Requirements and challenges for lithography...beyond 193 nm optics

The growth of the semiconductor industry is driven by steady advances in microlithography. The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) Roadmap has been revised for 1997 with accelerated requirements. The 180 nm generation has been pulled in two years from 2001 to 1999. Subsequent generations have all been accelerated by one year. In addition, the Roadmap is now driven by microprocessor needs. The minimum feature size (MFS) is now the isolated line of a microprocessor gate, and it is approximately 75% of the generation size. Optical lithography is reaching its cost-effective limits near 130 nm. The next generation lithography (NGL) must be available by 2003 for pilot production, but the path to get there is not clear. In order to meet the needs of its members, SEMATECH has embarked on a program to explore and reach a global consensus on the technology options on the Roadmap for NGL. This paper reviews the revised SIA Roadmap and its implications for the semiconductor industry for smaller feature sizes, larger chip sizes and new technologies. The paper also reviews the status of the SEMATECH program to reach consensus on NGL, including the critical issues for each technology.