Lithography trends for sub-0.1/spl mu/m technologies

Lithography is the key enabling technology following the fast pace of feature size reduction, but also one of the major cost factors for the chip makers. Optical lithography is predicted to be applicable beyond 100 nm and 70 nm with the use of respectively 193 nm wavelength and 157 nm wavelength tools. Reduction of feature sizes to 50 nm and below will use NGL tools, and different candidate technology are present that will be discussed in this paper.