Financial impact of technology acceleration on semiconductor masks

The Semiconductor Industry has been on a historic productivity growth curve that is due to the feature increase based on size reductions (Moore's law). The pace of technology introduction is accelerating as evidenced by the shortening of time from the introduction of the 180nm node (1999) and the introduction of the 130nm node (2001). Historically, the introduction of new nodes had been on a three-year cycle. This raises the question of the impact of this acceleration on the manufacture of masks. This paper examines the impact on semiconductor masks by considering the process steps involved in manufacturing masks and the related costs and cycle time. As technology accelerates, the tools available may not maintain a similar pace of introduction. The consequences of this possible non-compliance with the technology acceleration will have an impact on the cost of masks. An example is employed to demonstrate the financial impact of the technology acceleration. Projections can be made of the continuing impact of technology acceleration on the mask manufacturing process. The conclusions drawn are that several identified, critical processes must be the focus of improvement to allow the industry to continue on the productivity growth curve.