Question

What three parameters can be improved to achieve better optical resolution in lithography?

Answer 1

The performance of a lithographic exposure is determined by three parameters:

resolution, registration, and throughput. Resolution is defined to be the minimum

feature dimension that can be transferred with high fidelity to a resist film on a

semiconductor wafer. Registration is a measure of how accurately patterns on

successive masks can be aligned or overlaid with respect to previously defined

patterns on the same wafer. Throughput is the number of wafers that can be

exposed per hour for a given mask level and is thus a measure of the efficiency of

the lithographic process