IEEE JOURNAL OF QUANTUM ELECTRONICS, VOL. 35, NO.
5, MAY 1999
Guest Editorial
T HE FEATURE size of the most complex electronic cir-
cuits has been decreasing by a factor of the square root of
two every two years, thus increasing the number of transistors
per unit area by a factor of two every two years. This
trend is pushing the limits of traditional optical lithography.
Presently, 248-nm (KrF) excimer laser steppers are used for the
production of circuits with 250-nm features, and 193-nm (ArF)
and 157-nm (fluorine laser) steppers based on refractive optics
are being contemplated for immediate future generations.
However, as feature sizes approach 100 nm and below, other
new lithography solutions will be required. Extreme ultraviolet
(EUV) projection lithography at wavelengths near 13 and 11
nm has emerged as one of the leading technologies for printing
the small features that will be required by future generations of
mass-produced integrated circuits. This technology, based on
the high normal incidence reflectivity of Mo–Si and Mo–Be
multilayer coated optics at those wavelengths, promises to be
a viable and competitive approach for multiple generations
of integrated circuits starting at feature sizes smaller than
130 nm. However, several challenging problems must still be
resolved for the successful implementation of this promising
Publisher Item Identifier S 0018-9197(99)04957-X.
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technology. These problems include the development of in-
tense EUV illumination sources at the desired wavelengths, the
manufacturing of aspherical optics with new levels of figure
and finish, the development of uniform high-reflectivity multi-
layer coatings, and the demonstration of new EUV metrology
techniques.
This feature issue contains three invited papers that relate
to EUV lithography and its associated challenges. The paper
by Stulen and Sweeney provides a general overview of the
problems and the leading solutions for several of the most
important aspects of EUV lithography. The paper by Silf-
vast discusses fundamental concepts and practical approaches
for the efficient generation of EUV incoherent radiation at
the required fluxes from plasma sources. The third paper,
by Attwood et al., reviews the characteristics of coherent
undulator EUV radiation that is currently being used in the
development of EUV techniques for the metrology and ulti-
mate improvement of the required optics.
JORGE J. ROCCA, Guest Editor
Department of Electrical Engineering
Colorado State University
Fort Collins, CO 80523-1373 USA