Figure 4.1

Device cross section, SEMATECH's 0.35-µm CMOS process. Source: SEMATECH.

manufacturers. The design costs, the size of design teams, and the time required to design products at the end of this century will be major barriers to continued growth of the integrated circuit industry. This uncertainty in design costs and investment to manufacture new integrated circuits has led to numerous joint ventures focused on new products.

Supposing we are able to design integrated circuits in the twenty-first century, will we be able to manufacture them? Here, I would like to focus on just one processing step, lithography. Lithography and interconnect represent the two major costs in the manufacture of integrated circuits. Figure 4.3 shows the road map for lithography and some potential solutions for lithographic requirements. At 0.35 micron and 0.25 micron, the technology choice has been made. Deep ultraviolet (DUV) exposure tools, operating at 248-nm wavelength, will