View source for Microlithography

{{Short description|Semiconductor technology}}
{{about|semiconductor technology|printing on paper|lithography}}

'''Microlithography''' is a general name for any  manufacturing process that can create a minutely patterned [[thin film]] of protective materials over a substrate, such as a [[silicon]] [[wafer (electronics)|wafer]], in order to protect selected areas of it during subsequent [[etching (microfabrication)|etching]], [[Thin film#Deposition|deposition]], or [[ion implantation|implantation]] operations.<ref name=helb2001/><ref name=smi2007/>
The term is normally used for processes that can reliably produce features of microscopic size, such as 10 [[micrometre]]s or less. The term [[nanolithography]] may be used to designate processes that can produce [[nanotechnology|nanoscale]] features, such as less than 100 [[nanometre]]s.

Microlithography is a [[microfabrication]] process that is extensively used in the [[semiconductor industry]] and also manufacture [[microelectromechanical systems]].

==Processes==

Specific microlithography processes include:

* [[Photolithography]] using light projected on a [[photosensitive]] material film ([[photoresist]]).
* [[Electron beam lithography]], using a steerable electron beam.
* [[nanoimprint lithography|Nanoimprinting]]
* [[Interference lithography]]
* [[Magnetolithography]]
* [[Scanning probe lithography]]
* [[Surface-charge lithography]]<ref name=gril2008/>
* [[Diffraction lithography]]<ref name=patu2008/>

These processes differ in speed and cost, as well as in the material they can be applied to and the range of feature sizes they can produce.  For instance, while the size of features achievable with photolithography is limited by the wavelength of the light used, the technique it is considerably faster and simpler than electron beam lithography, that can achieve much smaller ones.

==Applications==
The main application for microlithography is [[semiconductor fabrication|fabrication of integrated circuits]] ("electronic chips"), such as [[solid state memory|solid-state memories]] and [[microprocessor]]s. They can also be used to create [[diffraction grating]]s, [[microscope calibration grids]], and other flat structures with microscopic details.

==See also==

* [[Printed circuit board]]

==References==
<references>

<ref name=helb2001>John N Helbert (2001), ''Handbook of VLSI Microlithography''. Elsevier Science, 1022 pages. {{isbn|9780815514442}}</ref>

<ref name=smi2007>Bruce W. Smith and Kazuaki Suzuki (2007): ''Microlithography: Science and Technology'', 2nd Edition. CRC Press, 864 pages. {{isbn|978-0824790240}}</ref>

<ref name=gril2008>S. Grilli, V. Vespini, P. Ferraro (2008): "Surface-charge lithography for direct PDMS micro-patterning". ''Langmuir'', volume 24, pages 13262–13265. {{doi|10.1021/la803046j}} {{PMID|18986187}}</ref>

<ref name=patu2008>M. Paturzo, S. Grilli, S. Mailis, G. Coppola, M. Iodice, M. Gioffré, P. Ferraro (2008): "Flexible coherent diffraction lithography by tunable phase arrays in lithium niobate crystals". ''Optics Communications'', volume 281, pages 1950–1953. {{doi|10.1016/j.optcom.2007.12.056}}</ref>

</references>

[[Category:Integrated circuits]]
[[Category:Lithography (microfabrication)]]


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