Resist

Materials science

Layer (electronics)

Computational lithography

Nanotechnology

Next-generation lithography

Electron-beam lithography

Lithography

Miniaturization

Photolithography

X-ray lithography

Optoelectronics

Nature

The phenomenal rate of increase in the integration density of silicon chips has been sustained in large part by advances in optical lithography — the process that patterns and guides the fabrication of the component semiconductor devices and circuitry. Although the introduction of shorter-wavelength light sources and resolution-enhancement techniques should help maintain the current rate of device miniaturization for several more years, a point will be reached where optical lithography can no longer attain the required feature sizes. Several alternative lithographic techniques under development have the capability to overcome these resolution limits but, at present, no obvious successor to optical lithography has emerged.

Pushing the limits of lithography