+44 (0)24 7671 8970
More publications     •     Advertise with us     •     Contact us
 
News Article

Multibeam to Develop Full-Wafer, All-Maskless Patterning at 45 nm

News

Multibeam Corporation has embarked upon a project to apply its innovative Multicolumn E-Beam Lithography (MEBL) technology to pattern entire wafers at 45nm and larger nodes, without the use of any masks, for back-end-of-line (BEOL) processing. Funded by the Department of Defense (DoD) and program-managed by the Air Force Research Lab (AFRL), Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, the $38 million contract award includes an option for the U.S. Government to purchase another MEBL production system from Multibeam.

“This contract award along with the Secure Chip ID application we have been developing under an earlier DoD contract highlights the versatility of our innovative MEBL platform,” said Dr. David K. Lam, Chairman/CEO of Multibeam. “Both applications are designed to run on our MEBL production systems.”

Assured and Trusted foundries typically produce a “low-volume, high-mix” of chips for the DoD. But optical lithography equipment leaders have little interest in such small quantities of chips with a large variety because their businesses are geared toward high-volume production. Moreover, there continues to be a need for early-generation chips with “mature” nodes. While masks for such nodes are less expensive, mask-related costs do add up. Masks in less demand often have long lead-times, negatively impacting fab productivity in production as well as cycles of learning in new-chip development.

IoT chips are generally small, simple SoCs that perform specific tasks and are ubiquitous on the Internet. Such chips have been credited for the dramatic rise in IC content in most Government, commercial, industrial, and consumer products. As a whole, IoT chipmakers are high-volume producers. But their batch sizes are relatively small because IoT applications are diverse and the IoT market is fragmented. Competing in this cost-sensitive market is a real challenge. Yet, low-volume, mature-node IoT chipmakers get little support from optical litho equipment leaders focused on high-volume manufacturing at cutting-edge nodes. As a result, there have been scant advances in DUV (193nm ArF dry or immersion) litho systems since 2007 when optical resolution reached its limit.

Purdue, imec, Indiana announce partnership
Resilinc partners with SEMI on supply chain resilience
NIO and NXP collaborate on 4D imaging radar deployment
Panasonic Industry digitally transforms with Blue Yonder
Global semiconductor sales decrease 8.7%
MIT engineers “grow” atomically thin transistors on top of computer chips
Keysight joins TSMC Open Innovation Platform 3DFabric Alliance
Leti Innovation Days to explore microelectronics’ transformational role
Quantum expansion
indie launches 'breakthrough' 120 GHz radar transceiver
Wafer fab equipment - facing uncertain times?
Renesas expands focus on India
Neuralink selects Takano Wafer Particle Measurement System
Micron reveals committee members
Avoiding unscheduled downtime in with Preventive Vacuum Service
NFC chip market size to surpass US$ 7.6 billion
Fujifilm breaks ground on new €30 million European expansion
Fraunhofer IIS/EAS selects Achronix embedded FPGAs
Siemens announces certifications for TSMC’s latest processes
EU Chips Act triggers further €7.4bn investment
ASE recognised for excellence by Texas Instruments
Atomera signs license agreement with STMicroelectronics
Gartner forecasts worldwide semiconductor revenue to decline 11% in 2023
CHIPS for America outlines vision for the National Semiconductor Technology Center
TSMC showcases new technology developments
Alphawave Semi showcases 3nm connectivity solutions
Greene Tweed to open new facility in Korea
Infineon enables next-generation automotive E/E architectures
Global AFM market to reach $861.5 million
Cepton expands proprietary chipset
Semtech adds two industry veterans to board of directors
Specialty gas expansion
×
Search the news archive

To close this popup you can press escape or click the close icon.
Logo
×
Logo
×
Register - Step 1

You may choose to subscribe to the Silicon Semiconductor Magazine, the Silicon Semiconductor Newsletter, or both. You may also request additional information if required, before submitting your application.


Please subscribe me to:

 

You chose the industry type of "Other"

Please enter the industry that you work in:
Please enter the industry that you work in: