Directions in advanced IC lithography: new applications for lasers and coherent sources

Summary form only given. After more than a decade of research, KrF excimer laser sources are finally being introduced into leading edge manufacturing equipment for integrated circuit lithography at 0.25-0.30 /spl mu/m feature sizes. The current industry consensus is that the most likely path for advanced IC lithography over the coming decade will involve excimer laser sources and projection optical systems extending all the way down to about 0.13 /spl mu/m feature size. Such technology will be used to manufacture 4 Gbit memory chips, microprocessors, and other integrated circuit systems with upwards of one billion transistors on a chip. After a discussion of the fundamentals of advanced IC lithography, we will review the rationale behind this view of the future.