Massively Parallel Nanolithography Using Localized Electron Emission

Purdue University, West Lafayette IN

Investigators

Abstract

Optical lithography is the critical enabling process of transferring fixed geometric patterns on a mask to wafers to make semiconductor chips and other nanotechnology products. Current tools cost more than 50 million US dollars each, and the costs for masks far outweigh those for tools. Yet, to increase chip capabilities to match Moore's law, tools will soon become too costly for both industry and scientists. Also, the current process cannot meet the long-term demand to produce faster chips with more functions. This award supports fundamental research to provide needed knowledge for the development of a new lithography technology. Results from this research will strengthen the U.S. manufacturing foundation for future information-technology growth and profoundly impact applications in high-performance computing, data storage, communications, healthcare and energy. This award will help broaden participation of underrepresented groups in engineering research and create an education pipeline in a multidisciplinary and collaborative environment. Scanning electron beam writers can direct pattern semiconductor chips at very high resolution without the need of expensive photomasks but only in low throughput. Practical throughput is possible only by using millions of parallel electron beams. Researchers have been unable to find a robust method to generate a massive number of beams with satisfactory brightness and uniformity. This research is to address this challenge and enable massively-parallel electron-beam lithography by transforming the team's recent breakthroughs in nanoscale optics into a low-cost nanomanufacturing scheme. This technology uses a novel device to focus optical energy at nanoscale and locally excite electrons to form massively-parallel electron beams, which can be used to perform maskless lithography in mass quantities. The research team will investigate the fundamentals of localized electron excitation, build a proof-of-concept device and study device response, and implement the device into their scalable nanomanufacturing platforms to demonstrate lithography over a large area.