Nanoimprint Suppliers Gathering Support

Regardless of the technical advantages it might offer, nanoimprint lithography (NIL) will get nowhere without the infrastructure to support development and volume production. NIL system manufacturers have been busy rounding up that support, adding companies from throughout the semiconductor industry to their list of partners.

NIL is a next-generation 1× lithography technology on the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS) for possible inclusion at the 32 nm node (see "One on One: A Closer Look at Nanoimprinting ," Semiconductor International, September 2004, p. 40). In the latest bid for commercialization, EV Group (EVG, Schärding, Austria) launched a global consortium dedicated to commercializing advanced NIL technologies. Called NILCom, the consortium's mission is to establish a high-volume manufacturing NIL platform in nano-electronics, data storage, life sciences and optoelectronics by creating a technology interface for qualifying and standardizing the related infrastructure.

Launched in December at NNT '04 (International Conference on Nanoimprint and Nanoprint Technologies), NILCom is represented by members from throughout industry:

• Templates: IMS Chips/Institut für Mikroelektronik Stuttgart (Germany), Quantiscript Inc. (Sherbrooke, Canada), and Transfer Devices Inc. (Santa Clara, Calif.)
• Resists: Micro Resist Technology GmbH (Berlin), and Toyo Gosei Co. Ltd. (Chiba, Japan)
• Processes: AMO GmbH (Aachen, Germany), National Research Council of Canada's Industrial Materials Institute (Ottawa, Canada), and Waseda University (Tokyo)
• Equipment: EVG, and Applied MicroStructures Inc. (San Jose)
• Metrology: Leica Microsystems AG (Wetzlar, Germany)

"We have assembled critical elements of the entire supply chain," said Peter Podesser, EVG's CEO, in a statement. "Spanning North America, Europe and Asia, we will leverage NIL synergies and support accelerated market segmentation for key applications. With our leading companies and research centers of excellence, we will focus on providing total, high-volume NIL solutions, equipment and processes for chemicals, templates and leading IC manufacturers."

EVG also made a couple other NIL announcements in December, including a collaboration with Komag Inc. (San Jose) for a high-volume NIL application for mass data storage, and the installation of a fully automated, UV step-and-repeat NIL (UV-NIL) system at research center AMO. The NIL stepper being delivered this quarter to AMO — which has been participating in UV-NIL joint-development programs with EVG since 1997 — includes a dual-stage alignment approach in lower-pressure environments, sub-50 nm overlay alignment accuracy, and resolution down to 10 nm.

Meanwhile, Molecular Imprints Inc. (MII, Austin, Texas), another leading player in the NIL arena, has made several announcements lately regarding its alignments. For one, the Nano Technology Systems Division (NTS) at Carl Zeiss SMT AG (Oberkochen, Germany) has opened a customer demo lab for sales support of MII's Step & Flash Imprint Lithography (S-FIL) equipment. NTS has created the required infrastructure, including cleanrooms, imprint systems, process technology and measuring equipment, and built up a group of dedicated experts. MII's Imprio 100 demo tool has been installed, with more to follow.

MII also announced an exclusive licensing agreement with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT, Cambridge, Mass.) for the use of the university's moiré fringe alignment technology in MII's NIL tools. MII plans to use the technology as a primary vehicle for high-resolution alignment in advanced lithography applications — the company's engineers have demonstrated 7 nm, 3σ alignment on an MII tool with this technique.

For additional information on lithography, go to www.semiconductor.net/lithography