weVISION is a series of video interviews of visionaries by G Dan Hutcheson.
Without advances in mask technology, Moore's Law would be over and semiconductors would cease their endless march of more performance and more power for lower cost per transistor. Mask making is a critical component of getting 193nm wavelengths to print 20nm lines on wafers. Lithography at this level means getting away from rule-based rectilinear e-beam writing processes and getting to model based mask data preparation that enables curvilinear shapes. D2S has developed a new tool set that does this. My guest, Aki Fujimura, Chairman and CEO of D2S, was here to talk about it. In the video, we cover the amazing accomplishments of mask technology and! todays requirements in terms of manufacturing tolerance, accuracy, e-beam shots/day, write-times, and teraflops of computing power. We examine breaking old rules with new paradigms that allow circle shots, overlapping shots, and having the ability so assign specific doses for each shot when running tens-of-billions shots-per-day. We then relate this to how it improves throughput and lowers cost.
