HOW PRACTICAL IS 193 NM LITHOGRAPHY

The use of 193 nm ArF lasers to extend optical projection lithography to its Limits was proposed as early as the mid 1980s. Since then stead y progress has been made in this area, and the last two years in parti cular have witnessed an exponentially growing interest in and commitme nt to its development. At present, 193 nm lithography is a leading can didate for printing 0.18 and 0.13 mu m devices. This article reviews t he state of development of this technology at Lincoln Laboratory. Sign ificant progress has been made in most areas: qualification of optical materials, characterization of a prototype large-field projection sys tem, development of photoresist processes, and the fabrication of comp lementary metal-oxide semiconductor devices. (C) 1996 American Vacuum Society.