The semiconductor integrated circuit (IC) industry has experienced rapid growth. In the course of IC evolution, functional density (i.e., the number of interconnected devices per chip area) has generally increased while geometry size (i.e., the smallest component (or line) that can be created using a fabrication process) has decreased. This scaling down process generally provides benefits by increasing production efficiency and lowering associated costs. However, such scaling down has also been accompanied by increased complexity in design and manufacturing of devices incorporating these ICs, and, for these advances to be realized, similar developments in device design are needed.
As merely one example, advances in lithography have been important to reducing device size. In general, lithography is the transfer of a pattern onto a target. In one type of lithography, referred to as photolithography, radiation such as ultraviolet light passes through or reflects off a mask before striking a photoresist coating on target. Lithography transfers a pattern from the mask onto the photoresist, which is then selectively removed to reveal the pattern. The target then undergoes processing steps that take advantage of the shape of the remaining photoresist to create features on the target. Another type of lithography, referred to as direct-write lithography, uses a laser, an electron beam (e-beam), ion beam, or other narrow-focused emission to expose a resist coating or to pattern a material layer directly. E-beam lithography is one of the most common types of direct-write lithography, and, by directing a collimated stream of electrons to the area to be exposed, can be used to remove, add, or otherwise change a material layer with incredible accuracy.
While precise, the narrow focus often makes direct-write lithography slower than photolithographic methods. Additionally, direct-write lithography may be computationally intensive. For example, the computing resources required to convert a design into a set of intensity values used to control the direct-write emitter may be significant. Therefore, while existing lithographic techniques have been generally adequate, they have not proved entirely satisfactory in all respects.