EXTRA LARGE FIELD SIZE SUB-QUARTER MICRON LITHOGRAPHY USING WAVEGUIDE HOLOGRAM

POC PROPOSES TO DEVELOP A TOTALLY NEW LENSLESS LITHOGRAPHY MACHINE USING A COMBINATION OF MICROPRISMS AND WAVEGUIDE HOLOGRAMS WHICH WILL PRODUCE IMAGES WITHIN A SUB 0.25MUM RESOLUTION. THIS MACHINE WILL HAVE HIGH RESOLUTION, LARGE FIELD MASKS, AND MINIMUM ABERRATION. BOTH THEORETICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL EFFORTS WILL BE MADE IN PHASE I TO FULLY DETERMINE THE LIMITS OF THIS APPROACH AND THE POSSIBILITY OFDESIGNING A PRACTICAL LITHOGRAPHY MACHINE FOR INTEGRATED CIRCUIT APPLICATIONS. TECHNICAL ISSUES INCLUDING MATERIAL REQUIREMENTS, DIFFRACTION LIMITS OF DIFFERENT HOLOGRAPHIC OPTICAL SYSTEMS (HOS), ABERRATION, MAGNIFICATION/DEMAGNIFICATION, NOISE ELIMINATION AND POWER DISTRIBUTION AND UNIFORMITY WILL INTENSIVELY STUDIED. HOLOGRAPHIC MATERIALS THAT CAN PROVIDE IMAGE RESOLUTION < 0.1 MUM ARE AVAILABLE FOR THIS PROGRAM BASED ON POC'S PROPRIETARY HOE FABRICATION TECHNIQUES. LARGE NUMERICAL APERTURE AND FEATURE SIZE ARE PROVIDED WITH OUR NOVEL RECORDING AND RECONSTRUCTION GEOMETRY WHICH USES A GUIDED WAVE AND AN EVANESCENT WAVE AS A REFERENCE BEAM. POC'S MACHINE EXCLUDES THE EXPENSIVE OPTICAL PARTS ASSOCIATED WITH E-BEAM AND X-RAY LITHOGRAPHY. THEREFORE, A 50% COST REDUCTION OVER CURRENT MACHINES WILL BE ACHIEVED. AS THE IMPORTANCE OF HIGH PACKING DENSITY INCREASES, WITH THE TRENDTOWARD MINIATURIZATION, A RELIABLE, REASONABLY PRICED, LARGE FIELD SIZE SUBMICRON LITHOGRAPHY MACHINE WILL BE CRITICAL.