Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/01/10
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Jim Brick wrote: <<...Design on a Sun workstation, route and tape-out via computer programs, directly to the fab process... Basically, semiconductor photolithography equipment was a niche market, which is now non-existent.>> Sorry, but you're wrong and the process you described does not exist in any production fabs. Photolithography is currently one of the most critical operations in the chip manufacturing industry. It is basically a pattern transfer process used to replicate the chip designs - layer by layer - onto the silicon wafers. The chip layout is first etched onto a quartz photomask by laser or electron beam technology to form a pattern in chrome. A single mask typically costs $4-10K and most chip designs requires 12-20 masking layers. The masks are then used on special machines called 'aligners' which accurately place and expose the patterns on the wafers. These machines use UV corrected 5:1 reduction lenses with diffraction-limited resolution capability. Canon and Nikon dominate the multi-billion mask aligner industry, delivering machines which can print 0.25 micron features in production. Berg _________________________________________________________ DO YOU YAHOO!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com