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Extreme-Ultraviolet Lithography Shrinks
Silicon-Wafer Patterns To 0.03 µm

The first full-scale prototype machine for making ICs by using extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) light has been completed, proving that the technology works. This breakthrough should lead to microprocessors that are 10 times faster than today's devices, as well as memory chips with corresponding increases in storage capacity.

EUV lithography was developed because current imaging technology will most likely reach its limits in a few years. Present deep-ultraviolet (DUV) lithography technology will enable manufactures to eventually print circuits as narrow as 0.1 µm. EUV lithography technology will yield circuits that are 0.03 µm wide.

Today's DUV steppers employ light sources with a 248-nm wavelength. EUV light's wavelength is approximately 13-nm, which is nearly 20 times shorter.

This computer generated illustration shows Extreme Ultraviolet Light (EUV) as a beam (colored purple) being generated from a plasma source in the top right-hand side of the apparatus, which was assembled at Sandia/California.

The prototype machine is known as the Engineering Test Stand (ETS). It was developed by an industry-government collaboration comprising three U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) national laboratories and a consortium of semiconductor companies called the EUV-LLC. Assembled in Sandia National Labs in Livermore, California, the ETS will be used by the EUV-LLC partners and lithography tool suppliers to refine the EUV technology.

This work will set the stage for a prototype commercial machine that meets industry requirements for high-volume chip production. Processors built using EUV technology are expected to reach speeds of up to 10 GHz by 2005 or 2006. By comparison, today's Pentium 4 processors run at 1.7 GHz.

OPTO-CHIPS BREAKTHROUGH:

New polymers developed by chemists and engineers at the University of Southern California and the University of Washington appear to achieve speed and capacity increases so great that they will revolutionize telecommunications, data processing, sensing and display technologies.

The materials are used to create polymeric electro-optic modulators, or "opto-chips." These microscopic devices perform functions such as translating electrical signals - television, computer, telephone and radar - into optical signals at rates up to 100GB/sec. They can achieve information processing speeds as great as 10 times those of current electronic devices and have significantly greater bandwidths. In addition, they require only a fraction of a volt of electricity to operate, less than one-sixth what existing crystals require.

The electro-optic modulators in use today are grown as lithium niobate crystals and, rather than being integrated into silicon chips, must be hard wired. Besides having far less capacity and requiring substantially more electrical power than the new materials, they also have greater signal loss because of electronic interference and generate substantially more heat. The special properties of the new polymers, including low heat generation, are particularly important for futuristic device applications.

Tests of the new polymers indicate a single modulator measuring one micron can provide more than 300GHz of bandwidth - enough to handle all of a major corporation's telephone, computer, television and satellite traffic - all on "real time."

Applications are so far ranging that they even create the capability of full three-dimensional holographic projection with little or no image flicker. That makes possible a device similar to the science-fictional holodeck from "Star Trek." The future may come sooner that we think!

NEWS FROM MEXICO:

Grupo IMSA has signed a 15-year power supply contract with Enron Corp.'s Enron de Mexico. The power company will build a 245-megawatt plant in Monterrey and will begin its operations in 2002.

Grupo Alfa and Ford Motor Co. have signed a letter of intent to expand their joint venture in the auto parts company Nemak. The project aims to bring Ford's aluminum head parts production into Nemak.

John Deere Co. will gradually increase its annual orders from Grupo Industrial Saltillo (GISSA). By 2003, its current 30,000 tons of engine parts will arrive at 36,000 tons. The farm equipment maker had announced a similar increase in 1997.

GISSA will also begin selling engine blocks to Caterpillar, Inc. Beginning in the second half of this year, the company will sell 10,000 tons of engine blocks annually to Caterpillar. 

WORLD'S LARGEST CLEANROOM:

TSMC unveiled what it claims to be the largest single fab in the world...located in southern Taiwan. The cleanroom measures 190,000 sq. ft. At full capacity, the clean area will house approximately 1000 sets of manufacturing tools and employ approximately 2000 people. By the end of this year "Fab 6" will be able to produce 32,000 wafers per month. The fabs large Class 100 ballroom is equipped with Class 0.1 SMIF minienvironments for processing 8-in. wafers using advanced CMOS technology.

LARGEST EVER EMS DEAL:

Solectron Corp. and Nortel Networks recent divestiture agreement is being touted as the industry's largest-ever electronics manufacturing services contract. Planned is a $10-billion, four year supply agreement between the companies. Solectron will provide NPI prototyping, manufacturing and repair services for Nortel's optical, carrier, enterprise and wireless products. The agreement has Solectron paying $900 million for certain Nortel new product introduction (NPI) prototyping, PCB and telephone set (telset) assembly assets in North America and Asia. The companies are also discussing the divestiture or outsourcing of some of European Nortel manufacturing and repair operations. 

Solectron plans to add approximately 1.2 million sq. ft. to its already sizable manufacturing capacity.

SOLDERING EQUIPMENT GROWTH:

Total revenues for the world surface-mount soldering equipment market were $298.2 million in 1996...increasing to $398.7 million in 1999. Projections reach $886.8 million by the year 2006.

Total revenues for the world reflow soldering equipment market were $305.6 million in 1999. By the year 2006 projected revenues reach $753.5 million.

Total revenues for wave soldering equipment were $93.1 million in 1999. Projections reach $133.3 million by 2006.