The Development of Photomask Technologies for Advanced IC (Integrated Circuit) Manufacturing

摘要

In this paper, we discuss photomask technology developments to meet the requirements of advanced IC manufacturing effectively and economically. We concentrate our discussions in the following three areas: photomask data handling, advanced photomask fabrication and global customer services. Based on the discussion, we explain the importance of the technical cooperation a-mong IC design-houses, wafer-foundries and photomask vendors in today's highly competitive global IC markets, and the potential joint-development projects in different stages of new wafer-process technology development. It is our believe that the solutions of the success in future advanced IC manufacturing, for example, early product to market, fast design turn-around time and low manufacturing cost, are the joint technology development among the key technology partners in wafer-process technology development.