Until recently, lithography capability evolved consistently with Moore's law. It appears that semiconductor manufacturers are now deviating from Moore's law, which has implications for lithography equipment. DUV lithography is moving into production in a mix-and-match environment. Step- and-scan technology is the wave of the near- future, as a way to contend with the difficulty of manufacturing wide-field lenses. Resist processing equipment will undergo few fundamental changes, but will often be integrated with steppers, particularly for DUV applications. Metrology is being stretched beyond its limits for technologies below 250 nm. The move is on to 300 =I diameter wafers, and 193 nm lithography is under consideration.
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