EUV‐Lithographie für zukünftige IC‐Chips. EUV‐Lithography for Future IC‐Technology

In the past the overwhelming success of the semiconductor industry was based on the realisation of ever smaller structures on chips in ever shorter periods. This allowed to increase the computational speed of the processors and the amount of data that can be stored in a memory chip. This reduction of the critical dimension was mastered within optical lithography by transition to smaller wavelengths. Those lithography technologies that are currently in the development or test phase, based on 193 nm or as well 157 nm laser sources, will not achieve dimensions around 50 nm. A fundamental change of technology is thus emerging. The currently favored basis for dimensions of 50 nm and below is EUV lithography, based on an optical technology with an exposure wavelength of 13,4 nm. This substantial reduction of the wavelength also implies a radical change of the methodology used up to now.