MAGIC Program Aims Maskless Lithography at 32 nm

Aaron Hand, Executive Editor, Electronic Media -- Semiconductor International, 4/24/2008 10:38:00 AM

CEA-Leti (Grenoble, France) has officially launched a new research program on maskless electron-beam lithography, targeting maskless technology at the 32 nm half-pitch generation. Maskless lithography (ML2) has been discussed for several years, but has had difficulty gaining traction in the semiconductor industry. This three-year project aims to deliver alpha tools by the end of 2010.

With funding from the European Commission, the program, called Maskless Lithography for IC Manufacturing (MAGIC), is focused on furthering the development of a multi-beam technique from Mapper Lithography BV (Delft, Netherlands) and a projection maskless technique from IMS Nanofabrication AG (Vienna, Austria). The program also calls for the development of the necessary infrastructure on data preparation, proximity effect corrections and process.

Headed by CEA-LETI, the MAGIC consortium also involves ims-chips Stuttgart (Germany), Delong Instruments a.s. (Brno, Czech Republic), Fraunhofer Institutes (Germany), Synopsys International Ltd. (Dublin, Ireland), STMicroelectronics (Geneva, Switzerland), Qimonda AG (Munich, Germany), Fachhochshule Vorarlberg GmbH (Dornbirn, Austria), Fujifilm Electronics Material NV (Zwijndrecht, Belgium) and KLA-Tencor Corp. (San Jose, Calif.).

For years, the rising cost of developing mask sets for leading-edge lithography applications has been a growing concern for chipmakers. Maskless lithography is a potential solution from that perspective, particularly for chips with short runs, or for select layers requiring high precision. Deterrents to ML2 adoption have included considerable throughput issues, beam stability, charging issues, and others. But the cost benefit model continues to be compelling, as well as e-beam’s flexibility and resolution capability, encouraging continued work on the technology, with support from IC manufacturers such as STMicro, Qimonda and Taiwan Semiconductor Manfuacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC, Hsinchu, Taiwan).

“This consortium is very important to create the necessary dynamics for the technology to take off, as well as to leverage awareness of the technology and reach critical mass for adoption,” said Laurent Pain, project coordinator at CEA-Leti, in a statement. “The MAGIC program intends to demonstrate the capabilities of the technology by developing tools and infrastructure to ensure successful introduction into the industry environment.”

CEA-Leti has considerable experience in e-beam direct-write lithography both at its own site and through its partnership with the Crolles 2 Alliance, according to Serge Tedesco, CEA-Leti’s lithography program manager. “This project is a unique opportunity to assess maskless lithography, and to build the necessary infrastructure in a pilot line environment before its introduction in the industry,” he said.