Recent developments and concepts in optical exposure technology

Optical exposure technology has seen huge advances in semiconductor lithography applications in the past 40 years. We have seen the use of optics to create structures at the sub-10nm level by interaction with photoresist chemistry and projection optics. However, where there used to be a multitude of technology options for semiconductor technology nodes, there is now only a limited set of options. EUV is now in the mainstream for the most advanced chip nodes, supplemented with 193nm exposure tools. At the same time, there is an evolution and almost a Cambrian explosion of related technology that also requires similar precision optical tooling. The ever expanding list of these emerging technologies includes new 3D semiconductor designs, IoT, Artificial Intelligence chips, Heterogeneous packaging, MEMs, biosensors, and security applications. It seems to be natural to ask, “Is there any room for more optical exposure tools? “ This presentation will attempt to answer that question. We look at the definition of optical exposure technology and what it means for the wide range of applications from semiconductor to the aviation industry. We present Nikon’s recent excursions with new products and show concepts in possible technology not only for advanced semiconductors nodes but also for large field high resolution applications such as augmented reality. Finally, we describe our recent developments in optical Maskless technology.