Pessimism grows for EUV litho Mark LaPedus EE Times (01/13/2009 12:02 H EST) HALF MOON BAY, Calif. The pessimism is growing for extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography. First, Intel Corp., the prime mover behind EUV, recently said the technology may not be ready for the 22-nm node, as previously promised. EUV has been delayed for some time and could be pushed out to the 16-nm node. IBM Corp. agrees. ''EUV will not be ready for the 22-nm node,'' said Gary Patton, vice president for IBM's Semiconductor Research and Development Center, during a presentation at the Industry Strategy Symposium (ISS) here. EUV has demonstrated the ability to devise a 22- and 16-nm device, but the technology continues to suffer from reliability issues, lack of sources and other problems, he said. Other next-generation lithography technologies will also not be ready for 22-nm. 193-nm immersion with high index fluids faces some issues, namely the lack of materials, he said. Multi-beam electron-beam suffers from a lack of throughput, he added. Amid probable delays with EUV, IBM recently said it plans to extend 193-nm immersion and move towards what the company calls ''computational scaling'' technology for the 22-nm node and perhaps beyond. Current optical lithography is expected to hit the wall at the 32-nm node. ''Computational scaling'' -- sometimes called computational lithography -- is said to overcome those limits and extend 193-nm immersion. A key to ''computation scaling'' is a partnership between IBM and Mentor, which plans to devise a new resolution enhancement technique (RET) to enable 22-nm designs and perhaps beyond. This RET technology, know as source-mask optimization, will not eliminate dreaded and expensive 193-nm immersion--with double-patterning techniques. Source-mask optimization is said to optimize both mask layout and illumination simultaneously to maximize image contrast in a scanner. The technology is said to provide a means to minimize the use of double-patterning by employing customized sources within the scanner, along with optimized mask shapes. http://www.eetimes.com/news/semi/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=212900153 --

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