High-Index Lenses Push Immersion Beyond 32 nm

摘要

As is common enough, there was considerable talk at this year's SPIE Microlithography conference about how to extend the life of optical lithography. One major buzz that seemed different this year was the openness to the idea of double-exposure patterning (see "Intel Talks About Double Exposure for Mainstream Manufacturing," p. 15). But not everyone is convinced yet that double exposure is the way to go. There are questions about overlay requirements, for example, or the benefits to logic, which does not have an abundance of layers with dense lines.