designing at one-tenth micron

Murray Hill, NJ — Integrated Solutions Inc. (ISI) and Lucent Technologies will develop and sell manufacturing systems to make submicron ICs based on Lucent`s Scalpel electron-beam technology. The Scalpel technology will be licensed to ISI which will develop, market and manufacture support systems that permit semiconductor companies to make ICs with design features at widths as small as one-tenth micron or less. Current manufacturing design rules are at 0.35 microns, and 0.25-micron design rules are just emerging. The next stage will be 0.18 and 0.13 microns. The creation of these 0.08 micron features prove that electrical circuits and insulated barriers at those widths will soon be feasible for ICs. “Now we will be working to prove that e-beam lithography can be used to make actual submicron devices. Our immediate object is to evolve the Scalpel system to the next stage, proof of lithography,” says Dr. Lloyd Harriot, head of the Bell Labs research team which developed Scalpel technology.