SAN FRANCISCO--Nano-imprint lithography holds great promise in the areas of biotechnology, MEMS, semiconductors, and other sectors, but the technology also faces some major hurdles, according to the keynote speaker at the first-ever Nanoimprint and Nanoprint Technology (NNT) conference here today.
Nano-imprint lithography is a new and "disruptive" technology. Tools based on the technology do not utilize an optical lens, but rather it makes use of ultraviolet (UV) and liquid immersion techniques to enable or "imprint" patterns on a wafer.
It is also a possible threat to current next-generation lithography (NGL) efforts, such as electron-projection lithography (EPL) and extreme ultraviolet (EUV), said Roger Fabian Pease, a professor at the department of electrical engineering at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif.
Suppliers of nano-imprint lithography tools "are getting features down to 20-nm," Pease said. "If the EUV guys were doing that, it would be on the front page of the New York Times," he joked during his keynote at NNT event here today.
Joking aside, Pease pointed out that current NGL technologies face several major problems, thereby opening the door for nano-imprint lithography in the marketplace. "We know the EUV guys are having trouble getting a source," he said. "The EPL guys are having trouble with electrons flying apart."
This is not to say that nano-imprint is a slam-dunk. In fact, tool suppliers still face three problems: photomask, overlay, and inspection, he said.
Given that this technology utilizes a 1X reduction ratio, the ability to develop and supply cost-effective masks will remain an issue. "If we're going to get e-beams to market with 1X mask, then we must get the focal points down on the tools," he said. "Most of the e-beams are also stuck with a throughput problem."
Inspection is another issue. "The current KLA machines are not set up for nano-imprint technology yet," he said, referring to wafer-inspection giant KLA-Tencor Corp.
Still, there are some major breakthroughs in the market. Paving the way for a new class of applications, startup Molecular Imprints Inc. (MII) of Austin, Tex. recently unveiled its first product--a tool aimed at the emerging "nano-imprint" lithography market, (see Dec. 2 story ). And other nano-imprint startups are going after the NGL market with tools said to process chips at 10-nm (see Dec. 6 story ).
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