially breakthrough fab materials and equipment. Those technologies are still in R&D and have yet to be proven. But if they work as planned, they could boost the flo... » read more

Startup Funding: February 2020

By Jesse Allen - 04 Mar, 2020 - Comments: 0

AI drew the biggest investments last month, with two AI hardware companies and one autonomous driving software startup pulling in nine-figure sums. Investors also pumped money into semiconductor manufacturing and test equipment, notably around EUV lithography and advanced packaging. AI Hardware SambaNova Systems received $250M in Series C funding for its software-defined hardware for AI, le... » read more

EUV Arrives, But More Issues Ahead

By Katherine Derbyshire - 21 Mar, 2019 - Comments: 5

EUV has arrived. After decades of development and billions of dollars of investment, EUV lithography is taking center stage at the world’s leading fabs. More than 20 years after ASML's extreme ultraviolet lithography research program began, and nearly a decade after its first pre-production exposure tools, the company expects to deliver 30 EUV exposure systems in 2019. That is nearly doubl... » read more

Photoresist Shape In 3D

By Mustafa Akbulut - 20 Apr, 2017 - Comments: 0

Things were easy for integrators when the pattern they had on the mask ended up being the pattern they wanted on the chip. Multi-patterning schemes such as Self-Aligned Double Patterning (SADP) and Self-Aligned Quadruple Patterning (SAQP) have changed that dramatically. Now, what you have on the mask determines only a part of what you will get at the end. You will only obtain your final product... » read more

The Next Resists

By Katherine Derbyshire - 22 Oct, 2015 - Comments: 5

As EUV exposure tools, sources, and photomasks have become more capable, the lithography sector’s attention has turned to EUV photoresist. After all, once the exposure system can produce a high quality image at the wafer, the resist still has to capture it for pattern transfer. Unfortunately, the increasing emphasis on photoresist has made the limitations of current formulations even more obv... » read more

Resist Sensitivity, Source Power, And EUV Throughput

By Katherine Derbyshire - 30 Sep, 2015 - Comments: 0

In a recent article, I quoted 15 mJ/cm2 as the target sensitivity for EUV photoresists, and discussed the throughput that could be achieved at various source power levels. However, as a commenter on that article pointed out, reaching the 15 mJ/cm² target while also meeting line roughness requirements is itself a challenging problem. Because of the high energy of EUV photons, a highly sensitive... » read more

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Knowledge Centers
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