SMIC, Luminescent Explore 65nm Litho

Online staff -- Electronic News, 10/5/2005

Shanghai, China-based dedicated foundry Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC) and lithography enhancement provider Luminescent Technologies Inc. today said they have begun a joint development program to evaluate Luminescent’s Inverse Lithography Technology (ILT) products in SMIC’s production environment for 65nm and below process nodes.

The two companies will apply ILT to IC designs in their collaboration that commenced with the installation of Luminescent's Explorer development platform at SMIC’s production facility in Shanghai.

ILT mathematically determines the mask features needed to produce the intended on-wafer results, and is a more rigorous and direct alternative to reticle enhancement technology (RET), the companies explained.

It is believed to be the first reticle creation technology developed specifically for the deep sub-wavelength era, and aims to allow expanded lithography process windows, superb pattern fidelity, and reduced time-to-silicon without changing the existing lithography infrastructure and design-to-silicon flow.

“SMIC has successfully demonstrated the enabling characteristics of this technology in its mask shop and on silicon,” said Dr. IC Chen, VP of LTD center at SMIC, in a statement.

“Lithography represents an ongoing challenge, and the RET area, in particular, has seen few true innovations in the last decade. SMIC prides itself on championing new and innovative process approaches that allow us to provide best-in-class solutions for our customers,” he added.