Abstract:
Scientists at the University of Wisconsin have found a way to create 20-nanometer chip feature sizes with 100-nm masks, giving an unexpected leap to Moore's Law and possibly extending the life of current lithography. The so-called "bright-peak technology" adjusts the space between a mask and a wafer to control the phases of X-ray lithography. "We learned how to use phase-shifting to control diffraction - a technique that works for X-rays or even traditional optical lithography," said professor Franco Cerrina, who created bright-peak enhanced X-ray phase-shifting masks with professor James Taylor and researcher Lei Yang at the Center for Nanotechnology here.