The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) selected Lucent Technologies to develop an advanced microsystem that will make the design, engineering and fabrication of next-generation advanced silicon integrated circuits faster, more economical and with increased security for military applications such as transformational communications and homeland security.
Under the project, Lucent will design, develop and demonstrate micro electro mechanical systems (MEMS)-based Spatial Light Modulators (SLMs) that will enable maskless optical lithography. Lucent said the maskless lithography process using MEMS-based SLMs would allow manufactures to build circuits without the expense of individual masks. Lucent’s unique SLMs enable such circuits to achieve smaller critical dimensions with higher throughput.
A MEMS SLM approach makes it possible to manipulate light in ways not previously possible in the fabrication of microdevices. In Lucent’s MEMS SLM containing 100 to 200 nanometer features, extremely small mirrors are packed in an integrated multi-megapixel array that reduces requirement for the projection optics needed to achieve small, 50nm, critical dimensions of the next generation integrated circuits. The lower demagnification required for the smaller mirrors allows for a larger image area with the same optical element sizes and projector numerical aperture. This enables throughput that is 10 to 50-times faster than using other current maskless lithography processes, resulting in efficient and cost-effective fabrication.
The Lucent team includes Corning Tropel Corporation, DuPont Photo Masks Inc, Lincoln Laboratories. The work is performed in close partnership with ASML. http://www.lucent.com
