Fully-integrated production line for mask blanks conforming to a very high technological and quality standard.

Chemical composition of a (mono) crystal that is used in optical lithography for light at wavelengths of 157 nm, and in some cases 193 nm. This material excels over other materials due to its high transmission of these wavelengths, making it almost unique in this respect.

Integrated circuit on silicon

Defines the size of structures that can be produced with a certain technology. For example, chips produced with the 0.35 IJm design rule have structures (conducting lines, or dimensions of transistor components) with a width of 0.35 IJm.

Extreme Ultra-Violet (light) Ultra-violet light that is not visible to the human eye and has an extremely short wavelength. Visible light exhibits wavelengths of between approx. 800 nm (red) and approx. 400 nm (blue), Ultra-violet light has a wavelength smaller than 400 nm. In lithography, EUV has a wavelength of approx 13 nm.

Lasers are artificial light sources whose light consists of only one wavelength ("colour"). Excimer lasers produce very high energy (very intensive light) and are almost perfectly monochromatic. Their wavelengths all reside within the deep ultraviolet range and are used in lithography to produce chips in large volumes arid at high throughput rates. Excimer laser light is generated by a mixture of gases, e.g. argon and fluoride, in a chamber that is "ignited" with an electrical discharge.

Glass made of quartz

Special glass for optical components used in lithography, with a transmission wavelength of 365 nm. The term derives from a particular colour in the light spectrum of halogen lamps.

Integrated Circuit. Electronic circuit integrated on a semiconductor.

Generic term referring to the technology for producing ICs. Micro = 1 millionth of a meter, lithography ="printing technique", "stone printing".

See Photomask.

Glass plate with a chromium and a photoresist coating. Mask blanks are used as raw materials for producing a mask.

Material with homogenous properties throughout their entire volume. Ceramics and polycrystals are comprised of many monocrystals that are separated from each other by grain boundaries.

Empirical law according to which, inter alia, the density of transistors per square centimetre increases. The law is named after its discoverer.

A special method for copying even the smallest of structures, sharply and design rule compliant, from a mask to a chip. This technology makes it possible to generate structures with dimensions less than the wavelength of the light used to illuminate the wafer. According to classical optics, this would be impossible.

See also: Lithography Photolithography is lithography performed with light. Lithography, by contrast, is much slower and is performed with electron beams.

Also: Masks. The layouts of conducting lines, transistor components and many other structures comprising an integrated circuit are reproduced on photomasks. An average of 25 photomasks are required to produce an IC.

Also: Resist A light-sensitive coating (similar to the light-sensitive layer on a camera film).

Lenses used to sharply project the image on an illuminated photomask onto the wafer, akin to projecting a slide photo onto a screen using a slide projector. Unlike a slide projector, however, the "picture" on the photomask is reduced in size in lithography.

Phase Shift Masks With the help of these special photomasks, structures can be reproduced, in a manner similar to OPC, which are smaller in dimension than the smallest "normal" structures. OPC and PSM help chip manufacturers to use existing steppers and scanners for design rules lower in dimension than the design rule for which they were designed.

Mask used in scanners. See also: photomask

Plan adopted by companies in the semiconductor industry that defines future developments in lithography with regard to sequence, design rule and the ensuing product specifications for steppers, scanners, photomasks, etc.

Device for illuminating wafers coated with photoresist material. Unlike steppers, scanners scan the entire mask with a beam of light.

Device for illuminating wafers coated with photoresist material. Unlike scanners, steppers illuminate part of the wafer in one step, then move the wafer and/or the photomask and repeat the procedure.

Plane-parallel plates of glass with a highly polished surface. These serve as raw material for making mask blanks. They are coated with a chromium and then a photoresist layer.

Circular disks of material. In semiconductor production: raw silicon material for producing ICs.

Physical description of the "colour" of light.

A material that does not expand in size when material temperature increases.