RAPID FABRICATION OF COMPLEX INTEGRATED CIRCUITS USING LASER PANTOGRAPHY

THE PURPOSE OF THE PROPOSED PROGRAM IS TO DESIGN AN ELECTRO-OPTIC SYSTEM THAT WILL ALLOW THE RAPID PARALLEL PROCESSING OF INTEGRATED CIRCUITS (ICS) WITH FOCUSED LASER BEAMS. CURRENT LASER PANTOGRAPH (LP) SYSTEMS, WHICH HAVE BEEN USED TO SUCCESSFULLY FABRICATE OR MODIFY ICS, USE A SINGLE FOCUSED BEAM TO SCAN THE IC. THIS PROCESS IS TOO SLOW TO BE OF SIGNIFICANT COMMERCIAL USE. THE GOAL OF THE PROPOSED PROGRAM IS TO DESIGN AN ELECTRO-OPTIC MASK THAT ALLOWS NUMEROUS FOCUSED LASER BEAMS (@) TO SIMULTANEOUSLY IRRADIATE THE IC AND THUS GREATLY SPEED UP THE LASER WRITING PROCESS TO THE POINT WHERE IT OFFERS BENEFITS OVER CONVENTIONAL IC FABRICATION METHODS FOR SOME APPLICATIONS. SEVERAL ELECTRO-OPTIC SYSTEMS, DEVELOPED IN OTHER PROGRAMS, WILL BE INVESTIGATED FOR APPLICATION IN THE LP FIELD. THESE SPATIAL LIGHT MODULATORS WILL BE ANALYZED SO THAT THEY CAN BE RATED ACCORDING TO COMPLEXITY, AVAILABILITY OF HARDWARE, COST, LASER DAMAGE, RISK, AND PROCESSING RATE POTENTIAL. THE MOST ATTRACTIVE CONCEPT WILL BE REDESIGNED TO SATISFY THE 100 SPOT DEFLECTION GOAL OF THE PROGRAM. THE CONCEPT WILL BE FABRICATED AND TESTED IN PHASE II.