Start-ups often claim to change the way things will be done in the future. Most don't get to last to live that dream. A three-year-old company has come out of stealth mode today, claiming to fundamentally change the way the semiconductor industry currently manages RET/OPC additions to leading edge photomasks.

Luminescent Technologies, Inc., has created what it calls Inverse Lithography Technology (ILT).  Based on mathematical equations it takes the GDS11 file finished images of the layout and works out the desired RET/OPC additions to provide the desired final pattern image on the wafer.

This would seem to fundamentally challenge the tradition methodologies and technologies that have struggled to provide image fidelity below the 100nm node.
Although companies such as Applied Materials and Brion, have launched products and services earlier in the year that address simplifying and speeding up RET/OPC work flows, Luminescent Technologies is the first company to look at the problem and provide solutions coming from a different direction.

Luminescent's ILT technology is only interested in providing mask enhancements that provide the end-result pattern in silicon. This is done by inverting the desired image and using mathematical equations to come up with the desired mask pattern. The need for extensive scriptwriting is made almost redundant.

In some cases the write-times for mask patterning are shorter than conventional RET, but this in itself is not the key aspect of the technology. The key ability is to significantly improve the final patterns on silicon, boosting yield and chip performance overall.

Silicon Valley Technology Center (SVTC), a division of Cypress Semiconductor Corp. has also quickly embraced Luminescent's technology with the announcement today of a joint development program. Once installed at SVTC, the ILT technology will be used to develop a range of novel silicon solutions at the 65-nm technology node and below, according to the companies.

"Cypress is committed to embracing innovation, and part of that commitment is implementing process solutions that bridge the gap between design and lithography," said Bert Bruggeman, SVTC's managing director. "Our joint development program with Luminescent seeks to deploy a lithography capability that ensures the manufacturability of the industry's most complex ICs—predictably."

Luminescent is also with SMIC and is presenting technical papers at BACUS this week.