Advances in 193nm lithography tools

The never ending drive for faster and denser IC's has reached a staggering pace and is attributable to the economics of the semiconductor industry and competition among chip manufacturers. This quest may be approached in different ways. A common approach is to continue to push the 248nm wavelength lithographic tools. This paper reviews the status of 193nm lithography with respect to its production worthiness, capability and extendibility when compared to 248nm systems. Key issues such as cost of ownership and process maturity are discussed. Analytical results, system analyses and recent lithographic results are presented. Conclusions are offered with respect to the logical timing of the insertion of 193nm lithography tools into semiconductor manufacturing.