NANOLITHOGRAPHY AND ITS PROSPECTS AS A MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY

The resolution requirements for nanolithography can be satisfied; both devices and small-scale circuits with features well below 100 nm have been fabricated. However other requirements such as adequate throughput (about 1 cm2/s) and a precision on feature edge placement of the order of 10 nm over 20 mm remain as serious challenges. Evolving technology may allow us to extend present-day technology such as deep ultraviolet lithography towards 100 nm feature sizes. But to go below that size radically new approaches will probably be needed. Examples include x-ray printing and some form of adaptive alignment in which relative distortion between mask and wafer is tracked.