'Round The Circuit

157 nm is on track, Canon says

Canon's semiconductor equipment division expects to ship its first 157-nm lithography systems during the second half of 2003. The vendor has addressed major technical problems of calcium fluoride, birefringence, and purity, said the division's Phil Ware, senior fellow of lithography strategy, in a presentation at the annual SPIE Microlithography conference in February.

Ware told the gathering in Santa Clara, CA, that other technical challenges still must be met. These include solutions for pellicles and the development of suitable photoresist processes for the advanced technology nodes. "While the industry roadmap calls for insertion of 157-nm wavelengths at the 65-nm node, Canon believes the insertion point will ultimately be determined by customer need and the ability to extend current optical solutions."

Improvements in numerical apertures and resolution enhancement have already "enabled the industry to drive 248 nm with krypton fluoride excimer laser sources below 100 nm, and it is expected that 193-nm lithography with an argon fluoride light source will extend all the way down to 65 nm."

Ware says Canon will ship FS1, its beta tool, later this year on its 5000 platform. Called the FPA-5800FS1, the system will offer 0.80-NA projection optics and a 5X reduction ratio. The production system, the FS2, will be ready for shipment on a new single-stage platform early in 2005. The tool will span lithography generations from 248 nm through 193 nm to 157 nm.

USDC displays new 'roadmap'

A Moore's Law for the FPD industry and the major challenges facing organic LEDs are two of the issues addressed in a roadmap recently published by the United States Display Consortium. USDC says the report, Global FPD Industry 2003: An In-depth Overview and Roadmap, is an effort to respond to issues raised by the rapid pace of change in the industry. The publication addresses technology developments, markets, materials, manufacturing techniques, and applications.

A highlight of the 22-chapter report is a summary of a Japanese proposal for a series of "laws" equivalent to Gordon Moore's dictum on the rate of chip scaling. Under the proposal, three separate laws, each spanning three years, would focus on a different aspect of display manufacturing. For example, the so-called Nishimura's Law states that the size of an FPD substrate grows by a factor of 1.8 every 3 years, or, in essence, doubling every 3.6 years. This growth rate will drive down the cost of large displays for computer monitors, home theaters, and information.

The report praises the advantages of OLEDs, citing their solid-state construction, thinness, wide viewing range, and nearly instantaneous response. The industry must resolve two major challenges, though, before the technology can become commercially viable, the publication notes. The first obstacle is matching the advantages of the displays to specific market opportunities. The second is developing processes and equipment that operate as efficiently and as economically as those used to make other LCDs. Information: www.usdc.org.

Cleanrooms get a boost

Biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, and other business sectors will help the cleanroom industry overcome weak semiconductor-related sales, predicts a market research firm. The McIlvaine Co. says that strength in these industries, as well as in the FPD and food sectors, will play a big part in raising sales of cleanroom hardware and consumables to a new peak in 2004.

The semiconductor sector accounted for 50% of the sales in 2000 but will make up only 42% of worldwide sales in 2006, the firm says in Cleanrooms: World Markets. Global sales in 2006 will reach $9.1 billion, compared with $6.5 billion in 2000. An industry that has typically enjoyed double-digit growth will see annual hardware growth of only approximately 6% and an increase in consumable sales of just 5% between 2000 and 2006, McIlvaine notes. Consumables include clothing, wipes, furniture, and laundry services. Hardware includes rooms, walls, ceilings, HVAC, filters, and lighting.

In the near term, companies specializing in sterility and microbial control will fare better than those focusing on control of particulates and inorganic contaminants. Vendors in the latter category may see business improve as the MEMS, nanotechnology, and wireless communication sectors reach their potential. Information: www.
mcilvainecompany.com/cleanroom.html.

Valley honors Asyst founder

A pioneer in the creation of wafer minienvironments was inducted into the Silicon Valley Engineering Hall of Fame. Mihir Parikh, the founder of Asyst Technologies, joined two other executives in the honors ceremony held February 20 in Santa Clara, CA. The Silicon Valley Engineering Council makes the selections based on a recipient's professional achievements, service to the profession, and technical contributions to the area.

Parikh invented the standard mechanical interface (SMIF) technology that has become an industry standard for maintaining the integrity of processed wafers. The other honorees were Kumar Malavalli, the cofounder of Brocade Communications Systems, and Roy L. Clay Sr., founder of ROD-L.

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