3 ms·
Educated guess, one die will have many layers, requiring many masks for all the layers
by turbohedgehog 9y ago
Educated guess, one die will have many layers, requiring many masks for all the layers
- dogma1138 9y agoDies are one dimensional, making multi dimensional dies is the next challenge in IC manufacturing. Today we do use 2.5D transistors AKA FinFets but that's still as single layer. Multiple masks are used however as creating the feature size expected today with the wavelengths we have requires multiple patterning which means multiple masks are used. 14nm today still uses the same 193nm lithography from 65nm if not earlier, the only way to create features which are actually smaller than the wavelength of the light is by using multiple hard mask and resist layers.
- turbohedgehog 9y agoAh, they don't use masks for the metal and via layers?
- evancox10 9y agoYou are correct. Total # of masks for a modern IC can be 30-50 or possibly more. And with double and even quad patterning on the critical layers, that's 2 or 4 masks for a single layer.