Lithography Equipment

Lithography technology is one of the most important processes for IC manufacturing. It determines the smallest feature size that could be achieved by humans in high-volume manufacturing (HVM). In the past six decades, lithography technology has pushed Moore’s law forward by shrinking the feature size from previous several microns to current technology node of 3 nm. Resist coating, exposure, and development are usually considered as the three crucial steps in the lithography process, and they are typically achieved by lithography equipment and wafer track system. This chapter reviews the history of photolithography equipment for HVM mainly from the aspects of proximity lithography equipment, wafer steppers, wafer scanners, and immersion scanners, together with EUV lithography equipment. Also, it introduces the alternatives applied in IC manufacturing such as electron beam lithography equipment, multiple e-beam lithography equipment, and nanoimprint equipment. Finally, other equipment for resist coating and develop processes such as wafer track and wet stripping are presented.