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HIGH THROUGHPUT X-PINCH SOFT X-RAY SOURCE FOR X-RAY LITHOGRAPHY

Award Information
Agency: Department of Defense
Branch: Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
Contract: N/A
Agency Tracking Number: 13181
Amount: $248,083.00
Phase: Phase II
Program: SBIR
Solicitation Topic Code: N/A
Solicitation Number: N/A
Timeline
Solicitation Year: N/A
Award Year: 1992
Award Start Date (Proposal Award Date): N/A
Award End Date (Contract End Date): N/A
Small Business Information
265 Irish Settlement Rd
Freeville, NY 13068
United States
DUNS: N/A
HUBZone Owned: No
Woman Owned: No
Socially and Economically Disadvantaged: No
Principal Investigator
 Steven Glidden
 (607) 844-4633
Business Contact
Phone: () -
Research Institution
N/A
Abstract

X-RAY LITHOGRAPHY WILL BE USED IN THE FUTURE TO MAKE SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES HAVING FEATURE SIZES OF <_.25 MICROMETERS. THE X-PINCH SOFT X-RAY SOURCE BEING DEVELOPED AT THE LABORATORY OF PLASMA STUDIES, CORNELL UNIVERSITY, APPEARS TO BE AN ATTRACTIVE SOURCE FOR LITHOGRAPHY FROM BOTH A CAPITAL COST AND THROUGHPUT STANDPOINT. CURRENT EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS INDICATE THAT A PROTOTYPE X-PINCH SOURCE DRIVEN BY A 550KA 80NS FWHM PULSED POWER GENERATOR IS CAPABLE OF RESIST EXPOSURE TIMES OF < 3 SECONDS OPERATING AT 1-10 PULSES PER SECOND AND CAN BE FABRICATED FOR UNDER $500,000. THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS PHASE I PROPOSAL EFFORT IS TO DESIGN A HIGH THROUGHPUT PROTOTYPE X-RAY SOURCE BASED ON CURRENT AND FUTURE RESULTS FROM THE X-PINCH EXPERIMENTS AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY. THE X-PINCH DRIVER POWER AND REPETITION RATE REQUIREMENTS WILL BE DETERMINED BY EXAMINING RESIST SENSITIVITIES AND MASK TO WAFER ALIGNMENT TOLERANCES. A DEVICE FOR REPLACING THE X-PINCH WIRE ARRAY UP TOTEN TIMES PER SECOND WILL BE DESIGNED. A PROTOTYPE REPETITION RATE PULSED POWER GENERATOR WILL BE DESIGNED. ANTICIPATED BENEFITS/POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS - SUCCESSFUL DEVELOPMENT OF THE X-PINCH SOURCE WOULD RESULT IN A COMPACT, INEXPENSIVE X-RAY SOURCE FOR LITHOGRAPHY. THIS WOULD PERMIT DEVELOPMENT OF A <_.25 MICROMETER FEATURE SIZE SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING FACILITY ON A SMALL SCALE WITH LOW INITIAL CAPITAL COSTS (IN COMPARISON WITH SYNCHROTRON SOURCES) WHICH COULD THEN BE INCREASED IN SIZE INCREMENTALLY AS TECHNOLOGIES AND MARKET DEMANDS DICTATE. KEY WORDS - LITHOGRAPHY, SEMICONDUCTOR TECHNOLOGY, X-RAY, X-PINCH, PULSED POWER.

* Information listed above is at the time of submission. *

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