Next-generation lithography

Next-generation lithography or NGL is a term used in integrated circuit manufacturing to describe the lithography technologies slated to replace photolithography. As of 2016 the most advanced form of photolithography is immersion lithography, in which water is used as an immersion medium for the final lens. It is being applied to the 16 nm and 14 nm nodes, with the required use of multiple patterning. The increasing costs of multiple patterning have motivated the continued search for a next-generation technology that can flexibly achieve the required resolution in a single processing step.

Candidates for next-generation lithography include: extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV-lithography), X-ray lithography, electron beam lithography, focused ion beam lithography, and nanoimprint lithography. Electron beam lithography was most popular during the 1970s, but was replaced in popularity by X-ray lithography during the 1980s and early 1990s, and then by EUV lithography from the mid-1990s to the mid-2000s. Focused ion beam lithography has carved a niche for itself in the area of defect repair. Nanoimprint's popularity is rising, and is positioned to succeed EUV as the most popular choice for next-generation lithography, due to its inherent simplicity and low cost of operation as well as its success in the LED, hard disk drive and microfluidics sectors.

The rise and fall in popularity of each NGL candidate largely hinged on its throughput capability and its cost of operation and implementation. Electron beam and nanoimprint lithography are limited mainly by the throughput, while EUV and X-ray lithography are limited by implementation and operation costs. The projection of charged particles (ions or electrons) through stencil masks was also popularly considered in the early 2000s but eventually fell victim to both low throughput and implementation difficulties.

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