05/16/2007  May 16, 2007 - Extending 193nm lithography through the 45nm and 32nm nodes while EUV litho struggles to gain traction will require performance improvements such as multilayer patterning and multiple exposure schemes, driving more use of spin-on patterning materials (aka resists), according to a report from Linx Consulting. Analyst Mark Thirsk reviews his firm's outlook for the resist market, indicating which areas will see the most growth and where are the best chances for market opportunities.

05/10/2007  May 10, 1007 - International SEMATECH is moving its headquarters from Austin, TX, to its operations located at the U. of Albany, and will launch a significant expansion there, matching $300 million in state investments for facility upgrades.

05/08/2007  Airgap structures have long been considered to increase the speed of on-chip IC interconnects, but it's a long way from proof-of-concept to a working process flow in a fab. In an exclusive interview with WaferNEWS, IBM strips away the hype to explain its new manufacturable variation on airgaps using a self-assembling polymer mask layer -- revealing that airgaps in standard low-k dielectric structures add only ~1% to chip cost for each layer.

05/04/2007  May 4, 2007 - Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) say they have created a method for manipulating and positioning individual nanowires on semiconductor wafers, enabling fabrication of test structures using only optical microscopy and conventional photolithographic processing.

05/03/2007  Hewlett-Packard has licensed its nanoimprint lithography process to Nanolithosolutions, which hopes to enable manufacture of more powerful semiconductors inexpensively. This is the first deal related to the nanotechnology work done at HP's Quantum Science Research group over the past 12 years.

04/25/2007  April 25, 2007 - Schott Lithotec, the last-standing US supplier of photomask plates, is ceasing production and will sell its Poughkeepsie, NY facility, finally deciding that lower ASPs and a shift of customers to Asia means it's no longer a viable business to be in.

04/23/2007  April 23, 2007 - SEMATECH is funding an additional $2.4 million project to support Veeco Instruments Inc.'s R&D of its ion beam deposition tool for use in extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography, part of SEMATECH's Mask Blank Development Center at the U. of Albany campus in New York.

04/21/2007  ;pushing the technology another significant step toward readiness for advanced manufacturing.

04/19/2007  GenISys GmbH, a Munich, Germany-based provider of software for optimization of microstructure fabrication processes, has opened a new office in Tokyo, Japan.

04/17/2007  April 17, 2007 - Sematech says its researchers at its Mask Blank Development Center (MBDC) at the U. of Albany (NY)'s College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering, have successfully detected and cleaned 10nm particles from mask blanks used in EUV lithography.

04/17/2007  April 17, 2007 - Cypress Semiconductor Corp. has licensed its 0.13-micron SONOS embedded nonvolatile memory technology to China's Hua Hong NEC Electronics Co. Ltd. Hua Hong already makes embedded EEPROM and OTP (0.35-micron) as well as embedded flash (0.25-micron) at mass production levels.

04/13/2007  April 13, 2007 - Vistec Semiconductor Systems GmbH and TOOL Corp. say they have integrated Vistec's LWM9000 SEM-based CD measurement system with TOOL's Lavis layout visualization platform, making it possible to more quickly display measuring layout design data and visually create recipes.

04/11/2007  Despite uncertainty about the future of the Advanced Technology Program (ATP), NIST -- which manages the program -- will hand out approximately $60 million in this year's competition. On April 13, ATP director Marc Stanley (right) will convene a series of conferences to explain criteria; the proposal deadline is May 21. Small Times' Tom Cheyney reports on the program and past winners.

04/10/2007  The German company Vistec Semiconductor Systems GmbH and TOOL Corporation of Tokyo, Japan, have announced the integration of Vistec's SEM-based CD measurement system LWM9000 SEM and TOOL's layout visualization platform, LAVIS. The integration makes it possible to display a measuring layout design data on LAVIS, and visually create a "recipe" quickly using simple mouse operations. The LWM9000 SEM can then read the recipes directly.

04/09/2007  The advent of 193nm (ArF) lithography brought a different kind of issue: contaminated scanner optics caused by the formation of silicon-containing organic compounds which form larger molecules that condense on the optics and cause lens contamination, resulting in flare and incorrect printing. A new absorbent material used in Entegris' filter keeps a "sticky" organic in its condensable form, preventing it from rearranging and propagating through the filter and ultimately reaching the optics.

04/09/2007  Georgia Tech researchers say they've developed a "3D multiphoton" technique, a process involving two-photon absorbing molecules that are sensitive to laser light at short wavelengths, that could be applied to simplify and cut costs for patterning 65nm devices.

04/09/2007  April 9, 2007 - TSMC says it will complete 45nm qualification and enter production as early as September, ahead of initial 4Q07 plans.

04/04/2007  April 4, 2007 - Molecular Imprints Inc. says it has secured $8.5 million in venture debt financing from BlueCrest Capital Finance LP, an investment that will support continued development and commercialization of the company's step-and-flash imprint lithography technology.

04/03/2007  Popular aviation metaphors used to describe the evolution of lithography in the semiconductor manufacturing industry invoke propeller planes (i.e. 1:1 masks), jet aircraft (reduction steppers), and even the next-generation lithography equivalents of pricey supersonic planes like the Concorde. Here's what I think is a more accurate metaphor for lithography's evolution, explaining why we use planes, jets, and even helicopters for different applications -- and why 157nm litho tools "never flew."

04/01/2007  Conductive paste screening on green sheet through a mask is a common technique to delineate desired circuitry for ceramic modules.