Next generation lithography

Much of the tremendous progress in integrated circuit technology and performance over the past 30 years has been fueled by the progress in lithography [1]. The ability to print increasingly smaller features has enabled higher speed transistors, higher packing densities and lower power dissipation in CMOS circuits. The productivity of the integrated circuit industry has been on a very steep performance curve, historically improving cost per function of integrated circuits by 30% per year over this period. Roughly half of this productivity improvement is attributable to continuous improvements in lithography technology. The remainder is made up of wafer and chip size increases and circuit design and process innovations.