IBM drives chipmaking process beyond current limitations. ibm duv euv. IBM researchers claim to have found a way to use deep-ultraviolet (DUV) lithography techniques for the production of 32 nm chips and smaller. The limits of DUV have been pushed out several times and saved chip builders from a costly switch to an extreme ultraviolet (EUV) process so far. DUV, which uses 193 nm light sources, has been in place since 1995, but was believed to run out of steam by 2003 or 2004. The company plans to use Nemo for further research that may push DUV even further....

AMD said that it will continue to use deep ultraviolet lithography (DUV) techniques to print circuits on its processors. DUV, which uses 193 nm light sources, has been in place since 1995, but was believed to run out of steam by 2003 or 2004. Back in 1997, Intel, Motorola and AMD created the EUV Limited Liability Corporation to develop an extreme ultraviolet process (EUV) to replace DUV at the 100 nm production level. Current estimates believe that DUV can be enhanced with lens materials and fluids to master even 32 nm structures. However, there is little doubt that DUV will be obsolete after that : An expensive to a new printing draws closer and, at this time, Intel engineers believe that EUV or a completely new method may be necessary for 16 nm processors in 2013....

Cymer, a supplier of deep ultraviolet (DUV) laser light sources currently used in semiconductor manufacturing, today unveiled what the firm claims to be the world's first argon fluoride (ArF) laser light source for 45 nm production immersion photolithography.. San Diego (CA) - Cymer, a supplier of deep ultraviolet (DUV) laser light sources currently used in semiconductor manufacturing, today unveiled what the firm claims to be the world’s first argon fluoride (ArF) laser light source for 45 nm production immersion photolithography. ArF lasers are generally known as producing high-energy laser pulses that last from five to 20 ns and achieve repetition rates of up to 2000 Hz. Immersion photolithography is considered the next phase of 193 nm wavelength DUV lithography, preceding extreme ultraviolet (EUV), a major and expensive transition in chip production that uses a 13.5 nm technology to "print" smaller circuit structures. DUV 193 nm processes have in place and were expected to need a replacement with the arrival of 100 nm structures....

The semiconductor industry has been talking about the end of the 193 nm deep-ultraviolet (DUV) lithography technique, which has been in place since 1995 for more than 10 years. Today we are at 45 nm and the industry is still using DUV to print its chips. Chip lithography is very similar to traditional silk-screening, but semiconductor firms use light (193 nm in DUV and 13.5 nm in EUV) instead of ink to print microscopic circuits onto their products....

The firms said that the production platform uses a renovated MOSFET integration scheme and continues to rely on a deep ultra violet (DUV) circuit printing process that uses 193 nm light sources as well as a low dielectric constant (low-k) film....