AVS 53rd International Symposium
    Nanometer-scale Science and Technology Wednesday Sessions
       Session NS+NM-WeA

Invited Paper NS+NM-WeA5
Advances in Nanostructure Fabrication Technology

Wednesday, November 15, 2006, 3:20 pm, Room 2016

Session: Nanolithography and Patterning
Presenter: M. Stewart, The University of Texas, Austin
Authors: G. Willson, The University of Texas, Austin
M. Stewart, The University of Texas, Austin
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The drive to manufacture cheaper and more efficient semiconductor devices has inspired remarkable improvements in imaging materials science and high resolution patterning technology for several decades. Billions of dollars have been spent in efforts to devise methods and materials that enable the printing of ever smaller transistors. Microelectronic devices in full scale production today have minimum features in the range of 70-90nm and fully functional CMOS transistors with 10nm gates have been characterized. The lithographic process that has been used to generate these "nano-structures" is becoming extremely expensive and the process window or process latitude for producing them is shrinking. The cost of the imaging process threatens the economics of the semiconductor manufacturing industry. A single efficient factory equipped to produce the next generation of devices is projected to cost as much as the gross national product of countries the size of Hungary. Imprint lithography, a lower cost, high resolution patterning technology is emerging as a potential adjunct to photolithography. Some view it as a truly disruptive patterning technology. Imprint lithography loosely defines a set of techniques that includes several forms of embossing; stamping and molding that show great promise as low cost methods for producing nanostructures. These techniques take many different forms each of which has it’s own special applicability. The technique we call Step and Flash Imprint Lithography (S-FIL) is designed to allow the fabrication of high resolution, high aspect ratio images that can be aligned with precision. The process accurately replicates arbitrary shapes as small as 10nm. The process can be used to define structures with very small widths but unlike photolithography, it can be used to produce very small three dimensional structures via simultaneously controlling variations in depth. A progress report on modern patterning technologies will be presented with emphasis on imprint lithography.